Desicritics Category: BizTech: Energy

Change, or the Climate Will Change You!

jay — Fri, 6 Nov 2009 09:44:56 EST

It is going to be hot in Copenhagen this winter. That is because the United Nations Climate Change conference is beginning in that city on December 7. There is a lot at stake for many nations in this conference as time has come to reach a deal on climate change after postponing the problem for several decades. The Kyoto Protocol adopted in 1997 and effective from 2005 has been patchy in its effects. The situation has changed considerably in the past decade and awareness about the problem has risen significantly in the past few years. It is no longer beneficial for any nation to behave like an ostrich with its head in the sand when it comes to climate change.

India is one of the more significant players on the field here. The minister for Environment Mr. Jairam Ramesh has been twisting and turning to find the appropriate stance that is palatable to all. As a rising power it is extremely important for India to be seen as a part of the solution rather than as a part of the problem. To be fair, this is the dilemma that all the major nations face. The level of discussions have reached a point where it is no longer fashionable to engage in shouting matches looking to pin the blame for this problem on developed nations anymore. The need of the hour is concerted action from all corners.

It is a battle between the developing and developed nations with China and India assuming leadership of the former while the US and EU are ranged on the latter's side. In my opinion, India needs to act as a bridge between the two sides to play a constructive role in this bargain. The fact of the matter is, whether you like it or not, China is not a reliable partner in this endeavour. China has many strategic aspects to consider including its enhanced role in the world. They can ditch the coalition to appease the crowd in the opposite camp. This is a major cause of worry for India while coming up with its nuanced position.

What is even more critical in my opinion, whether the climate change negotiations bring about legally binding commitments or not, is to start working on implementing the solutions. On this front, China is a leader both on the ground in implementing and at the negotiation table scoring brownie points.

Consider this:

China passed a renewable energy law in 2005 which mandates feed-in power from renewable resources into the energy grid. The aim is to meet 10% of the power needs of the country through renewable sources by 2020. India does not have a law nor a plan of this nature.

More than 10% of the homes in China have solar water heaters installed. India's number is much less.

On Electric cars, China is well ahead in the game compared to the rest of the world. Several companies like Lishen, Coda, SAIC, BYD, Chery have specific plans to make electric cars with several models already on the street. India only has Reva. Also, China is far ahead even compared to the US when it comes to battery technology for electric cars - the most important piece in the electric car jigsaw puzzle. Combined with its manufacturing prowess, this gives China a tremendous advantage in the coming years.

To its embarrassment, China is a world leader in using carbon generating energy sources like coal (India is third). It is quite clear though that the country has taken a decisive turn to address its problems and to move towards a carbon-mitigating future. And when China makes a decision, it sticks to it. It is up to India to make similar moves as soon as possible to jostle for leadership in this space. Even though we may have several constraints including finding the funds for it, it is quite clear that alternative energy is the future.

India needs to gain the strategic and the moral high ground in this game to be a recognized leader of the world. Can we do it?

Chinese Checkers

jay — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:41:19 EDT

Back in the early days of this decade, with the BRICs report being published and the "India Shining" banners fluttering in the wind, it appeared for a brief period that India was finally getting its act together and moving head to head along with China in the race for world domination and super power status. Even Thomas Friedman converted himself into an Indophile. Nine years later at the half way mark however, it looks like it is turning out to be a race between Usain Bolt and PT Usha for the 200-metre medal. Usha is better than any one else we have ever had in this country, but she is just not good enough to compete with Bolt.

The indications are everywhere. From the diplomatic moves that China makes as a confident and resolute power, to the seats that it commands at the high table of negotiations across the world (consider the abolition of the G-8 and the introduction of a G-2). From the way its economy is growing at break neck speed, to the way its infrastructure is being upgraded across the board. From the way it has taken a lead role in alternate energy sources to the way it is sewing up influence across the world especially in resource rich countries (in Africa etc). Look at what is has done at its border with Tibet and India. We have been caught napping with all our plans still on the drawing board. China's negotiating power at the high tables have particularly increased substantially during the "Great Recession" and is now acknowledged by many as the only savior capable of rescuing the world economy (if they wanted to, that is). All this of course is not to belittle the huge problems China still faces or the costs it is likely to incur in terms of pollution and other human development indices.

India always harbored this dream of being compared as an equal to China (rather than Pakistan - the hyphenation that we hate!) and for a while it appeared that we had done it. I think 2008 was a watershed year when we lost it. The onset of the recession, the Beijing Olympics, the 26/11 terrorist attacks and the coronation of the great Pacifier - Obama - have put paid to our hopes for now. India needs to get its act together once again and spend its energies in the right places to stay close behind China (I am no longer considering the term "equal" here) in the high stakes game. Although there are still many skeptics who either dislike or dread China or are still looking in wonderment at their meteoric rise, it seems more and more apparent that China has given rise to a new way of development - authoritarian sustainable capitalism. I still maintain that it is too early to tell, but indications are that all cylinders are on fire and that the rocket is not a dud anymore. That China has got it right - not necessarily right by its people - but right by its ambition to be at the high table of international power, by whatever means necessary.

