A stove that can trigger a fuel revolution

IN SEARCH OF CLEAN ENERGY: PART III   Sreelatha Menon & Sapna Dogra Singh / New Delhi December 26, 2007         Jatropha oil and solar stoves for cooking? Many environmentalists see cooking as the right use for jatropha oil and other bio-fuels which are now being used only for running vehicles.   The reason is that 80 per cent of the renewable energy now in use is in the form of twigs and cow dung that the rural woman uses for cooking. Jatropha oil and solar stoves could help continue using a green fuel even when she leapfrogs into affluence.   Says environment activist Sunita Narain: This woman is cutting more CO2 emissions than the big companies which have been running windmills, because her stoves outnumber the windmills. She is too poor to afford a kerosene stove or a gas stove or a microwave. Women like her form 80 per cent of the entire gamut of renewable energy, while wind, solar power and other forms comprise just a fraction of 0.4 per cent. Her chulha (oven) forms 39 per cent of India’s primary energy use. The need of the hour is to find an alternative for women like her. That would provide a beginning towards a low carbon economy.”   The energy advisor in Greenpeace India says the idea does not make economic sense as the jatropha grower would prefer to sell the oil to a company like Reliance, for say Rs 30 a litre, and buy kerosene for Rs 2.   However, Subrato Mandal, a bio-fuel expert and an economist at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), says the economy of fuels is skewed as subsidies are determining the prices of fuels. The environmental viability of fuels should also be taken into account. He says there are scattered instances of jatropha and similar plant oils being used for cooking purposes. But it has not been documented.   He says it can definitely be a medium for cooking as it can be directly put in the stove and the wicks burn like they do in an oil lamp. It can definitely be a good alternative for a petroleum product.   He says that the clean development mechanism (CDM) should be used to make the prices affordable for the poor.   If the CDM is used to fund jatropha use for cooking oil, it should translate into carbon emission reductions (CERs) and earn in euros to the grower and if it is being sold to an auto fuel company then the CERs should be denied to it, says Mandal.   Currently, a CER earns 21 euros — double of what it earned a year ago. So CDMs should be exploited to make such green projects like solar stoves and bio-fuels viable and profitable, adds Mandal.   The bio-fuel expert says solar stoves can supplement other cooking medium in cities and villages. He says if a solar stove can help a housewife cut LPG use from 14 cylinders a year to four a year, then why not?   Meanwhile, the Ministry of Renewable Energy has no project for green cooking fuels. It has 4 million family-size biogas plants, about 1.4 million solar photovoltaic systems for lighting and other applications.   It is, however, supporting deployment of renewable energy systems by providing fiscal and financial support to reduce the capital costs of these systems.   It is left to communities to exploit the green opportunities, says the ministry.

 

Seeing a tiger at its own sweet will

Kanha National Park, Mandla district, Madhya Pradesh A chital alarm called as our Maruti Gypsy rolled down Bison Road in Kanha National Park at about 8 in the morning. A few minutes ago, the Park, with a core area of 940 sq.km and a buffer zone of 1,005 sq.km, had just shed its mist cover. The chital alarm called again possibly from the far side of Shravan Tal at the end of Bison Road. We moved back and forth Bison Road when our guide, 30-year-old Kamalesh Maravi, advised us to halt the vehicle at the end of Bison Road in front of Shravan Tal.

Kishor Rithe of the Satpuda Foundation, at the wheel, switched off the engine and we waited. By about 8.20, one got the first glimpse of the radio-collared tigress as it climbed on to the embankment, strolled along before moving down towards us and away into thick, dry light brown grass. From a distance of about 80 ft. we could take some pictures as the tigress walked in and out of the skylight. Kishor refused to age the tigress while Kamalesh Maravi thought it was a full grown, six-year old female. It has three cubs and has earned a frightening reputation as some of the guides believe it had killed a human intruder into the Park some time ago. Kishor, Giri Venkatesan, this writer and his son, Ganesh, had a peaceful viewing as there was only a second Gypsy parallel to us.

Over five days, Ganesh and this writer (Kishor and Giri had to break off on work at Mandla) had five tiger sightings. Evening trips in Kanha start at 3 p.m. and end at 5.30 p.m. while the morning rides start at around 6 a.m. and end at 12 in the afternoon. There were about 30 minutes to go that evening as we were driving in second gear along Dhawajhandi fireline before touching the Indri-Chimta Road. Our guide Phagan Singh Maravi is passionate about tigers. He has a sixth sense as he told us in Hindi, “Saab, idhar tiger dekhne ko milega (Saab, we are sure to see a tiger here).” Sure enough at around 5.10 on the left side of the forest track, we sighted the powerful head of a heavy, radio-collared male. It was a profile in tiger thought as we switched off the Gypsy engine to watch. After a few minutes, it rose, looked round and walked away sedately in silent mode.

