Biofuels round table focuses on US-India energy concerns
Sunday, 04.13.2008, 11:02pm (GMT-7), IndiaPost.com

NEW DELHI: The US-India Business Alliance (USIBA) and The Energy Research Institute (TERI) co-hosted a bio-fuels roundtable at the Habitat Center in New Delhi on Apr 8.

Participants included academicians, elected officials, government representatives, journalists, policy experts, senior corporate executives, and scientists.

Key topics explored during this dynamic forum included the food versus energy security debate, a review of current bio-fuel policies and projects in the US and India, bio-fuels as a critically important component to shake off dependence on foreign oil, and the perceptually skewed attention given nuclear energy.

Featured roundtable panelists included Shahid Siddiqui - Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh, Gary Godwin, MD, UOP - India, and Dr AV Singh, Vice President, Bajaj Hindusthan Limited.

The session was chaired by Dr. Ajit Kumar Gupta, Senior Advisor Biofuels, MNRE, and the session was opened by Dr. Leena Srivastava, Executive Director of TERI.

"The roundtable advanced the discussion very well on overall opportunities between the US and India in the area of bio-fuels, and specifically shed light importantly on the potential of bio-fuels generated from waste sources which do not affect issues of food security and water security," says Robinder Sachdev, Director, Media and Communications, USIBA India.

"USIBA is fully focused on adding value to US-India bilateral alternative/renewable energy commerce, and this very successful event represents just one of the many ways we are committed to advancing this agenda," says Michael Taylor, Director of Government Affairs, USIBA.