4.1 The Todas
4.2 Reducing our energy consumption
4.3 End of growth: How to achieve a truly sustainable future
4.4 Super-capacitors to replace batteries?
4.5 Bicycle industry wants withdrawal of excise duty
4.6 French business outraged over plan to turn lights out 1am to 7am
4.7 The 258 mile per gallon car
4.8 Sticking our collective heads in the sand
4.9 Shale energy bubble threatens second economic collapse
4.10 Plastic into bottles in pioneering recycling scheme
4.11 The decline of the West?
4.12 Many nations will fail to meet target of recycling 50% waste by 2020
4.13 Graphene likely to desalinate water - using 1/100 the energy
4.14 Global Population Growth
4.15 TED Talks
4.16 The connection between resource limits and economic collapse
4.17 London's cooking waste to fuel power stations
4.18 Bring back the Dog Carts!
4.19 Using the expertise of mining companies to improve recycling
4.20 Increased Efficiency / Alternative Energy
4.21 Breakthrough Renewable Energy Forecasting
4.22 Sharing the burden of going green
4.23 Bangladesh's Green Radio heralds new era of environment education
4.24 How cities are changing the way we eat
4.25 China leads the waste recycling league
4.26 Transition Towns
4.27 Sharing Economy
4.28 Collaborated farms and food self-reliant
4.29 Peak Water
4.30 Welcome to the Sharing Economy
4.31 Has the Earth's Axis Tilt Changed Recently
4.32 The large energy footprint of the digital economy
4.33 U.S. wastes 60% of the energy
4.34 End of Atomic Age
4.35 Nuclear plant cost overruns
4.36 How to lose half a trillion Euros
4.37 Solar Power
4.38 Solar Power
4.39 Lame duck urban planning
4.40 Population of the world / sustainable development
4.41 India Readies Big Move into Solar Energy
4.42 How to Create a Food Forest Using Goats
4.43 Types of Solar Panels
4.44 Tata Power solar targets granted 2016 extension?
4.45 Wind Power
4.46 Green card to quick industrial development
----------------
4.1 The Todas (5/1/2013)
The Todas
Environmentalism is, by definition, given to skepticism, dismay, political cynicism and the seemingly endless endeavors to guide human nature along a path more sustainable than that currently on display worldwide.
Yet, in India, the second most populated nation on earth, with her inordinate share of ecological turmoil and over 1.241 billion people, there exists an ancient, indigenous community of vegetarians, the Todas, whose lifestyle and footprint suggests a true window on what humanity – at its best – is capable of.
... What endows this community with such a unique place in the bio-cultural context of southern India, and – for that matter- the whole world – is not merely the fact that they are one of the only vegetarian tribal groups left on Earth (while surrounded by meat-eating communities); or the computable realization that their ecological footprint, by even today’s economically-much marginalized rural Indian standards, is statistically zero.
... Even their so-called “noyim,” a form of conflict-resolution, is so subtle that to be present at such a gathering (as I have been) you would never know a problem was even being resolved. Toda crises are not fought out at the last second, like fiscal-cliffs in Washington, although the stake – if you are a Toda – are no less critical.
... Most importantly, the Todas have managed to adopt a manner of sustainable living and have kept their own population low over the centuries.
... And, additionally, for a people who only drank dairy produce and had no native intoxicants, the onslaught of a cash economy that was imposed on them, has brought about all the usual problems, like alcoholism.
4.2 Reducing our energy consumption (9/1/2013)
The first crucial step would be to reduce our energy consumption dramatically. And, we actually know how to do this, both by adjusting our behavior and through existing technology. Optimists love to tout technology when talking about increasing the energy supply. They seem to forget that that same technological prowess can and should be focused on reducing our energy consumption. But then no oil and gas company can make a profit on that.
http://resourceinsights.
4.3 The Most Important Video You'll Ever See (19/1/2013)
End of growth: How to achieve a truly sustainable future:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
4.4 Supercapicitors to replace batteries? (24/1/2013)
Supercapacitors to replace batteries?
http://myscienceacademy.org/
4.5 Bicycle industry wants withdrawal of excise duty (29/1/2013)
Bogged by declining sales and rising costs, the $1.2-billion Indian bicycle industry is at a crossroad. Bicycle manufacturers are worried as the industry has plunged by 8 per cent this year due to meagre exports and less domestic demand. A further decline is expected unless the government takes timely action, they said.
http://www.thehindu.com/
-----------------
The Government of India is planning to spend a lot of money in the near future on infrastructure development. Much of this it appears is in the form of multi-lane highways to suit expensive cars running on increasingly costly petrol and diesel. Rich and not so rich people are now increasingly likely to hop into their cars and onto their motorbikes, even to travel a distance of a 100 meters - this is going to increase the nation's health bill as people become more and more sedentary.
With the looming prospect of Peak Oil, concern regarding Global Warming and the issue of health, it should be obvious that the humble bicycle should be at the centre of any future infrastructure plans relating to the design of our cities and our roads.
The Government and the planning commission need to bring out a white paper on this subject. Our politicians also need to set an example by using a bicycle at least once a month.
Selvaraj
---------
That plus then Netherlands legal protection for cyclists where if a car hits a cyclist it is always the drivers fault... (comments section)
Government to announce 62m pound boost for cycling infrastructure ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
....
"Car-dooring is a huge issue and separated bike lanes are going to reduce the incidence of car dooring and it is going to encourage people who would like to cycle more but don't because of their perceptions of safety," she said.
She said cycling was a significant mode of transport and should be supported.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/
4.6 French business outraged over plan to turn light out 1 am to 7am (1/1/2013)
In this latest example of silly outrage, French businesses are furious over government plans to require shops and offices to turn out their lights between 1AM and 7AM. For the business leaders, this is a catastrophic event that they claim will damage their businesses.
http://americablog.com/2012/
4.7 The 258 mile per gallon car (11/2/2013)
Bruce wrote:
It seems more likely that new things are needed, rather than same-old things. ....
In RunningOnHopefully we don't assume that cycling and growing your own vegetables is going to save the planet.
... Glad to note that you agree that the planet needs saving. While I agree that we should develop all the options you have suggested, the first step when we see danger looming ahead (and all the options you stated somewhere at the horizon - some like fusion not even there), is to go into safe mode. This is what is done when Satellite controllers get into trouble. They put the satellite in safe mode, while they consider all the options.