It was 5.15 p.m. Yet again, we were alone on the forest track. We moved along to spot a second male, probably mightier than the first, on the right side above a nullah. A peacock was strutting in front of it calling desperately. But the tiger did not attack. For a few moments it sat on its hind legs staring at the peacock nervously pacing in front. The tiger walked down the nullah, circled a tree to smell it and moved away as a few vehicles saw the action. The peacock also made it with its life. “Chalo aaj bach gaya (He is saved for the day),” remarked Phagan Singh Maravi. On the following evening, a male tiger sighting was ruined by many crowded Gypsies, desperate to see the animal. It lay curled up in the grass with its head tucked into its belly and did not bother to raise its head. Perhaps, from an aesthetic angle, the radio-collared tigress at the Kanha Meadow was the prettiest sight.

Driving along the edge of the Kanha meadow, we (along with our guide Kamalesh Maravi) thought we heard a high-toned roar and stood still at the spot. Two wild boars were feeding at a distance of about 80 ft. when Maravi took us back to the rim of the Kanha Meadows. At 8 a.m., in sparkling sunlight, a radio-collared tigress strode out across the grassless part of the Meadow towards a banyan tree. Two elephants tried to trap the lady (for the popular Tiger Show) as it crossed over into the forest beyond. For about a forever 10 minutes, one stood rooted at the easy grace of the lady as she made the distance. Panthera tigris is alone in the super league of Nature. Kamalesh Maravi had his own construct on the event. Possibly, the tigress was mating with a male and went off the scene for its own reasons. The elephants failed to trap the female but got the male for the Tiger Show. Three to four elephants surround a tiger or tigress for the public riding on the elephant’s back to have a sighting. Most wildlifers scorn the Tiger Show. This writer would ban it for the reason that the Tiger Show comes in the way of seeing a tiger at its own sweet will in the wild by the ordinary public.

On holidays (like the one starting ahead of Christmas and ending around the first week of January), more than 70 vehicles enter the Park when the carrying capacity is 55 vehicles per day (six to a vehicle). This information was given last year to this writer by Khageswar Nayak, Chief Conservator of Forests, Kanha National Park. With the media (including this piece) exclusively chronicling the fate of the tigers, the visiting public is exclusively tuned on the animal; the rest of the sal and bamboo forest and its citizens, which is Kanha National Park, are set aside. Using own funds liberally to reach Kanha, the public wants to see a tiger and at some places vehicles form double rows (with none yielding space) when the animal is spotted. It does not have an easy solution as disappointing too many visitors could get them forever against Nature, argues Giri. There is a scientific way to measure the carrying capacity of vehicles in a Park and that could act as the limit, says Kishor Rithe.

But one cannot understand the move of the Park management to open a third gate at Bitcha to add to the rush; currently there are two gates – Kisli and Mukki. In the bargain, the Tiger Show needs to be stopped as it is demeaning to the tigers, if not to the humans.

Public frustration can be really sharp going by the tale told us by Phagan Singh. A frustrated visitor, having spent well over Rs. 20,000, yelled at Phagan Singh Maravi and threatened to report the non-sighting of a tiger to forest managers in Bhopal and New Delhi. “Ek do tiger ko idhar bandh ke rakkho (Tie up one or two tigers in the Park),” he shouted at a scared Phagan Singh, who humbly replied, “Saab, aap kuch bhi karo. Mere ko chod do (Saab, you are welcome to do anything but leave me alone).”

Some time in the future the public may be able to see more tigers as the Satpuda range as Central India becomes one integrated piece of Tigerland. Proof: Dr. Y.V. Jhala of the Wildlife Institute of India, has radio collared a few tigers in the area and one tiger collared in Kanha National Park was found recently in Pench Tiger Reserve Maharastra, some 250 km away.