India has always been an out-of-touch, moralizing country saddled with the morality of Gandhi and the idealisations of Nehru. Perhaps we preferred to play the role of the leader of poor and developing nations soon after our independence. That was fine then. But we kept our blinkers on for longer than necessary, even after the end of the cold war and found ourselves nowhere in the scheme of things in the world. Of course we just got our moorings right in the 1990s, so we started putting our house in order late due to various circumstances. But now is the time for India to boot up.

We need to decide what our goals should be and work towards that. It is easier said than done with so many divisive forces within the country. But we need to make a start. It is admittedly a really ardouos task. But we need to do it. And the sooner we get our focus on the task ahead, the better.

Will Manmohan Get An Economic Nobel?

Vivek Sharma — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:44:01 EDT

It is about time our Sardarji got it. Sardarji who is credited as father of optical fibers managed to dodge the Nobel by a whisker. I often look at that name on the wall of the Subway stop of Kendall Square/ MIT, and marvel at our inability to remember and recognise his name. But Manmohan Singh is a name that strikes a familiar chord in the West. Had there been no Manmohan Singh, we, Indians, could have been eating chai-pakoda, filter coffee-samosa, thumbs up and chaat in place of MacDonald's Burgers, Pizzas and KFC nuggets. The man who leads the greatest democratic nation in the world, (and emphasises the fact that India has more voters than the living and dead voters of the United States in the twenty-first century), the man who leads the most destitute crowd of voters into a capitalist, globalized economy, the man who has helped India become a keyboard thumping nation of 'code-monkeys' and 'phone-donkeys', making late-night forays into their stylised cubicle prisons from where they answer phone-calls with assumed Western accent / name, that man, his team, his party deserves some Western pat on the back. But maybe Sardarji will not get it for precisely these reasons and others that we will see in rest of my post.

Manmohan will not get it as he is overqualified as a politician. He is too gentle with words, too urbane and he lacks the element of drama so essential for getting credit for things. He does not offer to change the world, he has already done that to 1/5th of the world (or been largely responsible for guiding it through). He does not have a monstrous predecessor who ruled his country before him, he is neither fighting any wars nor spending great amount of public money on financing big banks that hand out million dollar bonuses. Manmohan does not have the charisma to carry a Nobel Prize into the front-page controversy anywhere except in Pakistan and in China. Both these countries are significant to the stability of the world, and who would want to enrage them by offering the prize to an Indian.

In fact, we Indians would be enraged if he got a Nobel, after all Gandhiji did not get one, after no writer after Tagore managed to get one, Bose (aka Bose-Einstein theory) got none, Bose (aka JC Bose) did not get one. We are happy this way; this Nobel is quite inconsistent with Eastern values, where we don't value individualism and temporary success as much as we value good karma, i.e. good action, and success which arises in form of good effects seen by coming rebirths and generations. Nobel prize in economics has been awarded in past to people who guided world economy into great recession of this decade: showing it is a transient award, given for predictions rather than results. It is given for things that look mathematically consistent (though all real life conditions are ignored), for things that help the richest country now remain the richest country with people carrying greatest amount of personal debt, which finances luxuries that requires largest per capita consumption of energy, causing oil companies to become rich by waging monopolistic campaigns in oil-field-carrying nations, causing first rate energy crisis which will follow. It is given to policies that create Banana republics, not to policies that provide cheap health care and education to masses. Exceptions are always there, and of course, if it were not the free flow of ideas that spawned this post, I would have believed and said the opposite to everything I said here so far. I don't verify facts and figures while writing such conundrums, and sometimes awards are given in similar vein, so maybe my approach to saying things here is not totally vague.

Maybe the Chinese Premier must be given the Nobel, for allowing Marxism to be reinterpreted in such a way that China has now more billionaire than any other country, that is if we forget to count the billionaires in United States. To redefine communism in this way took less than two centuries after the issuance of Communist Manifesto. I am sure Karl Marx is re-reading his theories and trying to understand what went wrong, that his brainchild Marxism is now interpreted in this way. Also the Maoists in India, who want a China-like communism in India, must be quite confused by the turn of events in China itself. Perhaps by shifting 70% wealth into the hands of 1% people (according to some unverifiable propaganda estimates), by reinventing the meaning and purpose of communist party, and keeping 1/5th of world population under control while they did it, the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese Premier have made an unprecedented economic breakthrough that deserves a nod of approval from the Nobel committee. Maybe Arvind Adiga or his character from White Tiger, are already rooting for the Chinese Premier. China already produces every toothbrush, shoe nail, nut, bucket, dinner plate, door handle, undergarment, comb, hairbrush, (maybe even flags of other nations), TV remote, table-lamp switch and imitation weapon (read Charlie Wilson's War for details) used by people in rest of the world. Such progress deserves a prize, more than our progress indicated by our Sardarji's facts and figures.

