Energy policy and climate change interlinked,says Kalam

Climate change is an integral part of energy policy and energy independence is closely linked with it,former President A P J Abdul Kalam said.

Climate change is an integral part of energy policy and energy independence is closely linked with it,former President A P J Abdul Kalam said on Friday.

“So it is important to look into energy policies as the temperature rise,a reason for climate change,is directly related to the type of fuel that is being used,” Kalam said inaugurating the conference-cum-exhibition on ‘Sustainability – a reality’ organised by the Institute of Studies in Vedic Science.

India has to achieve energy independence by using a mix of renewable energy (solar,wind),nuclear energy and bio fuel,Kalam said.

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In order to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in a big way,the country should drastically reduce import of oil by 2011-2012,he said.

Techniques like blending ethanol,emulsification of diesel with water could reduce the import of oil by 20 per cent,he said.

Kalam also spoke about the advantages of using bio fuel.

Several acres of waste land in Chhattisgarh and Allahabad were planted with Jatropha,which besides being a biofuel source reduces soil alkalinity and acts and acts as heat shield for banana plantation,he added.

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Around 10,000 farmers were involved in the Jatropha plantations and it had resulted in soil upgradation in wasteland areas,increase in water retention capacity of the soil and rise in the water table level,Kalam said.

Talking about some more eco-friendly solutions,he quoted an example of transforming the deserted integrated test range at Chandipur in early 1980s into a green belt by planting around 1,00,000 trees and creating an artificial lake.

Chandipur being a protected area,”we are able to help the turtles to breed in the entire coast peacefully without the danger of being poached,” he said.

Sustainability should be taken as a mission and every village should be made into a green habitation,he told the students who attended the conference.