What you are suggesting is nothing new, the whole world has been moving forward according to your assumptions - that the future will be filled with stars ... and we end up in a situation where we conclude that the planet needs saving!
What we need most is not new things, but new ways of thinking.
RunningOnHopefully is dicey. I would opt for RunningOnWithCertainty.
Regards,
Selvaraj, from Trivandrum, India
4.8 Sticking our collective heads in the sand (18/2/2013)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <spsherm@msn.com>
Date: 17 February 2013 10:42
Subject: [RunningOnEmpty2] Re: Probing the frontiers of electric car travel
To: RunningOnEmpty2@yahoogroups.
Thanks for posting that review Allan.
As electric car technology/skill advances, I find myself torn between two reactions. The geek in me finds these advances exciting (even if they have their warts). However the PO'er in me finds these news stories part of the "same old problem."
My objections to these stories is it keeps alive hope that there will be some great discovery and we will, after all, be able to keep our current energy inefficient lifestyles with little or no change and sacrifice required. The biofuels fad of a few years ago was the first wave of energy saviors, until that didn't quite work out. The NG and frack'ing fad is the current energy savior in the popular media. With electric transport and a few other things playing minor background roles, just in case.
The problem with all of these fads and investigations (even the ones I might personally be in favor of, such as electric vehicles), is they delay real meaningful awareness and action in the broader sense. As long as we have NG or electric cars to save us, we do not need to consider the long term viability of the energy systems and use patterns we have grown to depend upon.
PO is but one of many symptoms of a failed system. Climate change, biosphere degradation, food shortages are all related symptoms. And while this is strictly a PO forum, it is hard sometimes to speak of the PO effects without bumping into these sister problems.
Let's face it, even if space aliens landed tomorrow and gave us the perfect energy source to replace petroleum, it would not solve most of the problems we face. Yes it would be great to no longer dump more fossil-based CO2 into the air, and climate change might be slowed a bit. But cheap energy (even clean energy) would allow us to continue converting more forests to annual crop land, continue harvesting depleted fish stocks, continue paving over land for human habitats. In short continue doing all the things which have led to the current set of problems. Oil was the energy source which allowed us to start down the road we are on, but the energy source is only part of the problem. A clean petroleum replacement might buy us a decade or two of sweeping these issue under the rug, but the problems won't go away. Because the problems are broader than just one convenient but "bad" energy source that running out. And while it would be relaxing in the present to not have to think about these issues for a while, it is not necessarily a good thing.
Until we face the real problem and come to grips with it, all we are doing, IMO, is sticking our collective heads in the sand (or whistling past the graveyard if you prefer).
The analogy which comes to mind is: if a doctor give a prescription for a powerful cough medicine to a chain smoker who comes in complaining of a bad cough, has he best served his patient? I would argue that it is in the patient's best interest to wake up and deal with the symptoms and find their cause and correct that. If the cough medicine delays that happening, it is not in the patients long term interest.
Steve in Colorado
4.9 Shale energy bubble threatens second economic collapse (24/2/2013)
According
to her report, shale mergers and acquisitions became one of the most
profitable areas for Wall St. investment banks, accounting for some
$46.5 billion worth of deals. Her report provides evidence that Wall
Street promoted the natural gas drilling frenzy (much as it did the
housing bubble), by, among other things, conspiring with energy
companies to overstate the size of reserves by as much as 4-500% , as
well as understating the steep decline rates and highly inefficient
nature of these operations. Furthermore, they drove production to
unsustainable levels in an effort to drive prices down to encourage
investment and manipulate government policy in a direction most
favorable to domestic oil and gas production.
http://www.triplepundit.com/4.10 Plastic into bottles in pioneering recycling scheme (8/3/2013)
According to the Marine Conservation Society, plastic debris accounts for almost 60% of all litter found on UK beaches, while much of it ends up in the sea. The scale of the problem was highlighted in a recent study by scientists who found a sperm whale that died off the coast of Spain last year had a stomach full of flowerpots, hosepipe and nearly 30 square metres of plastic greenhouse covers.
-----------------------
Are the so called advanced countries dumping their waste in the seas?
Engineers
wake up! You have slept long enough. The ability to recycle a product
(or convert it into safe waste) ought to be an integral and important
component of design.
Did you know that paper with colour in it is difficult to recycle and has low (or nil) resale value?
Fancy colour printing likewise on plastic sachets will make it difficult to recycle.
Plastic
is burnt left and right in our country - this seems at the moment to be
the only viable way to get rid of it - even though it is well known
that burning of plastic is undesirable, and increasingly so, with humans
beginning to be packed together like sardines. The world managed without plastic bags only some time back ....
The modern lightweight shopping bag is the invention of Swedish engineer Sten Gustaf Thulin.[1]In
the early 1960s, Thulin developed a method of forming a simple
one-piece bag by folding, welding and die-cutting a flat tube of plastic
for the packaging company Celloplast ofNorrköping,
Sweden. Thulin's design produced a simple, strong bag with a high
load-carrying capacity, and was patented worldwide by Celloplast in
1965.
-----
As far as I am aware no attempt is being made to recycle the huge amount of aluminum that is used to pack medicines in.
Selvaraj
4.11 The decline of the West? (14/3/2013)
The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice to Italian Ambassador Daniele Mancini and restrained him from leaving the country without its permission, taking exception to Italian government's refusal to send back marines charged with the killing of two fishermen. http://www.hindustantimes.com/
----------------
For
the last more than 100 years the developing world has looked to the
West in wonder and envy, wanting to emulate them in everything. Indeed
inadvertently the developing world put the West on a pedestal, not
realizing that they are human after all.
This
incidence is simply unfortunate, and is likely to reverberate in future
dealings that the developing world will have with the West. The ability
of the West to lead has been compromised by this incidence.
Let
us hope that Italy will soberly rethink this issue. It will be a great
loss for humankind and our collective future if that does not happen.
Selvaraj
4.12 Many nations will fail to meet target of recycling 50% waste by 2020 (19/3/2013)
Recycling rates in the UK rose faster in the first decade of the millennium than any other country in Europe, according to official statistics published on Tuesday.
Although the UK started from a low base in 2001 – recycling rates were just 12% for all municipal waste – it increased by the greatest amount by 2010, reaching 39%, on a par with the average for the EU.
But the European Environment Agency, which released the figures,
warned that many countries will fail to meet a European directive of
recycling 50% of waste by 2020. Some countries, such as Germany, Austria
and Belgium, already recycle more than half of their waste.
