Chennai : Earth 100, a supply chain solutions provider to companies looking to reduce carbon footprint by using greener fuels, is launching its first fleet of 100 per cent bio fuel cars in Gurgaon, India. Earth 100 is the first company in the world to provide a commercial fleet running on 100% bio-diesel. The firm is currently supported by Jindal Power as an investor, while Mahindra plays a critical role as technology partner.

Speaking on the occasion, Megha Rathee, COO, Earth-100, said, “We have had successful pilot projects in Bengaluru and Mumbai too and are confident that the cars introduced in the first phase in Gurgaon will be very well accepted. The Jindal Group has been extremely supportive and request for more such eco-friendly cars from their offices in Delhi, Sonepat and Gurgaon have already come in. Acceptability and demand for such green vehicles for has also gone up and clients are willing to pay a premium for green services now. We plan to start operations in Mumbai and Bengaluru soon creating new benchmarks in the carbon footprint reduction space.”

Since 2008, Earth-100 has been setting up a dependable supply chain and has a signed order book of 50 cars.

The Company was a winner on the first season of Pioneering Spirit – A product of Lufthansa and ET Now and has received coverage in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and Hindustan Times. It is currently part of the Dasra

Social Impact Cohort 7.  Earth 100 also  won the inaugural Green Business Base Camp Investor Pitching competition in Los Angeles in June 2012.

With skyrocketing energy demands, and India being one of the largest petroleum consuming country importing about 186.7 million tonne in FY-2012, alternative sources of energy have become a necessity for the country. About 70% of India’s energy generation capacity is from fossil fuels, with coal accounting for 40% of India’s total energy consumption followed by crude oil and natural gas at 24% and 6% respectively. India is largely dependent on fossil fuel imports to meet its energy demands — by 2030, India’s dependence on energy imports is expected to exceed 53% of the country’s total energy consumption. In 2009-10, the country imported 159.26 million tonnes of crude oil which amounts to 80% of its domestic crude oil consumption and 31% of the country’s total imports are oil imports.

Jatropha is one of the most widely used plants for bio-diesel production in India, and it has been identified as a best possible source, largely because the plant is grown across the country and requires little maintenance. It has a high yield of 40% oil, which makes it very cost-effective.Use of bio-diesel in India remains limited, despite large scale availability of Jatropha.  Out of the 6,00,000 km² of waste land that is available in India over 3,00,000 km² is suitable for Jatropha cultivation. Once this plant is grown, it has a useful lifespan of several decades. During its life Jatropha requires very little water when compared to other cash crops. It is estimated that renewable and carbon neutral biomass resources of India can replace present consumption of all fossil fuels if used productively. Earth 100 has broken ground with its ‘Green Solution’ for eco-friendly transportation.