1-· ------------- Research Journal Of BioTechnology Vol. 4 (2) May (2009) Res. J. Biotech. Potential of Bioenergy Production from Grasses and its Impact on Environment Kataria Rashmi, Chaudhary Gaurav and Ghosh Spnjoy· Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Ruorkee 247667 (Uttarakhand), INDIA =ghoehfbs ~ iitr.ernet, in Abstract The use of renewable energies offers significant opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and secure energy supply. However, the substantial rise in the use of biomass from agriculture, forestry and waste for producing energy might put additional pressure on farmland and forest diversity as well as on soil and water resources. It may also counteract other current and potential future environmental policies and objectives such as waste minimization and environmentally oriented farming. Thispaper analyses how much biomass could technically be available for energy production without increasing additional pressures on the ,nvironment and food and feed supply along with primary potential for bioenergy production taking care of number of environmental criteria. Currently India produces 1.34 billion metric ton of CO 2 which is around 4.9% of the total world's emission. Currently India consumes around I65Mtoe (million ton oil equivalents) of crude oil and around 68.5% of which is being imported. Total land area reported of India is around 305.27Mha (Million hectares) out of which 51.09Mha is left unused as waste land and marginal land. This study shows if that area is used for energy crop like Kans grass (a variety of switch grass) plantation for bioethanol production, it can produce 1318 million barrels of ethanol and then India would not require importing oil from foreign countries at all. This analysis also shows a saving of 5.15 million ton of CO 2 emission per year. This paper also suggests that the land that is used for excess food and feed production for exporting them to the foreign countries needs to be re-looked. This also can be thought that instead of using land for exporting agricultural products, may be used for energy production and can be exported which may give more benefit to the country. * Author for Correspondence Keywords: Bioenergy, biomass. Kans grass. environment, India. Introduction The concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (C0 2 ) is increasing significantly due to the human activities during last few centuries. These concentrations have increased from 280 ppmv to about 360 ppmv during last two centuries I, A total of 50% of this increase has occurred during last 40 years and is mainly due to the human activities', The green house gases (GHG) emissions take place mostly due to burning offuels. A 1000 MW pulverized coal-fired power plant can emit up to 6-8 megatons of CO 2 annually; an oil-fired power plant can emit about 25% less; and a natural gas combined cycle power plant can emit about half of the CO 2 emissions that come from coal-powered plants". Most of the world's total energy consumption (462.798xIO I5 Btu in the year 2005) comes from these conventional forms of energy which heavily adds to the GHG emissions". As a result. renewed interest is now being focused by almost all countries on the development and expansion of alternative energy sources (non conventional energy sources) which produce no GRGs (e.g, solar energy, wind power, tidal power etc.) or run on zero carbon cycle (e.g. bioethanol, biodiesel etc.). Particularly due to technological developments and cost reductions of the renewable sources of energy especially solar. hydro, wind and biomass energy are gaining momentum most recently. They also contribute to economic. social and security benefits at the national and local levels", Renewable energy sources offer considerable potential for displacing conventional energy sources and in some cases are competitives. One study by Johansson et al? shows that by 2025, renewable energy sources could contribute nearly 30% of direct fuel use and 60% of global electricity supplies". Energy sources, particularly biomass. are equitably distributed and less environmentally destructive (run on zero carbon cycle) than the current fossil fuel sources". The interest on bioenergy particularly bioethanol and biodiesel is more focused because of the monopolistic nature and uncertainty involved in procuring liquid petroleum from producer countries. Most of the oil fields are geographically located in politically sensitive areas of the world. Oil importing countries are also affected by frequently fluctuating prices of the commodity at the (5)