Others,
in particular those in south-eastern Europe, are straggling far behind:
Greece only recycles 18%, up from 9% in 2001, while Romania recycles
just 1%. In a few cases, countries have gone backwards, with Norway's
rates falling from 44% to 42%, and Finland's dropping from 34% to 33%.
4.13 Graphene likely to desalinate water - using 1/100 the energy (24/3/2013)
Looks as if it is the water vapor that gets through in some designs ...
Mitra's
new method creates a better membrane by immobilizing carbon nanotubes
in the pores. The novel architecture not only increases vapor permeation
but also prevents liquid water from clogging the membrane pores. Test
outcomes show dramatic increases in both reductions in salt and water
production. "That's a remarkable accomplishment and one we are proud to
publish," said Mitra.
For a salt concentration of 34 000 mg L−1 and at 80 °C, the nanotube incorporation led to 1.85 and 15 times increase in flux and salt reduction, respectively.
However it appear that producing potable water from sea water is a challenging and energy intensive process ...
"Lowering
the energy required for desalination and the fouling propensity of
membranes are the two biggest challenges facing desalination," Gray
says. (2007 article)
Selvaraj, Trivandrum, India
4.14 Global Population Growth (26/3/2013)
This lecture (and similar lectures) do not address the issue of unsustainable consumption, peak oil, peak everything and the fact that we have already sent the natural world for a 'six'.
Nor
does it address the fact that the graph is pointing sharply down; any
extrapolation of the same can only be catastrophic. More crucial, is our
collective 'thinking' graph, there is no evidence that it is beginning
to look up.
It is like believing that the Roman Empire never
collapsed and that the dark ages did not persist for a thousand years.
If there is a similar collapse (very likely, considering the sharpness
of our mental acumen), the coming dark ages will be longer than a
thousand years, since most of our resources would have been sharply
depleted.
Regards,
Selvaraj 4.15 TED Talks (1/4/2013)
Michael Pritchard: How to make filthy water drinkable
Mark Shaw: One very dry demo
4.16 The connection between resource limits and economic collapse (2/4/2013)
Everything
really is connected. Have you noticed how financial crises keep
breaking out? We had our meltdown in 2008, then there was the whole
Eurozone problem, the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Spain),
then Greece REALLY began to melt down, with people moving out of the
cities and back to ancestral farms so they can become subsistence
farmers, and now money-haven Cyprus, beloved of Russians, is flayed
alive for all to see, with most of their bank depositors losing nearly
their entire bank balance and receiving "stock in Cyprus banking
institutions," a phrase just begging to become a joke, instead of their
previously sacredly insured deposit balances.
We
of course continue to think that it can't happen here. But it will,
because this financial contagion is directly linked to the end of cheap
oil. You're better off spending the magnificent sum of two bucks on my
iPermie ebook and starting to work your way through to safety than in
trusting the future of our financial systems.
Gail
Tverberg is an accountant, and like all accountants, she is used to
delivering bad news, and she doesn't hesitate to do it, because that's
what she's supposed to do.
Bob Waldrop, Oklahoma Cityhttp://www.ipermie.net -- How to permaculture your urban lifestyle
How Resource Limits Lead to Financial Collapse
Posted on March 29, 2013 by Gail
Tverberg
Resource
limits are invisible, so most people don’t realize that we could
possibility be approaching them. In fact, my analysis indicates resource
limits are really financial limits, and in fact, we seem to be
approaching those limits right now.
Many
analysts discussing resource limits are talking about a very different
concern than I am talking about. Many from the “peak oil” community say
that what we should worry about is a decline in world oil supply. In my
view, the danger is quite different: The real danger is financial
collapse, coming much earlier than a decline in oil supply. This
collapse is related to high oil price, and also to higher costs for
other resources as we approach limits
(for example, desalination of water where water supply is a problem,
and higher natural gas prices in much of the world).
The
financial collapse is related to Energy Return on Energy Invested
(EROEI) that is already too low. I don’t see any particular EROEI target
as being a threshold–the calculations for individual energy sources are
not on a system-wide basis, so are not always helpful. The issue is not
precisely low EROEI. Instead, the issue is the loss of cheap fossil
fuel energy to subsidize the rest of society.
If
an energy source, such as oil back when the cost was $20 or $30 barrel,
can produce a large amount of energy in the form it is needed with low
inputs, it is likely to be a very
profitable endeavor. Governments can tax it heavily (with severance
taxes, royalties, rental for drilling rights, and other fees that are
not necessarily called taxes). In many oil exporting countries, these
oil-based revenues provide a large share of government revenues. The
availability of cheap energy also allows inexpensive roads, bridges,
pipelines, and schools to be built.
As
we move to energy that requires more expensive inputs for extraction
(such as the current $90+ barrel oil), these benefits are lost. The cost
of roads, bridges, and pipelines escalates. It is this loss of a
subsidy from cheap fossil fuels that is significant part of what moves
us toward financial collapse.
Renewable
energy generally
does not solve this problem. In fact, it can exacerbate the problem,
because the cost of its inputs tend to be high and very “front-ended,”
leading to a need for subsidies. What is really needed is a way to
replace lost tax revenue, and a way to bring down the high cost of new
bridges and roads–that is a way to get back to the cost structure we had
when oil (and other fossil fuels) could be extracted cheaply.
more at the link above.
__._,_.___
4.17 London's cooking waste to fuel power stations (1/4/2013)
Cooking waste from thousands of London restaurants and food companies is to help run what is claimed to be the world's biggest fat-fuelled power station.
The energy generated
from the grease, oil and fat that clogs the capital's sewers will also
be channelled to help run a major sewage works and a desalination plant,
as well as supplying the National Grid, under plans announced by Thames Water and utility company 2OC.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/4.18 Bring back the Dog Carts! (21/4/2013)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Alice <alice_friedemann@yahoo.com>
Date: 20 April 2013 22:12
Subject: [RunningOnEmpty2] Bring Back the Dog Carts!
To: RunningOnEmpty2@yahoogroups.
Those of you looking for postcarbon employment can get in on the ground floor...
Dog Carts and the Extinction of Memory
http://terriermandotcom.