P. Devarajan

 

Recycling company building $50m plastic-to-fuel plant

Enviro-Hub's plant will be able to convert into fuel 30,000 tonnes of plastic waste a year

By Jessica Cheam

AN EXCITING new use has been found for the annoying plastic waste that often washes up on beaches and clogs rubbish dumps: fuel. It may sound too good to be true, given the soaring price of crude oil and the global hunt for alternative fuels, but mainboard-listed Enviro-Hub Holdings says it is building the world's first large-scale, commercial plastic-to-fuel plant. The waste management and recycling firm yesterday announced the construction of Singapore's first $50 million plastic-to-fuel plant - which converts waste plastic into useable fuels and gases. Its executive chairman, Mr Raymond Ng, told The Straits Times that Enviro-Hub had been researching a long-term environmental solution for plastics since 2005. Success came only last month, when a pilot plant it built proved that the technology imported from India worked. This patented technology, for which Enviro-Hub now holds an exclusive licence, heats waste plastic with a special catalyst that breaks it down into 85 per cent diesel, 10 per cent liquid petroleum gas and 5 per cent coke. 'This plant is a historic milestone for the company,' said Mr Ng, formerly the co-founder of waste recycler Citiraya Industries, now known as Centillion Environment and Recycling. 'Plastic waste has always been a big problem for the world. The commercial potential in this technology is huge,' said Mr Ng. Enviro-Hub's new 200,000 sq ft plant in Tuas, which will cost an initial $30 million to build, will be able to convert into fuel 30,000 tonnes of waste plastic a year. Mr Mohamed Gani Mohamed Ansari, business development director of Enviro-Hub unit Cimelia Resource Recovery, said the diesel produced - unlike in older technologies - would have low sulphur content and also lower carbon dioxide emissions. The heating process of converting the waste plastic into fuel would also be emissions-free, said Mr Ansari. Enviro-Hub is now looking into seeking carbon credits from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. These credits are savings in carbon dioxide emissions - largely blamed by scientists for global climate change - that can be traded on the carbon market. Enviro-Hub's facility - equivalent to a 24MW plant - will use about 5 per cent of the fuel it generates to power itself. The rest will either be used to power the rest of Enviro-Hub's plants nearby or sold to industries. The plant will start operations by the second quarter of next year, with its capacity expanding to 50,000 tonnes a year at an additional cost of $20 million by end-2008, said Mr Ng. Enviro-Hub yesterday incorporated a new unit - Enviro-Power - to operate the plant. Funding for the plant is internal, the firm said in a statement to the Singapore Exchange. Singapore is estimated to generate more than 300,000 tonnes of waste plastic a year - a capacity Enviro-Hub hopes its plant will eventually reach. Enviro-Hub also announced late yesterday that it would invest US$4.2 million (S$6.1 million) in a 30 per cent stake in Enviro Energy - a company incorporated in the Cayman Islands. Enviro Energy, through a unit in Thailand, will also be looking to set up a similar plastic-to-fuel plant in Thailand. The setting up of Enviro-Power and the investment in Enviro Energy are not expected to have any financial impact on the company's current financial year. Enviro-Hub's shares was 0.5 cent higher at 57.5 cents at yesterday's close

 

 

Leadership in Governance

MEN AND IDEAS

Blueline solution in Indore

GURCHARAN DAS

 

To be able to kill 113 persons in less than 12 months in broad daylight is something of an accomplishment. The distinction belongs to Delhi’s Blueline buses. Desperate citizens tend to blame drivers, police, politicians, or transport officials. They are all guilty, of course. The real problem, however, lies elsewhere. A few months ago a prominent public figure even blamed ‘privatisation’. A staggering comment, i thought, considering that major cities in the world (including in France and England) have excellent, privately run bus services.
   Closer to Delhi lies Indore, a city of 20 lakh people. Vivek Aggarwal, a 34-year-old IAS officer, became its collector in 2005. He had a hobby — he studied bus services in different cities. With a tiny capital of Rs 25 lakh, he launched a public-private bus partnership in Indore based on best practices in the world. Two years later, Indore has a fleet of 98 modern, low-floor buses with computerised ticket-vending. Electronic signboards at bus stops announce when the next bus is due based on satellite data. Investment in the system has risen to Rs 40 crore, all done privately. The city has made a profit since inception; so have its six private partners who run the buses. Soon, it will have 500 buses. Indore is now quoted (with Bogota) as having the best bus service in the world.
   What can Delhi learn from Indore? First, it must ditch the old socialist idiocy of ‘one bus one owner’ — a product of the ‘small is beautiful’ thinking of the Eighties. This same stupidity made India reserve 800 industries for the ‘small scale sector’. Economists believe this was perhaps the most harmful industrial policy of the past 50 years, which has effectively prevented our industrial revolution. Indore did not have such socialist hang-ups — it selected the most capable entrepreneurs and companies to run its buses. Secondly, Delhi must not allow two operators to compete on the same route. This leads to speeding and accidents as drivers scramble to maximise revenue. Bus owners must get exclusive routes and earn revenue based on distance travelled, and this can be easily monitored by an affordable satellite system that tracks bus movement. Indore has a daily and monthly electronic pass, whose revenues are shared between companies. Tomorrow, if Delhi switched to a system where Blueline buses earned revenue per kilometre, traffic deaths would disappear.
   Delhi must also have a regulatory body which assesses demand, plans routes, fixes fares, gives out tenders, and monitors daily performance. Indore has a five person team which does this continuously, and this is the secret of its success. Delhi is finally planning to have a Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority, but unless it gives it teeth, it won’t succeed. Some will argue that Indore is too small to be an example for Delhi. These are the same second rate minds who scoffed at Japan’s miracle in the Sixties and Korea’s in the Seventies, arguing that these countries were too small for India to copy. Just think of Delhi as 10 Indores!
   Another painful lesson from this tale of two cities is that it takes a bit of luck to throw up officers like Vivek Aggarwal, who have the knowledge and the will to deliver. The average IAS officer spends a lifetime pushing files and still gets promoted. Vivek Aggarwal, i fear, may actually be punished by a system that puts down achievers. But before that he would have had the moral satisfaction of bringing a smile on 20 lakh faces in Indore — something that most of his colleagues will never experience in an entire lifetime.

