My close friends know how much I enjoy reading Low tech Magazine - there are few free resources on the internet that give as much information for those interested in forgotten technologies from the pre automobile era. This particular piece on Velomobiles (basically cycle cars)is one of the best that I have read in a long time. And the potential for a country like India is massive - India has a huge bicycle manufacturing sector, labor is cheap in India and there is a huge interest in cycling. I do think that an entrepreneur could tie up with one or another of the European companies designing and manufacturing these Velomobiles and build them for sale both in the local market and for export and offer them at far lower prices than they are sold for at the moment.
Think about it - speeds close to those at which cars drive in India with no need to fill any tank up - ever. No batteries to charge and you just get in and pedal away whenever you feel like it.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Gujarat Looks Hard at Tidal Power
Gizmag, one of my favorite websites, has this entry about a 50 MW tidal power plant going up off the Gujarat coast in western India. The company building the plant, Atlantis resources Corp, is a British company which has been working on tidal power since 2002. As an old seafaring power, Britain has been at the forefront of tapping the energy available from the sea, both offshore wind and tidal power. Add the old relationship between India and Britain and this looks like a positive beginning for the future. As I have long said, India has an extremely long coastline all along which offshore wind and tidal power could be tapped. Gujarat is just one of the many coastal states. Hopefully, other states that are along the Indian coast will follow this example as well. There is a pressing need for India to generate power - it is perpetually at a deficit as far as power generation is concerned - and what better than to use what it has available in abundance off its own coasts?
Congratulations to the Gujarat State Government for its foresight and to Atlantis Resources Corporation for their pioneering effort in India! May they succeed way beyond their own expectations!
Congratulations to the Gujarat State Government for its foresight and to Atlantis Resources Corporation for their pioneering effort in India! May they succeed way beyond their own expectations!
Saturday, January 8, 2011
An Excellent Forbes Piece on Solar Power in India
When Blackstone invest $ 300 million in Moser Baer's solar projects in India, they know that there is money to be made.
There has been considerable positive news coming out about the rush to tap solar power in India. And nothing looks at the business better than scrutiny by business magazines - these are, after all, magazines that look at where money is being made and where the potential exists for wealthy people to make even more money. And that illustrates something that this blog has been talking about for a long time: that there is money to be made in clean energy.
The plus is that India is beginning to understand this. I hope that other countries in South Asia, all of whom share India's climatic conditions, also recognize this fact.
There has been considerable positive news coming out about the rush to tap solar power in India. And nothing looks at the business better than scrutiny by business magazines - these are, after all, magazines that look at where money is being made and where the potential exists for wealthy people to make even more money. And that illustrates something that this blog has been talking about for a long time: that there is money to be made in clean energy.
The plus is that India is beginning to understand this. I hope that other countries in South Asia, all of whom share India's climatic conditions, also recognize this fact.
Friday, January 7, 2011
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.
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.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Clean the city, use the garbage
Clean the city, use the garbage
I am very grateful to Ms Kamla Ravikumar, dedicated environmental activist and educator in Chennai, India, for sending me this link. I have a connection to Rajkot - my ancestors, especially on my paternal grandmother's side, hailed from there and they moved to the South Indian city of Madras in the 1920s (with occasional short periods back in Gujarat) through the 1940s before they finally decided that Madras (which was later renamed Chennai) was where their hearts were. As someone who has visited Gujarat (and Rajkot) only twice - once in the mid 1970s and then in the early 80s, I could understand why. My impressions of the state and of Rajkot as a city were of dusty and dirty places where public hygiene was considerably worse than what I was accustomed to in the South. My paternal grandmother always maintained that she stayed back in Madras because she wanted all four of her sons to get what she would refer to as "double degrees" from Madras colleges. And that was what brought my maternal grandparents to Madras as well - Karachi was not quite a place for girls to get an education in the 1950s, and not for a member of the minority in particular. My maternal grandmother's family had lived in Mambalam since the 1890s and it probably took her and my grandfather the better part of fifteen minutes to decide where they were going to send their daughters to study - that was Madras's reputation as a center of culture, learning and advancement back in the day.
The public squalor and unhygienic conditions in Gujarat did blow up with the Surat plague of 1994. Thousands of people died from pneumonic plague in the rat infested town with badly overflowing sewers. As the world watched sick in the stomach, it does appear as if the people of Gujarat found the reason that they needed to clean their city up - in 2004, a prestigious magazine (I am not sure whether it was India Today or Outlook) did a story on how, in 10 years' time, Surat had become one of the cleanest cities in India because of a concerted effort by the city administration. Now, another city in the same state - Gujarat - has gone a step further. I am not sure if the recognition of garbage as a resource that the Indian express article talks about in Rajkot is a first for India, but, even if it isn't the very first, it is certainly among the first. And there is a lot to be hoped for in this demonstration of an idea that has made entrepreneurs wealthy the world over - hopefully, other cities across India will compete and try to best Rajkot in using their garbage as a resource. The pluses in doing this are simply too many, but the most significant ones would be:
1. Whole cities get cleaned up, and, instead of spending money on cleaning, they realize a profit from doing this. This is especially important in a desperately poor country like India
2. A large scale operation like this provides employment to some of the most marginalized communities in the country - rural migrants to the cities who, usually, have little education and no money
3. A cleaner living environment means healthier lives for city residents. The Surat plague showed the deficiencies of the Indian public health system. Cities that work hard to keep themselves clean and also make money out of this, end up reducing the strain on already beleaguered hospital systems
I hope that this example would be competitively emulated by other cities across India as they try to make even more money out of their garbage. There is a lot more that can be done - I have been beating the drum about garbage mining as is done here in the USA and in several European countries. That would make even more money for cities and entrepreneurs who get into this business in India. And when there is any further development, this blog will cover it - watch this space!