Alice Friedemann in Oakland, CA
4.19 Using the expertise of mining companies to improve recycling (29/4/2013)
But
current recycling programmes have not kept up with the reality of
modern technology. Mobile phones contain more than 40 elements including
copper and tin, but also precious metals such as gold, silver and
palladium, and speciality metals such as cobalt and indium. Lightbulbs
also contain rare earths, and a modern car can contain nearly all the
metals available. While recycling has focused on simple wastestreams, the problem of separating out these elements for recycling has been neglected.
That
is where, according to Unep, the miners should come in. Extraction
companies have the expertise to separate the metals from their ore, so
they should also be able to help in separating out valuable recyclable
materials from complex products at the end of their useful lives.
The
report found: "Recyclers increasingly seek the help and expertise of
metal miners, who extract mineral ores often containing several metals
and have developed ways and means of recovering the metals of interest
via complex methods that are based on physical and chemical principles."
-------------
Food is served by the railways in disposable aluminum packages; aluminum
is also used widely to package medicines and for a myriad other uses.
How much effort is being put in to recycle this metal?
Selvaraj
4.20 Increased Efficiency / Alternative Energy (10/5/2013)
One
of the ugly things I talk about in the book is that up to 77% of all of
the electricity and potential energy that comes into a power plant via
coal, or uranium, or gas is wasted by the time it reaches the consumer
through conversion loss and line loss. So, I believe we're leaning more
toward a distributed power industry, I would say somewhat at the expense
of the incumbent utilities, because producing electricity closer to the
point of consumption will greatly enhance efficiency and there is a lot
of room to squeeze efficiency out of the grid.
In
short, we are not going back to coal, we are not going back to heating
oil. We are going towards increased efficiency and alternative energy.
http://www.policymic.com/4.21 Breakthrough Renewable Energy Forecasting (14/5/2013)
Breakthrough renewable energy forecasting technologies may be two years away from revolutionizing the efficiency of wind and solar generation on America’s grid.
The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is adding to its already impressive list of renewable energy innovations with a new two-year plan to develop custom forecasting systems for wind energy and solar power.
NCAR scientists and engineers will develop technology to improve wind power output
by predicting sudden changes in wind speed, help wind farm operators
avoid curtailment during icy conditions, and predict the amount of
energy generated by small-scale solar energy installations.http://cleantechnica.com/2013/
4.22 Sharing the burden of going green (17/5/2013)
The Centre must make richer, more developed States take up the responsibility for switching to renewable energy and reducing the country’s dependence on coal
(Suresh Prabhu, a Lok Sabha MP, has formerly been Union Minister of Power.)
http://www.thehindu.com/4.23 Bangladesh's Green Radio heralds new era of environment education (23/5/2013)
Targeted at the youth, the initiative relates environmental stories
sans the jargon from 7.15 am to 8 am every day through its programmes
Green Hour, which is research based, and Green News, a daily update on
the environment. Broadcast from Dhaka, the programme is relayed by the
other seven 89.6 FM stations to ensure country-wide coverage.
"Sometimes scientific jargon makes it complicated for environmental
stories to be communicated to the people. Green Hour is meant to build a
bridge by simplifying scientific terms and describing them in simple
language to the listeners in between discussions with experts or
researchers," Khan said.
"FM radio listeners are mostly the youth; so we target them in Green
Hour to take up activities oriented to the environment. At the same
time, this is an infotainment radio show; so listeners can also enjoy
some songs," Khan explained.Read more at: http://news.oneindia.in/2013/
4.24 How cities are changing the way we eat (31/5/2013)
By the year 2050, nearly 80 percent of the world’s population is expected to live in cities. In the face of climate change and rising energy prices, it makes more and more sense to grow food in and around cities: Why schlep fruits and vegetables thousands of miles across the country or import them from abroad when you can grow them closer to home? But as urban populations swell, there’s increasing pressure to growmore food in less space.
... The
movement is taking place not just in parks and zoos, but on commercial
rooftops and in abandoned inner-city lots, on balconies, decks, and fire
escapes, along sidewalks and medians, around government buildings and
on cleaned-up industrial sites. These unlikely growing spaces now
collectively span hundreds of acres in and around Chicago, and tens of
thousands of acres in cities across the nation. Even New York City,
where there hardly seems to be room for grass, let alone farms, is
getting in on this. (There are an estimated 14,000 acres of unused rooftop space where food could be grown in the city — an area that’s about 15 times bigger than Central Park.)
(See slide show)
http://www.babble.com/best-4.25 China leads the waste recycling league (17/6/2013)
With the world's population and consumption increasing, the waste heap
is growing. More than 4bn tonnes of waste (municipal, industrial and
hazardous) is generated annually worldwide. Where does it all go?
There
is a major challenge in describing and quantifying the global waste
trade. A limited number of countries monitor and make public their
imports and exports. Definitions and reporting discipline can vary
greatly across countries. There is also a large (and growing) illegal
trade in waste, which is even more difficult to monitor. The market for
waste is now worth an estimated $443bn (£283bn) a year, and this figure
is growing because of increasing export volumes and rising prices.
...
Despite the difficulty in estimating the volume and value of the
illegal waste trade, attempts by the UN Environment Programme and the
Green Customs Initiative indicate that crime syndicates earn $20 to
$30bn a year from waste crime. Inspections of 18 European seaports in
2005 found as much as 47% of waste destined for export was illegal.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/4.26 Transition Towns (16/6/2013)
Local, self-sufficient, optimistic: are Transition Towns the way forward?
Locally grown food, community-owned power stations, local currencies …
can small-scale actions make a difference? Yes, according to the
Transition network – in fact, it's our only hope.
Late
last year, Rob Hopkins went to a conference. Most of the delegates were
chief executive officers at local authorities, but it was not a public
event. Speaking in confidence, three-quarters of these officials
admitted that – despite what they say publicly – they could not foresee a
return to growth in the near future.
"One said: 'If we ever get out of this recession,
nothing will be as it was in the past,'" Hopkins recalls. "Another
said: 'Every generation has had things better than its parents. Not any
more.' But the one that stunned me said: 'No civilisation has lasted for
ever. There is a very real chance of collapse.'"
4.27 Sharing Economy (22/6/2013)
Sharing
companies enable people to share anything from a car to a house to an
office desk, using the Internet to vet and match those who have
something with those who need it.
Sharing-economy entrepreneurs say their firms are a boon to the economy,
because they enable productive use of assets that would otherwise be
sitting idle. And they can enable all manner of people to, in effect,
start their own small business.
