Koyambedu Biogas Plant - Well Done, India!

The Koyambedu Wholesale Market is not far from the apartment where I last lived in India, before I moved to the US. I remember riding past the site regularly, long before construction even started, as well as buying groceries farmer-direct after it opened, at hugely discounted prices over retail markets in Vadapalani, T. Nagar, and other parts of Chennai. Now, the waste from Koyambedu will be processed into Syngas, which would be supplied to homes in the fast growing neighborhood. I sincerely hope that this is a trend. Using waste productively, is a great way for poor nations like India to save money. The added bonus of keeping the streets cleaner, would be the icing on the cake. Well done! Hope other cities and markets in the country follow this example!

India's First Net Zero Energy Building - I Am Not Convinced

India's "The Hindu" newspaper has a story about what is claimed to be India's first Net-Zero Energy Building. While I am not clear if the building in question has been certified by an external and independent agency to be Net-Zero, if, indeed, this is truly Net-Zero, then it is a remarkable achievement. I am not entirely convinced that this is the case, though, when you have a 930 kW peak power solar generation capacity in a 31,488 Sq Meter building with "robotic parking" and central HVAC system. Something, somewhere, is amiss. That said, if this does spark off an interest in actually building net-zero structures in India, it would be fantastic. Right now, I do think this is hype, not fact. I shudder to think of how this will end up making India a butt of jokes for a while, when experts investigate this and find the claim to have a lot of Blue Sky to it.

A Very Strong and Positive First Step by the Government of India

Today's edition of The Hindu has this very positive piece about the Central Government requiring public electric utilities to use solar power beginning with 0.25% in 2013 and going up to 3% by 2022. I am confident that this would not only encourage new entrepreneurship by companies that sell power to the government through Power Purchase Agreements, it would also inspire businesses like software technology parks, malls, hotels and other large airconditioned offices and buildings to reduce their dependence on dirty power by using more solar power. The percentages mentioned may be small, but this is the kind of action that invariably has a positive snowball effect. When businesspeople in the power generation sector see what kind of money they could make from solar power, they will go out to do more to sell clean power to private clients as well.

Yes, my hat's off to the Government of India for this very positive step. Thank you, everyone involved in taking this decision. This bodes well for India and the world.

The Hindu : Cities / Chennai : College students do their bit for nature

The Hindu : Cities / Chennai : College students do their bit for nature

Some more positive news about the Let's ROB group and their enthusiastic volunteers in Chennai. I do think that this group's work deserves to be supported by everyone who can spare some time. Before anyone forgets, Wa'angari Mathaai won a Nobel Prize for peace for planting green belts in Africa. This group is doing work that is as important an significant. I hope that they get more and more recognition in the future and, to repeat myself, they draw more members to their fantastic cause!

Thanks and all the very best!

Uttarakhand Bans Bt Brinjal

Good news is not entirely dead and nor is it totally scarce these days as this very brief announcement in today's The Hindu shows: Link The beautiful and picturesque state of Uttarakhand in India has banned Genetically Modified Brinjals from Monsanto even before the Central Government could take a decision on the issue. With the immense anger over the issue (and I have heard that Minister for the Environment Jairam Ramesh is becoming sympathetic to those who would like to see GMO food kept out of India) a state has taken prompt action and closed the door on a crop of questionable merit.

My congratulations to the good people of Uttarakhand and to the state government and to the many good people who have opposed this crop. I shall look forward to congratulating Mr Jairam Ramesh when he, too, follows Uttarakhand's lead and takes a similar, right decision nationally.

Good News from India - "Solar Valleys"

I often click onto the URLs of Indian newspapers with a sense of trepidation - news of some idiotic coal fired powerplant coming up somewhere or of some similarly wasteful enterprise is what I have come to expect - call that the cynic in me, but when you have been looking at how things move in India for as long as I have, it is difficult not to be skeptical, if not entirely cynical. However, The Hindu has this excellent piece on a new "Solar Valleys" proposal that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hass embarked upon: Link The proposal for a 20,000 MW target for harnessing solar energy by the end of the 13th Five Year Plan is something that India sorely needs to achieve. It is a matter of survival for India as a nation - the country simply cannot afford to buy horrendously expensive oil, gas and coal anymore with the hard-earned money of the Indian people. The costs in terms of environmental pollution, foreign exchange outflows and of money going to countries that have arrogant and condescending attitudes to Indians is something that India needs to halt asap.

I am no fan of Indian politicians or politics but I hope that this plan succeeds way beyond what the Prime Minister desires. There are only positive results to be expected no matter what degree of success is achieved.

Canada Offers Green tech to India - Will Any Indian Businesses Bite?

I know that the USA has a singularly bad record of doing business with India especially in the field of Green technologies despite the US Exim Bank offering vast amounts of money to Indian businesses that would like to license the immense amount of technology that American companies have developed. Many American companies couldn;t care less what happened in a neighboring county, leave aside what happens outside their state. with that attitude, they are unlikely to bother about India. And it is the same in India despite the US Exim Bank offering loans denominated in rupees in India through several major Indian banks.

Now Canada, the USA's smaller but extremely aggressive neighbor, has stepped in and is trying to offer green tech to India. Ontario Premier, Dalton McGuinty, a man who I personally think is as sleazy as politicians can get, but more of that later, is in India at the moment along with a delegation of Ontario businesses offering the latest in Canadian tech to Indian businesses according to this article in The Hindu: http://www.hindu.com/2009/12/04/stories/2009120456371800.htm

Canada does have some phenomenally good companies offering a wide range of technologies with applications that could make a huge difference if Indian businesses were to adopt them. I love Toronto as a city and am always amazed by the energy that it displays. I do wish that the province of Ontario would dump McGuinty, but then I don't like most politicians and he is not the only one I would like to see dumped by the electorate. As my grandmother, the great Savitaben Kamdar used to remind me when I was a boy, even dead snakes have their uses. I am happy to confer the status of a useful "snake" on Mc Guinty, as he has done something that culd be useful both for Canadian as well as Indian businesses.

The Hindu Reports on the Protests Against the Elevated Corridor

I have received the following link from the Coastal Protection Group which is dedicated to monitoring "development" along the beautiful Chennai coast: http://www.hindu.com/2009/08/31/stories/2009083158430200.htm The report on the recent protests that were organized are very to the point. Additionally, there is a presentation that could be downloaded from: http://www.sipcotcuddalore.com/reports.html that should interest those who are interested in alternative solutions to this very vexing issue.

The Coastal Protection Group inserted 18,000 pamphlets into newspapers and distributed them to the public at the various beaches in their drive to get information across. This is incredible work and I would request friends who are in the USA and elsewhere in India who support this group, to please follow this campaign which I shall be writing about here. Please also pass this information on to as many people as you can. Thank you!