income generation and environmental conservation through alternative fuel development

Mission: Environment, Employment, Empowerment
Background Description: The world is running out of fossil fuel oil (petroleum, Benzin, Diesel etc.) to power cars and industry. There will be no oil left after even just 25 more years, if the current rate of oil consumption is continued. Several countries of the world, including India are desperately seeking alternatives to fossil fuels. India has a special interest in this as a huge amount of foreign exchange is used to buy fossil fuel from countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

These petro-economies like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait were actually very poor countries before it was discovered that they had vast stores of fossil fuel. The same can be said of India. We are a developing nation with a huge population. We also have large tracts of land that lie barren, and a large numbers of unemployed young people.

The Petroleum Conservation and Research Association of India or PCRA has discovered that two species of native trees in India - ie Jathrophas Curacas and Pongemia Pinnata have seeds that are rich in oil. This oil once extracted and processed, can be used to mix with current diesel engines with good efficiency, and the emission is not so great as with pure diesel oil.

Since the trees are native to India, they do not need too much water and very little care to grow. However, once they are fully grown, their seeds can be sold to extract oil and make a sustainable income for the grower. Already, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation has invited Pongemia Pinnata growers to supply it with oil.

There is a wasteland with very little water and on the way to becoming a desert in the north of Karnataka. This area is also known for very poor farmers, many of whom have committed suicide after borrowing money to plant their land. Unfortunately they have poisoned the land by using too many fertilisers and pesticides and hence nothing grows there anymore. So, because they cannot pay back the money they borrowed, they commit suicide to save face.

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