"We could create millions of entrepreneurs who don't fit into the market
system," Brian Chesky, co-founder and chief executive of Airbnb, said
at a Reuters Technology Summit roundtable in San Francisco this week...
http://www.reuters.com/4.28 Collaborated farms and food self-reliant (2/7/2013)
Hands on engagement is required to become sustainable and self sufficient - very true.
My
experience in growing beans on my rooftop garden confirms this. When I
started growing beans one and a half years back, I was happy when the
bean plants climbed up and put out luxuriant leaves. Then came the
flowers and then came the beans and I was very happy .... and then came
pests in the form of mm size black crawling insects, in hordes. Seeing
the hordes of crawling bugs I lost all hope and decided temporarily to
forget about gardening. And then came red ants from a creeper that we
had trailed from the ground; the ants cleared the bugs in no time. I got
good crop of beans with the help of the red ants for nine months.... In
the mean time we cut the creeper that supported the red ants, fearing
that the creeper was bringing rats to our rooftop. The ants made nests
using bean leaves and the leaves of another plant, but eventually they
were not able to maintain their population in the wet weather and they
died out.... Back came the pests in two varieties, one white in colour
and the other black.... Tried reintroducing the ants without success
(evidently there will be ways to reintroduce the ants if I put in
sufficient effort).... In the mean time I bought a small hand spray gun
to see whether I could neutralise the bugs using a decoction made from
Neem leaves ..... this was not a success. Then I got the brainwave, why
not just spray the bugs off the leaves? This has proved to be a success.
Some time spent examining the leaves for bugs every day keeps the
plants free of bugs, and once again I am getting good crop of beans. I
would however prefer to reintroduce the red ants. (Beans are probably
easy to grow because they are capable of fixing their own nitrogen).
The tragedy of modern science is that all the
scientific intellectual space has been taken up by the 'mechanical'
sciences. The type of science that helps us manufacture cars, planes
and rockets is being blindly applied to the life sciences. We need to
balance the 'mechanical' sciences with a science based on respect for
our living world.
Regards,
Selvaraj
After being self-sufficient in wheat for over 20 years, the Saudis announced in early 2008 that, with their aquifers largely depleted, they would reduce wheat planting by one-eighth each year until 2016, when production would end. By then Saudi Arabia projects it will be importing some 15m tonnes of wheat, rice, corn and barley to feed its 30 million people. It is the first country to publicly project how aquifer depletion will shrink its grain harvest.
... In
a World Bank study, water expert John Briscoe says: "Pakistan is
already one of the most water-stressed countries in the world, a
situation which is going to degrade into outright water scarcity due to
high population growth." He then notes that "the survival of a modern
and growing Pakistan is threatened by water."
.. As
serious as water shortages are in China, they are even more alarming in
India, where the margin between food consumption and survival is so
precarious. In India, whose population is growing by 15 million per
year, irrigation depends heavily on underground water. And since there
are no restrictions on well drilling, farmers have drilled more than 21
million irrigation wells and are pumping vast amounts of underground
water.
In
this global epicenter of well drilling, pumps powered by heavily
subsidised electricity are dropping water tables at an alarming rate.
Among the states most affected are Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and
Gujarat in the north and Tamil Nadu in the south. In North Gujarat the
water table is falling by 20 feet per year. In Tamil Nadu, a state of 72
million people, water tables are falling everywhere. Kuppannan
Palanisami of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University noted in 2004 that 95%
of the wells owned by small farmers have dried up, reducing the
irrigated area in the state by half over the preceding decade.
---------------------
It would be very desirable if 50% of our political discussions, as well
as 50% of news coverage (including the talk-fests on TV) are of a
scientific nature. Our survival could very well depend on how we
exercise our minds.
Selvaraj4.30 Welcome to the 'Sharing Economy' (21/7/2013)
Chesky then fires up his iPad and shows me on Airbnb.com the
rooms and homes being offered for rent: “We have over 600 castles,” he
begins. “We have dozens of yurts, caves, tepees with TVs in them, water
towers, motor homes, private islands, glass houses, lighthouses, igloos
with Wi-Fi; we have a home that Jim Morrison used to live in; we have
treehouses — hundreds of treehouses — which are the most profitable
listings on our Web site per square footage. The treehouse in Lincoln,
Vt., is more valuable than the main house. We have treehouses in Vermont
that have had six-month waiting lists. People plan their vacation now
around treehouse availability!”
... Afterward,
guests and hosts rate each other online, so there is a huge incentive
to deliver a good experience because a series of bad reputational
reviews and you’re done. Airbnb also automatically provides $1 million
in insurance against damage or theft to nearly all of its hosts (some
countries have restrictions) and only rarely gets claims. This framework
of trust has unlocked huge value from unused bedrooms. “In the last 12
months in Paris, we’ve generated $240 million in economic activity,”
Chesky said.
... There’s more. In a world where, as I’ve argued, average is over —
the skills required for any good job keep rising — a lot of people who
might not be able to acquire those skills can still earn a good living
now by building their own branded reputations, whether it is to rent
their kids’ rooms, their cars or their power tools. “There are 80
million power drills in America that are used an average of 13 minutes,”
says Chesky. “Does everyone really need their own drill?”
4.31 Has the Earth's Axis Tilt Changed Recently (11/8/2013)
Most
of the people who have contacted me have been struck by the fact that
the sun has been striking north facing walls and shining in north-facing
windows. This is perfectly normal. The only thing that has changed is that they've noticed it for the first time.
...
It's flatly untrue that the sun never rises and sets north of due
east-west except in the tropics. Between March 21 and September 21 the
sun rises north of due east and sets north of due west everywhere on earth. The tropics are defined by what the sun does at noon. Outside the tropics the sun never appears overhead at noon.
If the earth's axis tilt had increased to 49 degrees, it should be
possible to photograph vertical objects with no shadow in International
Falls, Minnesota near June 21. And of course, you can't.
The
tropics are two parallels with latitude equal to the earth's axis tilt:
23.5 degrees. According to the axis-shift theory, the tilt is now 49.5
degrees, so the tropics are now at 49.5 north and south. Large cities
with deep canyon streets would be a great place to test this theory. In
New York, latitude 40.8 degrees, the sun should be directly overhead
about May 18 and July 25. For Chicago (41.8 degrees) the dates would be
May 20 and July 22. Skyscrapers should cast no shadows at noon. In
between those dates at noon the northsides of buildings should be sunlit at noon and the south sides should be in shadow; the south side of the street should be sunlit and the north side should be in shadow at noon. Does that happen? (I don't care what happens at sunrise or sunset. Of course the north sides of buildings will be sunlit early in the morning and late in the afternoon. It's only noon that matters.)