 

Technology leadership in Drip irrigation

Last week I read about Singapore’s position as a global water hub. However, in the area of irrigation, due to the domestic market, Jain irrigation, an Indian company has made tremendous advances. In the next 10 years, as our glaciers and rivers dry up, we will need to completely overhaul our irrigation systems. Instead of mega projects like river linking, we need to concentrate more on issues like getting farmers access to drip irrigation.

 

BH Jain conferred Water Conserver of India award

moneycontrol.com: December 1, 2007

Shri B H Jain, Founder-Chairman of Jain Irrigation Systems Limited, has been conferred upon the prestigious UNESCO & West-Net instituted award as the “Water Conserver of India”. This is taking into account yeomen service to the cause of water conservation. Jain Irrigation is pioneer in micro irrigation and sprinkler irrigation systems in India which is a viable alternative to the conventional irrigation methods. This award has been presented by the Hon’ble Union Minister of Water Resources, Prof. Saif-Ud-Din Soz at a glittering function held in New Delhi on 29th November 2007 at the Jaypee Vasant Continental, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi. The function was attended by eminent delegates from the World Bank, UNICEF, UNESCO, Central Water Commission and TERI apart from the Industry and Press. Till date, the Company has received 46 State Awards, 85 National Awards and 3 International Awards for outstanding export performance, R&D achievements and entrepreneurship, Fair Trade Practices Etc. The internationally prestigious "Crawford Reid Memorial" Award instituted by Irrigation Association, USA was conferred on the Chairman Shri. B.H. Jain for "Significant Contribution to the Irrigation Industry outside the United States". The Company employs more than 4,200 people directly and several hundreds indirectly. The company operates through branches and depots practically in all the States besides overseas subsidiaries for supporting and developing Export business. The Company has an outstanding track record in successfully developing Micro Irrigation Systems and Sprinkler Irrigation Systems as an alternative to the conventional irrigation methods. Besides, the Company makes PVC Pipes for Irrigation; PE Pipes for gas and water distribution and ducts for Optical fiber cables. PVC & Polycarbonate Sheet for exports; Fruit Pulp & Puree Dehydrated and Onion & vegetables for exports. Company has modern manufacturing facilities located in India at Jalgaon, Maharashtra, Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh), Baroda (Gujarat) and Udumalpet (Tamilnadu). The company has recently acquired Companies in USA & Israel in its core line of business as part of strategy to become one of the top 3 global players. At present, Company has 13 plants outside India i.e. USA, Israel, Chile, Brazil, Spain & Australia The Company has an extensive Research & Development [R&D] farm and training & development center spread over nearly 1,000 acres of farm at Jalgaon & similar facility near Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. This center has extensive development laboratories and is engaged in pioneering efforts in developing tissue culture plants for Banana, Sugarcane etc. The Company's turnover for the last year ended on 31.03.2007 was Rs.1,267 crores and is currently expecting to accomplish a more than 45% growth in the current year with a turnover of Rs.1,850 crores, including Rs.515 crores of export turnover from India. The Company's customers included some of the top MNC's like Coco-cola, Pepsi, Nestle, Gilroy Foods etc. besides Indian large customers like HLL, Reliance, L&T, BSNL, Bharati Telecom etc. The Company had established its leadership in almost all the businesses it is engaged in and the list of satisfied customers are even increasing.

