An energy crisis is now upon us, and the hard truth is that it will get worse in the coming weeks and months before it gets better.

We are no longer dealing in theoretical scenarios.

A structural energy reset has been forced upon the country, compelling a painful reduction in consumption, alongside an abrupt and disruptive switch of fuels, for instance, to kerosene and firewood.

As we navigate this difficult period, we must also accept that the ultimate solution will not come from short-term subsidies or geopolitical successes, like getting a few more ships through the Strait of Hormuz.

It will come from actual, homegrown engineering.

CSIR's Local Gas Breakthrough

This is why the work of state-backed institutions like the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) — and scientists like Dr Ashish Lele — has suddenly become a matter of paramount national and economic security.

Last week on The Core Report, I spoke with Dr Lele, who directs the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) in Pune.

The NCL is a critical node in the CSIR’s sprawling network, which encompasses 37 national laboratories, 39 outreach centres, one Innovation Complex, and three units.

With some 3,500 scientists and 4,000 technical and support personnel, the CSIR quietly drives research ranging from oceanography and genomics to aeronautics and, crucially, energy.

Dr Lele and his team are currently testing a gas known as dimethyl ether (DME), a compound that holds the potential to drastically reduce India's heavy reliance on imported Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).

The underlying technology is relatively elegant. As Dr Lele describes, it requires only one or two reactors and distillation columns and is thus significantly simpler than standard refinery operations.

The team’s pilot project is currently operating at around 250 kg per day. The next critical technological milestone is a demonstration plant, which Dr Lele notes could be operational within six months once funded.

Moving to full commercial production — where DME could substitute LPG at a macroeconomic scale — is the inevitable next step.

This will require considerable capital expenditure, likely from major oil marketing companies utilizing traditional supply chains. However, India is not strictly bound to centralized corporate production.

According to Dr Lele, the country could leverage its abundant, decentralised woody biomass. By gasifying this biomass into syngas, converting it to methanol, and finally to DME, India could localise its fuel supply.

Because the technology produces DME at 10-bar pressure, it can be dispensed directly into cylinders at any of India’s 220-plus local bottling plants. This entirely bypasses the need for massive, capital-intensive centralized distribution networks.

Innovations Beyond Global Conflict

While the exact market readiness and affordability of this localised model remain to be fully mapped out, the technology is within our reach.

But it highlights a much larger structural reality: we cannot expect private capital to fund—or even care about—this kind of long-term, foundational research.

Private markets are excellent at scaling proven innovations, but they are notoriously poor at incubating them.

Furthermore, we can no longer look to the West for a steady pipeline of technological miracles.

The United States, traditionally the world's primary engine for research and innovation, has drastically cut back on research funding across the board, axing entire scientific departments altogether in the last year.

India faces a deeply unique set of challenges in its energy mix.

Our renewable energy production has accelerated dramatically, but the absence of grid-scale storage technology means the sun and wind cannot serve us 24 hours a day, to say nothing of our ongoing power evacuation hurdles.

We desperately need more homegrown fuels and innovations.

Dr Lele’s work on cooking gas — a fuel integral to millions of Indian households and commercial kitchens — is just one piece of the puzzle.

Solving Local Energy Puzzles

A few weeks ago, Engineers India Limited (EIL) Chairperson Vartika Shukla told me about a project her team was immensely proud of: engineering a cheaper, lighter, and more user-friendly solar cooker.

It is a striking juxtaposition. EIL is an institution that helps design nuclear reactors and mega-refineries, yet it is simultaneously applying its vast engineering prowess to solve grassroots energy challenges for the everyday consumer.

Whether it is synthesising entirely new fuels or innovating the basic implements powered by them, the energy crisis of 2026 is delivering a blunt lesson.

To secure our economic future, we must stay deeply invested in, and rapidly expand, our own scientific and industrial capacity.