----------------------
Will be of interest to you if you plan to install solar panels.
Selvaraj
4.32 The large energy footprint of the digital economy (14/8/2013)
...
The global ICT system includes everything from smartphones to laptops
to digital TVs to — especially — the vast and electron-thirsty
computer-server farms that make up the backbone of what we call “the
cloud.” In his report, Mills estimates that the ICT system now uses
1,500 terawatt-hours of power per year. That’s about 10% of the world’s
total electricity generation or roughly the combined power production of
Germany and Japan. It’s the same amount of electricity that was used to
light the entire planet in 1985.
Read more: http://science.time.com/
4.33 U.S. wastes 60% of the energy (28/8/2013)
So why don't they do use waste heat? Profit, Greed, and Laws are the
reason. Integrating other commercial ventures within a corporations
property raises all kind of legal issues. Providing heat for local
communities and businesses not only involves capital expenditures for
the infrastructure to move and distribute the heat but also involves the
company legally if things go wrong, such as exhaust leaking into the
system, overheating of the buildings, or emergency shutdowns causing
freeze damage or loss of business revenue. New laws protecting
suppliers and limiting the recourse of recipients would have to be put
in place to forestall expensive law suits and liabilities.
It's all possible but profit demands a company use the most profitable
means to an end thus just burn the cheap fuel and exhaust the heat to
the air. Systems that are more efficient and use waste heat for other
purposes are more expensive up front, thus causing many companies not to
install them. Energy is relatively cheap, allowing waste. If a carbon
tax were in place, providing secondary energy to others for useful
purposes could reduce the tax and stimulate use of waste heat.
http://www.treehugger.com/slideshows/energy-policy/united-states-uses-39-energy-it-produces-wastes-61/
4.34 End of Atomic Age (24/9/2013)
For Merkel, there’s more to do than just getting costs under control. Germany last year alone added 10 gigawatts of wind turbines and solar panels -- the capacity of about 10 nuclear plants -- yet output varies with the weather. That puts strains on an already outmoded electrical grid. http://www.businessweek.com/
4.35 Nuclear plant cost overruns (20/10/2013)
The
project, originally estimated to cost $14 billion, is now between 18
and 21 months behind schedule and $900 million overbudget.
Westinghouse and its construction partner, Stone &
Webster, have had to make a number of changes to the original design
plan that was the basis for the 2008 contract with Georgia Power and
several other part-owners. According to Westinghouse, those changes and
their costs were the result of new regulations by the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, including a requirement finalized in 2010 that buildings
that house nuclear reactors must be able to withstand an airplane crash.
... While $900 million is a significant sum, it's still a
small fraction of the cost overruns experienced during the construction
of existing nuclear plants. Those, on average, ran 200 to 300 percent
over budget. Vogtle is 16 percent over. But the project is only half done...
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.
4.36 How to lose half a trillion Euros (15/10/2013)
Good News!
Solar Power in Kerala appears to have come
under a cloud, with many who have installed solar power seeing no
reduction in their electricity bills. It is frequently cloudy in Kerala,
so generally the output is less. Another problem appears to be the
manner in which the system is connected to the load - the load connected
is probably too high, beyond the genuine capacity of the solar system,
so what appears to be happening is that the load is actually driven by
the domestic electricity line which is provided as a backup to charge
the batteries when solar power is inadequate. Effectively the domestic
electricity ends up charging the batteries, which in a circular route
drives the load (with all the attended losses). (It is important that
engineers learn to be honest - if they are not to lose their
credibility).
I am just about to install a 1 Kw array ( 250 watts x
4). I have designed and fabricated tracking mechanisms for individual
arrays (tracking will be done manually to start with and later automated
using a simple scheme). My plan is to avoid using domestic electricity
to charge the batteries (except as a last resort to protect the
batteries). Charge the batteries during the day using solar power and
then drive the designated load between say 6 PM and 9 PM - which is the
peak demand time for the grid.... let's see how things work out. (An
intelligent controller for use in domestic solar arrays which can sense
when the battery is fully charged and connect and disconnect the load as
required would be very desirable).
Selvaraj
India has 1,759.43MW of grid-connected solar power, with close to 800MW coming from Gujarat. The projects are expected to be ready for commissioning next year.
As part of TN's solar power policy, which aims at installing 3,000MW of capacity by 2015, a total of 52 companies will sign agreements with the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) for capacity totalling 698MW at a tariff of 6.48 per unit (with a 5% increase annually for 10 years).
This comes at a time when the country's national solar policy is tottering. The second phase of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) has been delayed by over five months with no sign of the programme being kick-started any time soon.
Can I use solar panels without using batteries?
Solar Power Record:
On
Monday, the 15th of April, 2013, the approximate 1.3 million solar
power systems in Germany set a new domestic/world record by reaching a
peak power output of 22.68 GW at noon.
Grid connected panels can make solar power cheaper:
A
grid-connected system linking rooftop solar panels across the State
could drive down the cost of generating solar power and provide the
basis of a sustainable energy system for Kerala, noted social and
environmental activist and the former director of the Agency for
Non-conventional Energy and Rural Technology (ANERT) R.V.G. Menon has
suggested.
.. The
paper said a system to connect rooftop solar panels directly to the
utility grid could push down costs. “Today, a 1 Kilo Watt (KW) domestic
rooftop solar power system with battery backup can be installed for
about Rs.2 lakh. If the system is directly connected to the grid, the
power generated during daytime can be fed into the grid and the consumer
can draw power when required, obviating the need for storage batteries
and bringing down the investment by Rs.50,000,” he said.
-------------------
The Central Government seems to be saving all its money for Nuclear Power Plants?
Selvaraj
4.38 Solar Power (1/11/2013)
India
has 1,759.43MW of grid-connected solar power, with close to 800MW
coming from Gujarat. The projects are expected to be ready for
commissioning next year.
As part of TN's solar power policy, which aims at installing 3,000MW of capacity by 2015, a total of 52 companies will sign agreements with the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) for capacity totalling 698MW at a tariff of 6.48 per unit (with a 5% increase annually for 10 years).