Who knows though, maybe Manmohan will get it anyhow. He might get it as the committee has never given a prize to a person of his community and its about time that the economic prowess of Punjabis was awarded. He might get it as they begin to comprehend that the growth rate on Indian GDP and inflation has defied most of the World Bank estimates in the past two decades. It will be a good idea to award him the prize and claim that International Monetary Fund, and the intellectual and economists are supportive of former professors even after their leaving practices and posts for offices of political intrigues and power-plays. It is no small matter however that when Chanakya, the famed economist of Mauryan empire from twenty-three centuries ago, was the prime minister, the Indian contribution to GDP of the world was a decent 33%. We are only off by the second digit in that figure, and 3% is not bad by any means. We had 1/3rd of world' population back then, and through middle ages, the GDP was decently high, provoking so many attacks on the nation. To safeguard ourselves from colonists, Mongols, Greeks, Huns, Islamic tyrants from beyond the Hindukush, to safeguard ourselves from a repetition of those bloody war, we as a nation decided to stop being so rich. But Manmohan wants to make India look rich, and he needs encouragement. He definitely needs encouragement. We could have been spending money on getting rid of insurgents everywhere, on borders, in bordering states, in Maoist-infested states. We could have been spending money on providing possible places for professors and researchers to make their grand discovering in India. We have avoided all these temptations, ensured that we export our talent, and we keep our farmers dependent on foreign seeds, so that our commitment to world economics is not questioned.

For this level of incongruity in practice and values, in poorman's pocket and rich man's mansion, in supposed technological advances that create only code-monkeys & phone-donkeys, for this level of dedication to profits of world's multinationals, for this level of focus on removing hunger by letting the hungry die, for removing insurgents by giving them the lands they ask for, for liberating India from licence-raj, where politicians made direct fortunes, and taking it into an era of economic liberalization where politicians still make money, and unknown forces get the profits, for all this chaos and trying to make sense of it, I recommend Manmohan for the Nobel prize of economics, and if that is not possible peace. The nomination process for 2010 will open up soon: start casting your votes in his favour folks!

Book Review: Living Green - The Missing Manual

Sunil — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 06:24:38 EDT

Over the past few years "sustainable living" has suddenly grown in importance in the more developed and affluent countries of the world, and most people are at least curious about it. Yet it isn't always easy for people to know if their lifestyles are green or not. An easily readable yet comprehensive and enjoyable resource for green living would be of great value to everyone, from the die hard eco-warrior to the gently curious citizen. Nancy Conner's Living Green is just that much required reference to fill that void.

A well written book that can be read as a serious reference or a quick pointer for specific questions, this book (from O'Reilly's Missing Manual series) addresses most questions anyone could have about living green, and what all it involves. Living green isn't just about replacing a few light bulbs or occasionally bicycling to work, but is about a comprehensive lifestyle change where the consequences of all our actions are considered from an earth perspective. The book also does well in suggesting that we do have choices, and by living green we do not have to abandon all the comforts we have become accustomed to.

This book is organised in chapters that deal with changes we can make in our homes, all the way through green business and getting involved towards sustaining a greener planet. If you are just starting with small changes in your life, and want to see what little things you can easily do around the house, the first section addresses these questions. You will easily be surprised by the number of toxins you are exposed to routinely, from harsh detergents to cleaners and solutions commonly used in bathrooms or kitchens. Importantly, the book provides low cost, simple alternatives that are far less harmful to our own health as well as the health of the planet. Taking just one example, it was most useful to hear that the ultimate all purpose natural cleaner is white vinegar and boric acid powder, which can be used to scour sinks, clean bathtubs, wipe countertops and clean floors. With a few modifications, it can also be used as a garden pesticide. The book then builds towards reducing unnecessary consumption (going for quality over inexpensive quantity is an easy first step), and reusing and recycling. It then goes a level higher, and provides outstanding resources and ideas towards building houses that are green as well as energy saving, talking about everything from simple design solutions to LEED certification for buildings.

