Thai government promotes green energy

BANGKOK, January 7 (TNA) - The Thai government, through the Ministry of Energy, is promoting renewable energy and increasing its consumption to 25 per cent of all consumed energy in the country by 2021 for the sake of green society. The ministry's Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency announced the policy on Monday, when it organized an event to celebrate its 60th anniversary, during which energy-saving innovations, namely water-powered desk clocks, solar-powered phone chargers, decayable bio-plastic products and energy-saving farm machines that cut fuel consumption by 20 per cent, were also displayed. The department's director-general, Amnuay Thongsathitya, told journalists that his department will proceed with the policy, noting that the percentage increased to 10 per cent as planned last year and should rise to 12.5 per cent this year due to the promotion of solar and wind power farms and biofuel, which should replace daily sales of 7-8 million liters of 91 octane petrol on the domestic market. Amnuay predicted that, in the near future, the domestic consumption of 95 octane petrol should also drop to 1-2 million liters a day and ethanol to 3 million liters a day, from 1.4 million liters a day currently. Besides, the senior official acknowledged that his department will promote the plantations of elephant grass to support biogas production and biomass electricity generation; while the energy minister wants local business operators and communities to develop joint ventures to grow the grass and set up biogas facilities and biomass power plants. (TNA)