This comes at a time when the country's national solar policy is tottering. The second phase of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) has been delayed by over five months with no sign of the programme being kick-started any time soon.
As part of TN's solar power policy, which aims at installing 3,000MW of capacity by 2015, a total of 52 companies will sign agreements with the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) for capacity totalling 698MW at a tariff of 6.48 per unit (with a 5% increase annually for 10 years).
This comes at a time when the country's national solar policy is tottering. The second phase of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) has been delayed by over five months with no sign of the programme being kick-started any time soon.
Can I use solar panels without using batteries?
Solar Power Record:
On
Monday, the 15th of April, 2013, the approximate 1.3 million solar
power systems in Germany set a new domestic/world record by reaching a
peak power output of 22.68 GW at noon.
Grid connected panels can make solar power cheaper:
A
grid-connected system linking rooftop solar panels across the State
could drive down the cost of generating solar power and provide the
basis of a sustainable energy system for Kerala, noted social and
environmental activist and the former director of the Agency for
Non-conventional Energy and Rural Technology (ANERT) R.V.G. Menon has
suggested.
.. The
paper said a system to connect rooftop solar panels directly to the
utility grid could push down costs. “Today, a 1 Kilo Watt (KW) domestic
rooftop solar power system with battery backup can be installed for
about Rs.2 lakh. If the system is directly connected to the grid, the
power generated during daytime can be fed into the grid and the consumer
can draw power when required, obviating the need for storage batteries
and bringing down the investment by Rs.50,000,” he said.
-------------------
The Central Government seems to be saving all its money for Nuclear Power Plants?
Selvaraj
4.39 Lame duck urban planning (9/11/2013)
Inside a gated compound, residential towers and houses overlook a lake and manicured gardens. What’s missing from the neighborhood are shops and amenities, turning the block and hundreds like it in the suburb of Meijiang into a giant dormitory for Tianjin, 40 minutes away by car.
“There’s no hospital nearby, no hair salon, hardly any restaurants,” said Wang Bo, 62, who lives with his daughter’s family in the complex and ferries his wife to work each day. “I have to drive 20 minutes just to buy vegetables.”
This is one of China’s superblocks, developments that are storing up a social, energy and environmental crisis by forcing millions of new urban middle-class residents to drive everywhere. As China’s ruling Communist Party convenes this week to debate an economic blueprint for the future, the Soviet-inspired urban plan pits municipal governments that rely on the land sales for a fifth of their revenue against Premier Li Keqiang, who is trying to balance urbanization with efforts to clean up the environment.
What the U.S. did in the 1950s with 160 million people, China is doing now with more than a billion -- moving to suburbia. Unlike the U.S. postwar sprawl, which mixed houses with schools, supermarkets and diners, the new Chinese commuters have to drive back to the city, or even across town for basic services, boosting energy consumption and emissions that have made the nation’s cities some of the most polluted in the world.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/
______________
Create core areas of 1Km x 0.5 Km where movement is only by walking and cycling (emergency transport using dedicated electric cars).
Work only half your time in a conventional organisation. Spend the other half in a social organisation (including farming).
Selvaraj
4.40 Population of the world / sustainable development (11/12/2013)
Hello Arthur,
The population of the world was two
billion in the year 1900, with agriculture being largely organic and
little use being made of fossil fuels for agricultural operations (not
including transport). Considering the improvements made in agriculture
don't you think we could learn to survive with a population of say four
billion. We will not have much spare time to party and laze around to be
sure, but we could survive.
How is this figure of 7 to 30 million arrived at? Even in the year 1500 AD, the world seems to have supported 500 million people
Regards,
Selvaraj from Triivandrum, India
---------
Hi Arthur,
If the leaves from the Apple tree were not
relocated, and even the apples that fell from the tree were allowed to
rot and to compost, we would have a closed system, hopefully, the next
crop from the apple tree would be as bountiful as the earlier one.
**********************
*.........................*
*.... Apple Tree ....*
*.........................*
**********************
The Apple Tree would then form part of a closed system. The only input into the system being the sun's energy.
Similarly we can have a closed system with more number of elements:
**********************
*.........................*
*.... Apple Trees...*
*.... Cows............*
*...Humans..........*
*.... Wheat ..........*
*...Dogs and Cats.*
*.........................*
**********************
The problem is, modern science has not had the wisdom to nurture
such a closed system. If you come to my city (Trivandrum), you will find
garbage being thrown left, right and center with everyone equally
clueless about what to do with it. The fecundity of the planet cannot be
doubted. The planet has supported a large mass of life for at least the
last 100 million years.
Regards,
Selvaraj from Trivandrum, India.
------------
Hi Louise,
For people to act they must be aware of the facts and they must have spare time to plan and to act based on their awareness.
The population in general is neither aware of the facts nor do they have the spare time to educate themselves.
There is a huge static noise created by Governments, Economists and our Media regarding the need to CONSUME in order to keep our economy ticking. This effectively cancels any attempt to bring awareness to the general public (after all every individual has only 24 hours at his disposal).
SOLUTIONS:
1. We need to bypass our corporate controlled media - which to some extent is already happening because of the Internet.
2. There is a need to reinvent the educational system, the present educational system is going no where.
3. We need to reinvent the way we work. We must spend only half our time in a corporate controlled environment. The remaining time must be spent in social organisations, including agriculture. (Important side effects of this move will be to (1) double employment opportunities (2) reduce the killing effect of monotonous work that much of humanity is engaged in.
For people to act they must be aware of the facts and they must have spare time to plan and to act based on their awareness.
The population in general is neither aware of the facts nor do they have the spare time to educate themselves.
There is a huge static noise created by Governments, Economists and our Media regarding the need to CONSUME in order to keep our economy ticking. This effectively cancels any attempt to bring awareness to the general public (after all every individual has only 24 hours at his disposal).
SOLUTIONS:
1. We need to bypass our corporate controlled media - which to some extent is already happening because of the Internet.
2. There is a need to reinvent the educational system, the present educational system is going no where.
3. We need to reinvent the way we work. We must spend only half our time in a corporate controlled environment. The remaining time must be spent in social organisations, including agriculture. (Important side effects of this move will be to (1) double employment opportunities (2) reduce the killing effect of monotonous work that much of humanity is engaged in.