The next section talks about a complete lifestyle change, from raising a green family (ever thought about how many landfills a baby's diapers could fill up?), green eating and cooking, raising kids who are sensitive towards the environment, through responsible shopping, and another big cause of pollution to the earth, daily transportation. The book provides a handy reminder of the different transportation options (from walking and biking to car pooling) to the costs of air travel or hotel stay, and how easy it can be to offset these effects for little or no extra cost. There are excellent resources for example on hotels or automobiles that take their environmental costs seriously, and are trying hard to improve energy efficiency and environmental stewardship. So, given a choice between two hotels or two cars of similar quality, this book makes it easy to choose the one that does a better job in protecting the environment.

The final section goes in depth into green business, and how it is possible to actually make a profit or create substantial savings by actually being green. Much of it is just simple improvements in efficiency. Using less paper or office recycling programs are low cost efforts that result in big "green" savings. There are significant energy savings offices can obtain by simply allowing more natural light in, or opening windows (as opposed to cranking up the air conditioners all the time). There are choices that can be made for the source of energy (and the differences between renewable and non-renewable energy choices, as well as how one can buy and use more renewable energy resources). Finally, the book goes into different ways by which one can be involved, from activism to socially responsible investing.

There is little doubt that the book is comprehensive, and provides information to someone curious about green living at every level. Yet, there are some caveats or limitations in this book.

For one, it is certainly true that many people have tried various eco-friendly/green choices around the house, and it just didn't "work as well" as the regular choice. This book, while providing excellent choices for green options around the house, does not acknowledge that there can be some limitations with green products. From my own personal example, we've tried just about every single green dishwashing solution out there. But none of them work as well as conventional dishwashing gels (which do have phosphates in them) while cleaning dishes that have been used for spicy, sometimes greasy, and often heavily cooked Indian or Thai food, though they do work satisfactorily for more standard "American" cooking. So, after much trial and error, we had to go back to conventional dishwasher detergents, after experimenting with a dozen natural ones that claimed to be just as "hard on dirt" but gentle on the environment. On the other hand, many other green products work satisfactorily (green laundry detergent with a little bit of hydrogen peroxide added to it works fine for lightly soiled clothes, but perhaps not as well for the rare, heavily soiled garment). Future editions of the book would do well to acknowledge some limitations of green products, and perhaps compare the two, saying where the green product is perfectly adequate, but where it might fall short. Acknowledging some limitations of green products is not necessarily a weakness, and makes it easier for the average person to make better choices while stepping towards green living.

Then, there is an extensive (and overall good) chapter on food, which oversimplifies the "organic is good" mantra, unequivocally casting all fertilisers, pesticides and genetically modified food as the great evil. However, the argument is far from that simple, since it is a very complex area that is grey and not black or white. Yes, pesticides can be harmful, and overuse of fertilisers has ruined land. But it is also true that careful and controlled use of fertiliser (along with suitable crop rotation and mixed cropping) can yield more food (at no nutritional disadvantage) than simple organic mono-cropping alone. Nor are all genetically modified foods dangerous. It remains a fact that every single food crop we eat today has been modified, over years of crossing and creating "hybrids", except that the methods used have been different. There certainly are issues with proprietary seeds and over aggressive patents, but casting all genetically modified food as bad is simplistic at best and false at worst. There is no doubt that sustainable (including organic) food practices are excellent for the earth, but by avoiding nuance, this book might put away some people who aren't blindly gung ho yet about everything green.

The book has been written from the perspective of a person living green. So, perhaps, the tone does not fully reach out to people across the aisle. Living in Texas has taught me that direct confrontation (about lifestyle) rarely works. In a place where say people often leave their lawn sprinklers on during three hour thunderstorms, or where cities still don't have recycling programs (and where one has to collect and cart recyclables to a recycling center oneself), finding middle ground is a starting first step. Perhaps this book can do more to address that.

However, overall the book is superbly written, and provides a single stop for the reader to find out anything about living green. A more than useful manual, it should be the book of choice should one want any reference towards green living. It is a worthy addition to any household, and lets you start making those small steps towards green living.

Dying Rivers: Global Thirst

Harold Bergsma — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:36:50 EDT

Imagine a river that runs from the world's highest mountains to the sea in an fairly straight line. Let us call it the Indus. This river, one of the most vital and vibrant in the world flowed through India (and later Pakistan) to the coastal areas near Karachi and created a huge delta with the deposits of sand, silt and rich earth. Here, in ancient times, various dwellers reaped its bounty, red rice grew in profusion, tamarisk forests were harvested by the Jat people who made charcoal, but upon the slow decline of the river they turned to catching shrimp and fish, plying the shallow and earth colored waters with their small shallow fishing dhows, crude crafts made of logs or stitched together, made of teak planks; a verdant area with animals of every kind which lived in, on, under and above the Indus waters that flowed to the Arabian Sea.

