India aims to meet 50 per cent of its power needs from renewable sources by 2040. “India has options for augmenting its power generation by harnessing solar, wind, hydro, bio and geothermal resources besides using garbage which would go a long way in protecting the environment,” Mr. Sundaresan Subramanian, US-based energy  consultant working with the Rivers of the World (ROW) Foundation, said. Mr Subramanian said biomass waste could be disposed off in a sustainable and ecofriendly way by using the gasification technology, a highly  beneficial method of generating power.

He was speaking at a three-day international workshop on ‘Water, Renewable Energy and Green Environment’ jointly organised by the Institute of Business and Computer Studies (IBCS), faculty of management sciences of the SOA (Deemed to be University) and ROW . “The modern gasification technology, originally invented in Germany and further developed in the USA, can use all kinds of biomass waste to generate renewable electricity with very little or almost no emission. The plant needed minimal space to be installed and the size can be customized as per requirement,” he said.

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The waste to be used could include wood and such other material, coconut and palm shells, municipal and industrial wastes, dry sewage sludge of wastewater treatment plants as also rubber wastes, Mr. Subramanian said adding 20 tons of such waste could generate one mw of power.

Resource persons at the workshop, which was attended by 45 participants from SOA, NGOs and other organisations, included Mr. Subijoy Dutta, an expert in hazardous and medical waste management in Maryland, USA and Dr. Prakasam Tata, Executive Director, Center for the Transformation of Waste Technology, Wheaton, USA. Prof. M C Dash, former Chairman of the state Pollution Control Bo – ard and Mr Prafulla Dhal, an environmental activist also chaired different sessions.

Dr. William Roper, Professor at the Johns Hopkins University in the USA, made a presentation through skype on remote sensing technologies. The issues discussed included drinking water, waste water management, hazardous waste management, renewable and waste to energy options, remote sensing technologies, storm water management and global climate change.