Regards,
Selvaraj, Trivandrum, India4.41 India Readies Big Move Into Solar Energy (14/12/2013)
SAMBHAR, India—Here on the shores of a
salt-water lake in the desert state of Rajasthan, India hopes to build a
solar-power station that eventually will dwarf the world's largest such
plants under construction today.
When
the proposed project is finished in seven years, government officials
say, carpets of photovoltaic solar panels will turn the site into a
potential supplier of 4,000 megawatts of electricity capable of
delivering power to millions of homes across the northwest. The site
currently is used by a state-owned salt producer.
... Solar power in India, as elsewhere in the
world, has been getting cheaper as the price of photovoltaic cells has
fallen and solar modules have become more efficient, industry experts
say.
In the last three years,
solar-generation costs here have dropped to about 7-8 rupees (US
11.2-12.8 cents) a kilowatt hour from around 18 rupees (28.8 cents)/kwh
three years ago, said
Amit Kumar,
director of the Energy and Resources Institute, a New Delhi
research group.
Mr. Kapoor of the
renewable energy ministry said he believes the proposed Sambhar plant,
operating on such a large scale, eventually would be able to produce
power for around 5 rupees (8 cents)/kwh.
Power
from imported coal and domestically-produced natural gas currently
costs around 4.5 rupees (7.2 cents)/kwh, Mr. Kumar said.
----------------
My own rooftop 1Kw solar system has been installed and is working satisfactorily (without any subsidy).
The
use of batteries seems to be an Achilles heel of the system. My 1 Kw
system can potentially draw say 35 to 40 amps from the arrays, but max
that has been drawn so far is 16 amps - we have had clear sky for some
time in the last few days. The system is probably designed to balance
the power generation with the requirement of battery charging at a safe
rate; so as to extend the life of the batteries, which is quite
expensive, and will need to be replaced periodically. (Most rooftop
solar arrays are stationery, unlike mine which can be swiveled, this
could be another reason for this type of design).
This limit of 16 amps is not a big deal here in Kerala,
which has clear sky (for only part of the day) for no more that 3-4
months in a year. Yet, the better approach would be to do away with the
batteries and pump excess power into the grid. The state usually is
short of power during these 3-4 months.
Selvaraj4.42 How to create a Food Forest Using Goats (21/12/2013)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Julian Puddy <julespuddy@ntlworld.com>
Date: 20 December 2013 22:39
Subject: [RunningOnEmpty2] How to Create a Food Forest Using Goats - For Arthur Noll
To: RunningOnEmpty2@yahoogroups.
From: Julian Puddy <julespuddy@ntlworld.com>
Date: 20 December 2013 22:39
Subject: [RunningOnEmpty2] How to Create a Food Forest Using Goats - For Arthur Noll
To: RunningOnEmpty2@yahoogroups.
Can the negative effect of over grazing goats be turned into a positive??
What do you make of the above 11 min video Arthur?
I remember as a kid goats being tethered to eat back “weeds”
PO relevance?- when the oil runs out we need to eat?
Keep well
Jules
UK4.43 Types of Solar Panels (22/12/2013)
Thin film modules should, in theory, be the best for the UK climate,
because they are very well suited to dull, diffuse conditions. They take
up a lot more room than other types, but are generally much cheaper.
However, most distributors in the UK only stock crystalline modules, so
take up of thin film in the UK is still quite small.
http://www.c-changes.com/
---------
In
the process of obtaining information for suitable batteries for my
solar system, from a battery supplier (I decided not to go ahead with
cheap batteries having guarantee of only one year) I was directed to
another person near my house dealing in solar power systems. http://www.c-changes.com/
---------
4.44 Tata Power solar targets granted 2016 extension? (24/12/2013)
The utility unit of Tata Power Co. will be allowed to push back its solar power procurement targets
to as late as 2016 after an Indian state electricity regulator agreed
that a shortage of sun-based power generation in the country had
hindered the company’s aims.
A statement issued by the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission outline how Tata Power has been unable to meet government renewable mandates since 2010 because of a nationwide shortfall in PV installations.
"It faced a genuine difficulty," said the commission, setting a new date of March 31, 2016 for the fulfilment of the company’s procurement targets, and even waiving fines that had initially been imposed.
Solar power can be spread widely by encouraging people to put up solar panels over their houses.
$13
billion is equivalent to 2 million people spending $ 6500.
Decentralization should be the mantra in so far as solar power is
concerned, there is already plenty of real estate over houses and flats.
It will provide jobs, cut down transmission losses and make people more
aware of the possibilities that exist to reduce power consumption. It
will also reduce the amount to be spent by the government since people
will foot part of the bill. A statement issued by the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission outline how Tata Power has been unable to meet government renewable mandates since 2010 because of a nationwide shortfall in PV installations.
"It faced a genuine difficulty," said the commission, setting a new date of March 31, 2016 for the fulfilment of the company’s procurement targets, and even waiving fines that had initially been imposed.
Solar power can be spread widely by encouraging people to put up solar panels over their houses.
4.45 Wind Power (23/12/2013)
CHENNAI: The India Wind Power Association (IWPA), a representative of wind energy producers, has launched a fresh challenge against the Tamil Nadu government's decision to buy thermal power, instead of using available wind power, to tide over shortages.
On Thursday, the association moved the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity, the appeals body, challenging an earlier ruling against it by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission.
"Tangedco (the state-run power generation and distribution company) is buying from outside costly thermal power even during the windy months of May to September by backing down wind mills eight to 22 hours daily and refusing to give the 'must run' status to wind mills, calling it infirm power," K Kasthurirangaian, chairman of IWPA, told ET.
Infirm power is considered interruptible at a very short notice.
Read more at:
http://economictimes.
http://economictimes.
4.46 Green card to quick industrial development (26/12/2013)
A 1200 mw plant planned by Jindal Power in Chhattisgarh, with an investment of nearly Rs 14,000 crore, is held up as the green ministry is yet to grant it permission to transport coal by road and set up a crushing plant. This delay, officials said, is inexplicable as the relevant expert committee had recommended these clearances in January this year.
Read more at:
http://economictimes.
--------------------
http://economictimes.
--------------------
Transporting
coal by road will involve spending huge amounts on diesel, will kick up
dust all along the way, is this likely to be viable?
Countries like Japan, South Korea
and Taiwan have few natural resources, get these resources from half way
around the globe and yet have viable economies. How do they do it?
Evidently these countries have strong economies because they concentrate
on value addition to basic raw materials, not on the raw materials
themselves.
Selvaraj
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