It was my unusual job as consultant with the On Farm Water Management Project of Pakistan's Department of Agriculture, during 1984-1986 that gave me the opportunity to travel the river systems of Pakistan, and the Indus in particular. The vast irrigation system of Pakistan, one of the largest in the world with hundreds of thousands of miles of canals and irrigation ditches that were built, attached to the rivers in that part of the Punjab which sustained the country. My work took me from the Tarbela Reservoir all the way to the Kalri Lake just above the mouth of the Indus; the Ravi River to see the irrigation systems fed by the Upper Bari Doab, to the Sutlej to meet with the farmers' water user associations of the Sirhind, to the Ravi and the Sidhnai, the Chenab and its Upper Chenab Canal, the Ravi and the Lower Bari Doab, Swat and its Upper Swat Canal and the Indus at Sukkur with its vast barrage canal system, my favorite place, the locus of my novel, One Way to Pakistan; the Thal Canal, the Kotri Barrage project, and on the Indus the Taunsa Barrage and the Guddu Barrage Project of the lower Indus. These canals were the life-blood support system to farmers; but these canals became the destruction of the lower Indus River. The earliest of the canals, the Upper Bari Doab was built in 1859, and one of the most recent, the Guddy Barrage Project on the Indus, was constructed in 1962.

Arif Hasan, in 1992, published a fine review in "India Environmental Portal: Knowledge for Change" entitled, Death of the Indus delta. He says, "Starved of fresh water and no longer able to withstand the encroaching Arabian Sea, the Indus is dying a slow death. The channels of this mighty and historic river are running dry, while salt water is destroying the lush tamarisk forests which once lined the river, the estuarine timmar, or mangrove swamps, and the red rice paddies."

'Where has all the water gone, one time passing?' Where have so many people come from?

The Indus is the lifeblood of the agricultural system in Pakistan. Its barrages and canals have bled the river dry, but have nourished a new civilization that is expanding at an ever increasing rate. (Pakistan has one of the highest birth rates in the world) The human condition, overpopulation and need for ever- increasing resources are taxing the systems of support severely, but though the Indus is dying as a river that flows to the sea its annual renewal system flows instead to the 'veins' of the people through irrigated crops of sugar cane, millet, rice and mustard seed. The evolution of mankind is such that in its inexorable growth, it taxes natural systems that once seemed inexhaustible.

So long ago, so far away! So here I sit in San Diego and read in the San Diego Union Tribune that we must all conserve water, that we are facing a crisis unless we can change our civilization with its myriad needs for water. The San Diego River is a mere trickle through a swamp and our ground water supply is getting brackish. But, thank Allah or other powers that be; we have a distant river that is our constant transfusion by canals that bring the water, but the signs of extreme water scarcity already exist. I sit here and read about the water needs of Mumbai, which are short supply; some 100 million liters short daily and I feel better, misery loves company. They even turn off the water in Mumbai for hours on end. Oh dear! Quick, build a dam, divert water. At least San Diego will never have water rationing. I am crossing my fingers.

The Colorado River is the life-blood of western United States. But water shortage in California where I live in San Diego, is at a critical stage. State and municipal regulations now limit the water that can be applied to our parks, our lush green lawns and huge golf courses, to the hundreds of thousands of swimming pools which need filling, so that people can live the good life in this desert area. But the water in the river must first run the gauntlet of Las Vegas, literally floating that city's needs so it can maintain the vitally important gambling and showbiz industry which enervates that state. The mighty Colorado River struggles to flow to the ocean because it is being bled dry by the voracious needs of the seven states through which it flows toward Mexico and Tijuana to the south near to where I live. At its very end live Indians, (the non-Asian type) the Cucapa fishermen, who have traditionally fished corvine in the rich waters near the coast, but who now face restrictions and regulations that threaten their livelihood. These few, a handful, a couple of hundred people, are clinging to an area that is fresh water starved. Once, perhaps a hundred years ago, large "... thirty ton steamboats made their way up the mouth of the Colorado. Now, at low tide, there is no longer enough water flowing downriver to float the Cucapa's 20-foot-long pangas and their cargo. ...they ended the day mired in the nearly dry riverbed, a mile short of ... destination." (In: Colorado River Delta, waters--and prospects - are drying up), by Frank Clifford, May 25, 2008, Special to the Times) The waters now reaching the Mexican border have traversed seven of the most arid of these United States which rely on it, in large part, water from the Colorado River. International treaties allow Mexico ten percent of its flow, which seems to diminish at the border.

Water, the lifeblood of nations is being squandered. In California, citizens go on with their lives and life styles and waste precious water on precious projects which support industry, their recreational and domestic needs. Even water to the bread basket of the nation, the vast Imperial Valley area where vegetables and fruits are grown for the nation, water is being rationed so that ten million toilets can be flushed daily, more lawns watered, a million cars cleaned in car washes. Water use is part of the social life and is now a political issue. We are massive consumers of earth's resources and waste water outrageously. But it takes an outrageous amount of water to keep an economy vibrant, to restart the economic engine so that we move out of a recession.

