Indian Railways should address problems and challenges arising out of carbon dioxide emission, said Suresh Prabhu, Minister of Railways.
The Minister was speaking at the release of “Carbon Capture, Storage and Utilization (CCSU),” a book published by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).
Railways is the biggest consumer of energy in the country. While it mostly uses electricity and diesel, it is slowly moving to alternate sources of energy like wind, solar, CNG and Bio fuels.
Referring to the energy scenario in the country, he said that while India is making vigorous efforts to use alternate sources of energy like solar energy, wind geo thermal, bio fuels but our dependence on fossil fuel will continue for many years. Therefore it is important to address the challenges arising out of CO2 emissions and address the issue appropriately.
Global efforts in this direction have been promising and prove that Carbon Capture and Storage could become a reality and very soon thereafter could even become cost effective. All efforts have to be mobilized to see that these technologies become relevant for developing economies to adapt.
Carbon Capture, Storage and Utilization (CCSU) is a global response to the challenge of climate change mitigation. It is an emerging energy technology dealing with capturing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, storing it away in underground reservoir and / or utilizing it by conversion to various food, feedstock and fuels etc.
Malti Goel, former advisor in the Ministry of Science and Technology, said, “ Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is among the advanced energy technologies suggested to make the conventional fossil fuel sources environmentally sustainable. It is of particular importance to coal –based economies.”
While increasing use of solar energy for CO2 management is taking place leading to social transformations, among its different options CCSU is receiving attention as an emerging energy technology from both scientific community and policy makers, officials at TERI said.
Rajani Baburajan