Energy

13Sustainable Solution for Future Energy Challenges Through Microbes

Sumit Sahni, Manoj Kumar Singh, and Anita Narang

Department of Botany, Acharya Narendra Dev College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India

13.1 Introduction

Unprecedented growth in population and increase in the socio‐economic stature of the middle class globally have created an incessant demand for energy. Today, most of the global energy demand is catered by fossil fuels which have limited reserves on earth and are rapidly depleting. Hence, these cannot sustain the burden of energy demands for more than two or three decades. This led the United Nations to add energy generation and distribution in its 17‐point sustainable development goals (SDGs) in which it emphasized to increase the share of renewable energy progressively. Biofuels are an important one among the many available renewable energy sources which have the potential to satiate the ever‐increasing energy demand and prove as a sustainable source of energy. Anything which can be used as fuel and has its origin from living organisms can be considered as biofuel. Biofuels in the form of wood, wood chips, charcoal etc. have been in use since time immemorial but cannot take centre stage due to their own limitations. Alternative biofuels include bioethanol, biodiesel, biogas, biohydrogen and bioelectricity which are more usage‐ready and can be generated from the biomass available. Based on the resources used to produce them, biofuels have been classified ...