Oh yes, the Mumbai water problem. But that is far away from me now. I am more preoccupied about the water for our daily use, that now we can only water our lawns on certain days for a short period of time and that the water costs to consumers have risen dramatically. Of course I do my share of being more 'green' and now catch the water when I shower in a large bucket so it can be reused, you know where. We try to remember to flush only when absolutely necessary.

On Farm Water Management is an on-going issue in Pakistan where salt residues are building up in the soils because of inadequate drainage and over watering. Water management globally may become a bigger issue than oil-use management. Dying rivers wherever they are located indicate something as ominous as global warming; global drying, global overpopulation. (We, the consumers of more than two thirds of the world's natural resources to keep this American civilization going avoid talking about the over population issue which seems all but impossible to control, particularly in those developing countries) Global thirst, may yet outdo the global need for oil. Ask any who live in the Sindh, the Sahara or southern California. A small, half pint bottle of drinking water only costs me $1.50. Let me see what is the exchange rate for that in Pakistan? PR 120 = $1.45, which is about their average daily wage. So what would a 44 gallon barrel of drinking water cost me at that rate? Do you remember the time when it was predicted that drinking water would be more costly than crude oil? I need a drink.

Lights Out at the Earth Hour

Blokesablogin — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 07:02:17 EDT

Earth Hour was celebrated by several million people across the globe last night as we switched off our lights for an hour. We were one of millions of homes that went dark. Prior to switch off, our family had some very interesting ideas like going for a walk or sit with candles and tell stories. In the end, the boys had a terrific time playing with the battery-free flashlight meant for emergencies.

A few weeks ago, I was in Varanasi and saw a hoarding there that spoke about Earth Hour and the need to turn off their lights. The irony was not lost on me. Most of Varanasi had interrupted power supply. The hotel in which we had stayed had its generator running almost constantly.

In the surrounding areas, including Saranath, where we had visited a silk loom, work had stalled as the weaver could barely see in the dark and hence could not work. He was too poor to afford alternate generations of "lighting his way out of his gloom".

The rabri makers of Benaras relied on small pump stoves to make rabri (a thickened milk sweet) on shallow troughs along streets availing of the dim twilight to distinguish ladle from vessel. The whiteness of the milk illuminated itself in the gathering darkness.

Once again in Gaya, Bihar, the story repeated itself. People there have adapted very well for interrupted power supply. They have learned to finish cooking before nightfall by making use of "Sun direct"! The "richer" middle class guys addicted to their soaps and cricket on tele run their UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) that are series of car batteries stringed together to form a "power pack".

On our drive to and from the railway station, very little of the city was lit owing to common power cuts. The night sky sparkled like diamonds in the absence of city lights.

Delhi was no better. Gurgaon, a posh suburb, had its interruptions of electricity combated by expensive generators. Air conditioning units were run on burning diesel. The noise generated by these machines was equal to that near an airport.

At Nalanda, I was heartened to see solar panels atop streetlights that collected the sun's energy during the day and used that to light at night. Preity Zinta and several other actors have joined together for the Lighting of a Billion lives campaign.

TERI (The Energy and Resource Institute), a 45 year old institution, has been doing all this green stuff long before it became a mantra for the rest of the world. It was born out of necessity. I was introduced to them way back in the 80s when I started my Vriksha Raksha club in college. They were one of the few who actually had information that showed the importance of conserving water, wise use of land, water and electricity.

As much as I appreciate the vision of Earth Hour, I think it is a silly exercise. People who take uninterrupted electricity supply need to understand that it is a big responsibility to use it wisely. People with interrupted supply need to recognize the validity of using an alternate source be it a UPS system or a generator and opt for greener alternatives.

Even today I have to contend with family members who get unnerved by my use of the clothesline in sun-rich California and wonder why I do not turn on the dryer.

Technorati Tags: Earth Hour, Global Warming

Machiavellian Fire Fighters

thunga — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 00:10:21 EDT

I have been obsessed with this parable since I stumbled upon it a few days ago.

In ancient China, there was a family of healers, one of whom was known throughout the land and employed as a physician to a great lord. The physician was asked which of his family was the most skillful healer. He replied, “I tend to the sick and dying with drastic and dramatic treatments, and on occasion someone is cured and my name gets out among the lords.

“My elder brother cures sickness when it just begins to take root, and his skills are known among the local peasants and neighbors.

“My eldest brother is able to sense the spirit of sickness and eradicate it before it takes form. His name is unknown outside our home.” LINK

The world is so much filled with mediocrity and fighting the mediocrity to create a better world that fire fighters are celebrated more than actual creators and value adders. The person who was most well known in the above parable is the fire fighter.

