India Plans to Allow Jet Fuel Imports When there is Abundant Raw Material Available to Manufacture it Locally

Trust New Delhi to do things bass-ackwards, to modify a term not normally used in polite company. The UAE based newspaper Khaleej Times has this piece about India allowing airlines to import Jet Fuel. If the Government of India had looked, it would have found that the US Air Force recently contracted to buy Jet Fuel from this Texas company, Terrabon Inc, which produces it from food waste and sewage. The Terrabon process has been under development at Texas A and M University for a long time and the company now have viable products both for cars and for jet aircraft. Their process converts sewage and food waste into a Synthetic Crude which can be refined into the final product. And, the prices are slightly higher than those for gasoline or jet fuel made from crude, but, in the case of a country like India with 1.1 billion people, there is always going to be enough sewage to offer an economy of scale to make this vastly more viable than in the USA. Indians live in vastly more crowded circumstances as well, making the collection of the sewage for processing far easier than in a huge country like the USA where distances are far greater and concentrations of people much smaller.

I wish New Delhi - or even a state government - takes the initiative to invite Terrabon to use their technology to turn the completely useless sewage into usable fuel. If the richest country in the world uses this technology to try and save money, there's no reason why the world's poorest country shouldn't do this as well.

Excellent Discussion on Solar Thermal Energy

An excellent post on the always excellent Low Tech Magazine website discusses the uses of Solar Thermal energy. Speaking in an Indian context, I have written about how some Indian states are doing a good job offering incentives for apartment buildings that use solar water heaters. I have also written about how religious bodies in India including the Shirdi Sai Baba complex and some others have begun using solar power to cook food for devotees. The potential to do much more than this exists. Please click on the link to learn how.

And, follow the Low Tech Magazine website. It is well worth checking out from time to time.

Back Blogging After a Long Hiatus

I have been off this blog for a long time - not because I tired of it or anything like that, but because I was simply overwhelmed with work. It was difficult managing my academic pursuits with earning money and blogging. As I have temporarily put university work aside and persuaded my school to put me on probation so that I might rejoin later, I am back. Hopefully, I shall have something of value to contribute and be able to interact with more people interested in the same issues that interest me.

Processing Sewage Water With Soil Alone to Cultivate Vegetables in Mumbai

My friends who know me are aware that I am obsessed with sewage treatment as this is a major issue in India. The city that was my home for more than three decades, Chennai, has turned two lovely water outlets to the sea into stinking sewage-bearing canals. And what could be a very valuable industrial resource, is now being entirely wasted. Poor countries like India lack the resources to process waste and reuse it - enter Mr Keshav Tavre, recognized for his efforts by the Smart Planet blog. MIT has taken note of Mr Tavre's work and has mentioned it on their radio station. Perhaps, it is time for more people in India to look at Mr Tavre's efforts now that the USA most recognizable university has endorsed it?

Exn.Dr.M.B.Nirmal on solutions for Global warming

I first met Mr M B Nirmal many years ago when I was a freelance radio host on All India Radio's Madras B station in its Youth and English Language Broadcasting sections. He had just founded his organization, EXNORA at the time, and it received the enormous attention that it richly deserved - in a country where everything related to living in urban environments was falling apart at the seams, Mr Nirmal offered a simple, voluntary solution that appealed to many. I remember being impressed at the time - that said, I doubt that anyone guessed that this would become a movement that would inspire civic minded people and governments alike all over the world. Mr Nirmal worked for an Indian public sector bank back then, but he would soon leave it to pursue his personal dream of making Chennai, then an overburdened city, more livable. Over the years, I lost touch with him as I went to work in different parts of the world before eventually moving to the USA. However, he had become a powerful phenomenon and remains one of the most inspiring figures in India, to repeat a word that I have no substitute for. I would also hear about him from close family sources - my father was a Rotarian like he is, as is one of my cousins who worked with my father. And, another of my cousins was the Indian representative of a US based foundation that supports social entrepreneurs, and which found it worthwhile to support Mr Nirmal's work. And then, of course, there was the very positive focus from the media on him and his work for me to gain more news from.

It was by sheer chance that I was able to reconnect with Mr Nirmal via Facebook, some nine years after I had moved to the USA (and perhaps twenty five plus years after my brief interview on MAdras B) and it has been very positive resuming touch with him. It is the mark of a great person that he does not forget whoever he comes into contact with, and, it was a pleasant surprise to me that Mr Nirmal remembered me, my cousins and my father on the basis of a short two line message that I sent him! And, of course, it has been wonderful being in touch with him since, I am what I call an "Agmark Chennai-vasi," as I was born and raised in the city that Mr Nirmal works so hard to convert into a model for the rest of India and the world to follow! You never leave home, as the old saying goes, and though I have not been back in a long time, it has been wonderful getting good news and hearing about the progress of a great movement that started in a small way and that has visibly transformed everyone it has come in contact with in a positive way.

Mr Nirmal's organization, ExNoRa, has a very nice website which I would invite my readers to visit. There cannot be a better site to view from what is a "Clean India" blog. The video that I have linked to over here would show anyone who does not know Mr Nirmal and his work why he is such a wonderful inspiration to many to do good work in making the living environment in India better.

A Fantastic New Project in India

Stadia are places that consume a lot of energy - the lighting, the large television screens and the people, their refreshments that must be transported in etc all add to the amount of energy used and the costs. But they do serve a very important social purpose - sports bring people from different nations together and promote friendship between nations (including those that might be politically hostile to each other) and they also promote a positive sense of identity between the citizens of a nation, supporters of a particular team and more. By extension, sports keep people who may not otherwise be inspired to exercise to participate in games at their own personal level, encouraging people to become fitter by getting them off their couches and outdoors from inside their homes to breathe in fresh air. All very laudable, and worthy of support.

So when a piece of news like this comes to us via Inhabitat, a leading blog on environment friendly architecture, there is a reason for all Indians to feel proud. I am not sure if this Solar Powered Piezo-Electric stadium is the first of its kind in the world, but, if, indeed it is, then India is to be hailed for a world first. Even if it is not, it is something to be proud of because, in a sports crazy country like India where energy costs are high and where most parts of the country receive more than 300 days of sunshine in a year, this is an example that will be replicated. A fantastic beginning to say the least and one that I hope will also be replicated across the region in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka etc where sports are as big a draw.

And, of course, if you like this post, you might want to subscribe to Inhabitat at I also list it among the blogs that I enjoy reading right here.

Iceland Set to Help India Use Geothermal EnergyT

The Smart Planet blog has this very interesting story about the tiny nation of Iceland offering India help in developing Geothermal Energy at 340 locations in the country. My old friend the Kodaikanal based artist Eddie Joseph has been a regular visitor to Iceland where he paints and works on the fishing fleets every summer and he and I have had many a conversation in the past about this little country that he loves. I do think that this would be a good area for the Government of India to look at - India has a huge requirement for energy and if geothermal energy can be harnessed at 340 locations in the country, it could be vastly better than sending Indian money overseas to import coal or oil. May this incentive succeed!