Friday, September 29 2006 12:29 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Sources of renewable energy, whose usage has increased five-fold in recent years, should be tapped to a greater extent to help India achieve its goal of energy security by 2020, President A P J Abdul Kalam said today (Sept 28, 2006).

Apart from traditional sources of energy, it would look to power generated through renewable energy technologies, which has to be increased from the current level of five per cent to 25 percent, Kalam said in the 2006 Philip TobiasLecture delivered via videoconferencing from the Rashtrapati Bhavan's multimedia studio to an audience in Johannesburg.

"In his lecture titled 'Human Evolution and Progress', Kalam spoke about challenges before modern society like provision of adequate and safe drinking water and sanitation for a vast number of people around the globe," an official release said.

The search for alternate and clean sources of energy in light of the predicted depletion of fossil fuels over the next 10 decades, low-intensity terrorism, disease and environmental degradation were listed by Kalam among the challenges confronting mankind.

Stating that energy was an important parameter for development, he said the continuously increasing cost of oil sourced from fossil materials has prompted many groups to seriously consider alternative energy options.

He said in the transportation sector, India plans to use a large proportion of bio-diesel and ethanol.