 

Singapore bid to become global water hub

If we could have ‘shower’ meters, linked to the volume of water being used & a display that converts that value into rupees, I think it will go a long way in reducing personal water consumption.

 

 

Turning a crisis into an opportunity

K.V. Kurmanath

Hyderabad, Nov. 29 Singapore’s success story with water reminds one of a Bollywood rags-to-riches story. From a water-starved State 30-35 years ago, it has now become a confident nation on the water front.

This, however, is not news. The success story has been written many times over in the last few years.

But what is new is the city-nation refuses to live on the laurels. It now wants to become a global hydro hub, offering technologies and skills in project implementations in the water sector.

It has already begun taking up desalination projects in West Asia and project management assignments in China and Vietnam, according to Mr Prantik Mazumdar, Centre Director (Kolkata) of Singapore Government’s International Operations Group.

“The Government has set up a $500-million fund for research and development in the water and related issues,” he said.

Mr Mazumdar was here to showcase the Singapore experience with regard to water and its plans for the future at a summit on water organised at the CII-Green Business Centre.

The city is taking up a S$2-billion project that envisages laying 40-60 metre deep tunnel sewerage system to collect all of its used water and, using the gravity pull, channelise it to Changi Water Reclamation system.

It will also help the City-State free 90 hectares of precious land. Singapore’s 700 sq. km is less than half of our national capital.

The 10-litre challenge

As a part of its bid to become a global water hub, Singapore is going to organise an international meet on water next year.

As it strived to save and use every drop of water, the Singapore Government launched the 10-litre challenge, asking its people to reduce the per capita daily consumption of water to 155 litres by 2012.

 

A businessman`s crusade against darkness

 

A businessman`s crusade against darkness

PROFILE/ Harish Hande, CEO, Selco

BS Reporter / New Delhi December 04, 2007

 

Harish Hande, who has been honoured recently with a prize for social entrepreneurship, has made it his business to take solar power to every un-lit home.

Harish hande, CEO, Selco, who has been selected social entrepreneur of the year by the Nand and Jeet Khemka Foundation this year, has been in the business of solar electrification since the past 12 years. At last count, his clients numbered 85,000 in 220 villages in Karnataka and 2,000 clients in Gujarat where he started operations recently.

Hande says he is into business only because that is the only way he can take solar power to the largest number of people. That has been his dream and main occupation for the last 12 years when he started doing his Masters and PhD in Massachusets Institute of Technology. His subject was rural electrification and whether solar power makes sense.

He says he came upon the idea during a brief visit to the Dominican Republic as a student in IIT Kharagpur. “Those two hours of what I saw there — people using and paying for solar energy changed my way of thinking totally. I haven't touched technical applications after that,” says Hande.

His strategy for making solar energy succeed has been two fold: doorstep service and doorstep financing. He first started creating solar service centres in all the places he was setting up solar panels.

In addition, he got the centres to identify more potential technicians in nearby villages which were beyond the centre's reach, train them and then help them set up shop.

The second task was to persuade the existing financial network of Regional Rural Banks, cooperative banks to finance the solar panels he set up. “Once that was done, I have been piggy-riding on this network to spread the reach of solar power into the interiors of Karnataka villages,” he says.

In Gujarat, a tie-up has been achieved with SEWA and customers are getting financed while being offered solar energy.

Hande admits that solar electrification programmes have been criticised for providing just a single bulb and thus keeping the poor sections from being on a par with other beneficiaries of electricity.

He says that his technicians go with a clean slate to the customer's house. It is not a pre-planned one-bulb scheme being offered. People can opt for one or two or three bulbs and even run an electric sewing machine,. The installations can be done in phases depending on the payment capability of the buyer, he says.

He has the story of a customer who ran away when he was told that three bulbs would cost him Rs 12000. The technician of SELCO did not give up, says Hande. He went back to the customer, climbed on his roof and put a single bulb in such a way that it lit up three of his rooms cutting the cost by third.

The costs of lighting up houses come between Rs 5,000 and Rs 18,000 he says. “Of course, solar lighting cannot solve irrigation problems of villagers. That needs so much energy that the costs would be unbearable for the villagers,” says Hande.

He also is not in favour of a single transmission system catering to a number of customers. “It is so much easier to be modular,” Hande says.

He says the idea that drives his business proposition is the Gandhian principle of “production by masses rather than mass production''. And the fact that in Karnataka alone 44 per cent of people have no electricity