This behavior is from time immemorial. Every developer who has coded a module will be aware of fire fighting. Every project manager who has handled a slightly complex project will be aware of fire fighting. What is more surprising is that it is not just the complexity of code or project which substantiates the parable but every team consisting of more than four people promotes and celebrates fire fighters.

It is always better to add to problems or blow up the problem to unmanageable proportions and then get recognition for fire fighting than to nip it in the bud. Some beautiful examples were also discussed in Nassim Taleb's book 'Black Swan'. One of the examples quoted by Taleb is about the 9/11 event in the US. If 9/11 event could have been in some way predicted, it would have never got the publicity that it has enjoyed helping the politicians the misuse for their own personal benefits than to help the humanity and the economy.

The winner in today's corporate and social world is the person who can create the loudest noise about solving a problem than a person who can actually add benefit through better processes and care which will nip the problem in the budding stage itself! If you belong to the latter categories of elder brothers, find joy in your inner abilities and strengths and not in worldly recognition.

Have you had some similar experiences?

Markham Ice Shelf Breaks Away In Arctic

Ashish — Tue, 9 Sep 2008 12:34:29 EDT

With our current sea water levels, we maintain an uneasy balance with the seas and oceans in coastal areas. Housing, habitation, and other forms of human existence are almost on the ocean's doorstep, and there are millions of people living on islands that are only a few meters about the surface of the seas. When we get a storm (call it a hurricane/typhoon/cyclone), the wave front pushed up by the storm typically expands inwards towards land and causes damage; the stronger the storm, the more the damage.

We are also getting more and more into the region where we can start seeing the effects of global warming, and as yet, the engines of civilization are still pumping more chemicals into the air that increase the speed of global warming. Worldwide, countries are not able to agree on what to about global warming, since they fear that any such action will cause an economic damage (never mind that 20-30 years later, we will see much more damage to humanity). As per projections, the massive ice shelfs that exist in the Arctic, the Antarctic, and Greenland contains enough water to raise sea water levels by many meters, and thus unprecedented damage. Scientists are slowly observing that they were not paranoid enough, that there are changes happening to the ice shelfs much ahead of projection:

A 19-square-mile (50 kilometers) ice shelf attached to an island in Canada's northern Arctic for thousands of years has broken from land, another sign of the effect of global warming, scientists said. Nearly the size of Manhattan, the 4,500-year-old Markham Ice Shelf separated from Ellesmere Island in early August and is now floating in the Arctic Ocean, said Luke Copeland, director of the Laboratory for Cryospheric Research at the University of Ottawa.

In January, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said net loss of ice mass in Antarctica increased to 196 billion metric tons in 2006 from 112 metric tons a decade earlier. To have a chance of containing the average worldwide increase in temperature to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) would require cutting global greenhouse gas emissions by 50 to 85 percent by 2050, according to the UN panel. Ice shelves, which attach to land and float on the ocean's surface, form through the accumulation of snow and freezing water.

Movement towards preserving the continued economic growth and future of humanity is conditioned upon being able to forestall events that can cause harm to humanity, and this dithering over responsibility and fear of current economic harm if trying to implement caps on emissions is slowly destroying our future.

Navadarshanam: An Experiment in Alternative Living

Anuradha Goyal — Thu, 4 Sep 2008 09:08:25 EDT

Navadarshanam is a 120 acre self sustained settlement, 50 km south of Bangalore. It is an experiment in alternative living, living in a way that does not disturb the balance of the nature around you, unlike what most city dwellers end up doing intentionally or unintentionally.

The Navadarshanam (ND) campus is something that probably many of us would wish to be in, but may not have the necessary courage to create something like this. In its 120 acres, it has few cottages made with eco-friendly construction methods, a small space to process, manufacture and sell health foods, a common kitchen that cooks on health food principles, a gobar (cow dung) gas plant that supplies cooking gas to the kitchen, a wind mill and a few solar panels that generate the electricity for the campus, a cow shed that houses a few cows, some fruit trees and tons of self generated greenery. Anathu, founder member and permanent resident of ND, explains how the barren land regenerated itself, and lakhs of trees germinated out of nowhere, including thousands of sandalwood trees. There are interesting exercising devices that generate electricity and water plants as you exercise. The periphery of the campus is a cool 4km walking track, ideal for a morning and evening walk. You can buy health foods from their simple store, these foods are also available through select Namdhari outlets and a couple of other outlets in Bangalore.