I am very grateful to Ms Kamla Ravikumar, dedicated environmental activist and educator in Chennai, India, for sending me this link. I have a connection to Rajkot - my ancestors, especially on my paternal grandmother's side, hailed from there and they moved to the South Indian city of Madras in the 1920s (with occasional short periods back in Gujarat) through the 1940s before they finally decided that Madras (which was later renamed Chennai) was where their hearts were. As someone who has visited Gujarat (and Rajkot) only twice - once in the mid 1970s and then in the early 80s, I could understand why. My impressions of the state and of Rajkot as a city were of dusty and dirty places where public hygiene was considerably worse than what I was accustomed to in the South. My paternal grandmother always maintained that she stayed back in Madras because she wanted all four of her sons to get what she would refer to as "double degrees" from Madras colleges. And that was what brought my maternal grandparents to Madras as well - Karachi was not quite a place for girls to get an education in the 1950s, and not for a member of the minority in particular. My maternal grandmother's family had lived in Mambalam since the 1890s and it probably took her and my grandfather the better part of fifteen minutes to decide where they were going to send their daughters to study - that was Madras's reputation as a center of culture, learning and advancement back in the day.
The public squalor and unhygienic conditions in Gujarat did blow up with the Surat plague of 1994. Thousands of people died from pneumonic plague in the rat infested town with badly overflowing sewers. As the world watched sick in the stomach, it does appear as if the people of Gujarat found the reason that they needed to clean their city up - in 2004, a prestigious magazine (I am not sure whether it was India Today or Outlook) did a story on how, in 10 years' time, Surat had become one of the cleanest cities in India because of a concerted effort by the city administration. Now, another city in the same state - Gujarat - has gone a step further. I am not sure if the recognition of garbage as a resource that the Indian express article talks about in Rajkot is a first for India, but, even if it isn't the very first, it is certainly among the first. And there is a lot to be hoped for in this demonstration of an idea that has made entrepreneurs wealthy the world over - hopefully, other cities across India will compete and try to best Rajkot in using their garbage as a resource. The pluses in doing this are simply too many, but the most significant ones would be:
1. Whole cities get cleaned up, and, instead of spending money on cleaning, they realize a profit from doing this. This is especially important in a desperately poor country like India
2. A large scale operation like this provides employment to some of the most marginalized communities in the country - rural migrants to the cities who, usually, have little education and no money
3. A cleaner living environment means healthier lives for city residents. The Surat plague showed the deficiencies of the Indian public health system. Cities that work hard to keep themselves clean and also make money out of this, end up reducing the strain on already beleaguered hospital systems
I hope that this example would be competitively emulated by other cities across India as they try to make even more money out of their garbage. There is a lot more that can be done - I have been beating the drum about garbage mining as is done here in the USA and in several European countries. That would make even more money for cities and entrepreneurs who get into this business in India. And when there is any further development, this blog will cover it - watch this space!
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Biogas gives India energy choice - Asia - Al Jazeera English
Biogas gives India energy choice - Asia - Al Jazeera English
In the 1970s, Biogas plants were a major thrust in India as several governments tried promoting "Gobar Gas" plants as they were called then. ("Gobar" means dung in Hindi.) Dr Mayraj Fahim, a good friend and well-wisher of this blog, sent me this link on Al Jazeera television's website of a new indigenously designed miniature bio-gas plant which connects either to a source of cow waste or human waste as a user desires. Here's wishing that this becomes a much wider trend in a country where waste disposal (and sewage disposal in particular) is as good as non-existent.
In the 1970s, Biogas plants were a major thrust in India as several governments tried promoting "Gobar Gas" plants as they were called then. ("Gobar" means dung in Hindi.) Dr Mayraj Fahim, a good friend and well-wisher of this blog, sent me this link on Al Jazeera television's website of a new indigenously designed miniature bio-gas plant which connects either to a source of cow waste or human waste as a user desires. Here's wishing that this becomes a much wider trend in a country where waste disposal (and sewage disposal in particular) is as good as non-existent.
Monday, November 1, 2010
A New Hydroponic Cultivation System that could have Huge Benefits for Indian Farmers
As someone who works increasingly with Japanese companies these days, this blogger has started to take a closer look at the clean technologies being developed in that country. This blogger was also deeply interested in (and experimented with) hydroponic cultivation as a student in the days when Moses wore shorts, like many Indians do. This article from The Asahi Shimbun features an intriguing new patented hydroponic cultivation system that is a halfway-house between traditional hydroponics and conventional agriculture. The stress is on the low costs of the system, something that has kept hydroponics in India confined to the state of West Bengal where James Douglas developed the Bengal System of Hydroponics in the 1950s. Debt-ridden to the extent where 60 farmers commit suicide every day, India's farmers cannot usually afford a substantial investment in tanks, lifting equipment etc that traditional hydroponic agriculture requires.
I shall try and get more information on the Okamoto system and post it here, but, in the meantime, visitors are welcome to check this article out. At the very least, I think this would address the annual conflict between my former home state of Tamilnadu in India and the neighboring state of Karnataka. To add icing to the cake, the Chinese have found the system very effective. India needs to look at it carefully too for that precise reason.
I shall try and get more information on the Okamoto system and post it here, but, in the meantime, visitors are welcome to check this article out. At the very least, I think this would address the annual conflict between my former home state of Tamilnadu in India and the neighboring state of Karnataka. To add icing to the cake, the Chinese have found the system very effective. India needs to look at it carefully too for that precise reason.
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