There is an interesting story behind the origin of ND, how some people who were all very highly educated, lived across geographies and were a part of a study circle, came together to create ND. As you listen about this story from Ananthu, you see the elements of destiny, some good intentions and most importantly the intent of actually doing something that people usually keep talking about. And the fact that an external agent in the form of a Swamiji came and put the action into what was being studied, was being spoken about, discussed and written about. Swamiji in a way threw a challenge at this brilliant young team to actually create a space that lived by these principals that this team was inclined to explore. The story of the initial years, of being cheated for the land price and dealing with working on an absolutely new concept in an absolutely ambiguous situation. After all what do you do with so much of barren land, and nothing as your support system. I would like to sit with Ananthu again and explore their journey, because their ND journey is documented, but I want to know about the personal journeys that they have to tread, to create such a concept.

Team at ND is working primarily in five key areas:

1. Eco-restoration: Allowing the earth to create a cover for itself, with a belief that earth is alive just like us and has the power to regenerate for itself.
2. Natural farming: Farming without using any artificial chemicals and without destroying the ecosystem of the surroundings.
3. Health & Food: Research and production of foods that do not disturb the ecology of the body, by way of undigested food.
4. Energy: Generation of energy using wind power, solar energy, animal waste and Honge seeds, all of which are available in abundance.
5. Eco-housing: Construction of houses using the local material and labor, designed in such a way that need for energy is minimal.

ND is a completely Saatvik place, where a conscious effort is made to keep the Rajsik and Tamsik elements away. In that kind of an environment you feel one with nature and one with yourself. This is an environment that makes you question a lot of things that you are doing without questioning. It forces you to think about your purpose of existence. The biggest question that I had in mind was, why we complicate our lives so much, when everything we need is available right there with the nature, why we keep running after all the gadgets and collecting all that we really do not need. I got reminded of my Bhutan visit, where there were no garment stores and people weaved their own clothes, and everyone there was as well dressed as people in any other part of the world.

Though Navadarshanam does not encourage more people visiting it, at least not more than what it can handle, but if this post rings a bell somewhere, it is definitely a place to visit while you are in Bangalore.

Broadband on Batteries

Shantanu Dutta — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 01:35:47 EDT

While booking an air ticket online the other day, there was a power cut just at the point when the gateway was processing the payment from the credit card and the modem shut down. The resulting confusion led to stress as I tried to contact the travel portal, the bank and the airline to get a clear picture regarding ticketing, charging of payment and so on. Online travel portals are not your typical travel agent of old whom you knew by name and had done business with for years. The anonymity of the voice on the other side of the line, the peculiarity of the problem and their obvious inability to understand, let alone help only added to the confusion. This practically undid any advantages that doing transactions online might have provided.

In India, there is a lot of political backing from both the major political formations to increase internet penetration which is among the lowest in the Asia–Pacific region.

“India has the lowest Internet penetration rate at 3 percent in the region, according to a survey by U.S.-based digital research firm comScore Inc. According to the survey

- South Korea boasts of the greatest rate of Internet usage, with 65 percent of its population using the Internet in May.

- China clearly has the largest online population with 91.5 million people. The number of monthly unique Internet users in India is just a quarter of that figure at 22.8 million.”

- South Korea has the most active online population, using the Internet an average of 17.4 days per person in May, and dedicating 31.2 hours to viewing 4,546 pages during the month. Indians on the other hand got onto Cyberspace an average of only 11.4 days per person in May and viewed 1,400 pages over 14.7 hours.

Clearly though, the government is not pushing for internet penetration so that citizens can watch videos on Youtube. Rather the intent is to promote e-commerce and e-governance through the internet platform and thereby increase productivity and efficiency. While all that is a good thing, the commensurate development of an infrastructure backbone is missing.

For instance, look at energy and power generation. After all, my story started with the recounting of a power failure in the middle of a commercial transaction. Even as I write this, electricity in India’s national capital goes on and off several times a day.

Anybody who has ever experienced a power cut in India would know empirically that India simply does not produce enough electricity for its needs and will not do so in the foreseeable future although the national electricity policy envisages power for all by 2012 and per capita availability of power to be increased to more than 1,000 units by 2011-12. With the deadline barely four years away it is impossible that this goal would be ever met.

While industrialization is progressing at a rapid pace, the fact that power generation has not kept up has meant that even relatively less industrialized states like West Bengal which once were power surplus, have power cuts now. In fact, the more industrialized you are, the more is the demand. Maharashtra, for example, faces a deficit of more than 30 per cent In fact, the colloquial term for power cuts “load shedding” has now become part of the country’s rural folk lore.

As I complete typing this piece on a laptop and upload it from a speedy GPRS modem, I remind myself that having a increasingly high tale density of phones and laying strategies to wire up the country to the customer’s doorstep and using Wi Max to connect up the whole country won’t work if we don’t have a proper infra structural backbone. You can’t run a broadband service operating on batteries ! It just does not work !