Green Business Innovation : Offices can now print on a E-paper and save forest.

 

Architects typically work with large-format drawings on 24 by 36-inch or larger paper. Most architectural firms have their own large-format printers or plotters to print and copy computer-generated drawings. Architects and construction houses waste a lot of paper. Even when they design a LEED building. Because the way most of them work is not sustainable at all, this I covered in my earlier article, Green Buildings – How most of them are really made, the inside story.

The reason for this is simple. The corporates which run these architectural houses are mostly developers who have become so callused by the “system” which runs India, that they have lost the perspective of good and bad. For most of them Sustainability is another “task” and “Green norms” are an impediment which they need to give a lip service too. Thus one would see, even for a small correction or revision, entire design sheets are printed, minimum 3 prints of size A -Zero.

Since trees come in all different sizes, it is difficult to estimate how much paper comes from one tree, however according to one paper manufacturer, a cord of wood measuring 4 feet by 4 feet by 8 feet produces nearly 90,000 sheets paper. Taking the last census report, India’s total population was around 1,20,00,00,000. If every Indian save one sheet of paper a day approximately 15,000 Trees can be saved. If 15,000 Trees can be saved just by not wasting one sheet of paper a day, imagine of how many trees can be saved if we become more  prudent in our approach.

Let us consider some interesting facts which I have gathered from various sources -

1. Consider this: according to the state government of Australia, over 600,000 tonnes of paper and cardboard are sent to landfill in NSW every year. Australians as a whole use 210,000 tonnes of office paper each year – and much of this is not from recycled sources but from virgin forests.

2. In the USA The average student uses about 11 sheets of paper per day. The school year goes on average 180 days so this would equal to 23,760 sheets for 12 years.

3. A Seattle based study found that businesses typically throw away about half of all documents within 24 hours of printing. In fact, about 170 tons of paper is sent to Seattle’s landfills each day from Seattle businesses.

For every dollar spent on printing documents, companies typically incur $6 in handling and distribution costs, according to a Xerox study.

Over the course of a year Seattle paper waste contributes about 9,500 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the same as the emissions from consuming 972,000 gallons of gasoline. 

This is a study by Xerox of one American city, in India and rest of the developing world we do not have such studies done or reports published. Simply because we do not think this as a problem which needs urgent and immediate attention.

But such problems can not be defined locally any more. The devastation in Japan  a year back has come to haunt the American West coast in form of  Billion ton of debris. Similarly the decimation of rain forests for pulp & paper industry would lead to unprecedented challenges more severe than what we have experienced till date and it would not be their locally. This is known to all, yet we fail to arrest easily achievable targets, such as reduction on dependence on Paper. We all know by now that it is somewhere between difficult and impossible to have a paperless office/school . But how much paper do we consume unnecessarily? It is no more possible to contain the problem by raising ones personal bar as to when one needs a paper copy of something from the computer. Strong legislation are required which would make it near mandatory that unless you′re printing something super important,(which can be defined and refined on a weekly/monthly basis by each corporation) one must  save ink and paper by tracking changes in electronic documents.

To make this legislation work, one must however understand the fundamental barrier. We still like to hold up a piece of paper in our hand and look at it from time to time, jot notes directly at the margins, rather than type for every little corrections. Moreover, for architects and other engineering professionals, physically scanning the page from top to bottom, is more sure-fire way to spot  an error than scrolling a large drawing and zooming in and out of it. It simply does not work ! I know that from personal experience. So how does one adhere to reduction of paper use and not face the cumbersome process of electronic tracking on a small computer screen ?

The answer lies in using something with is instantly portable, transferable, editable and yet not a traditional paper. E-Paper ! Yes, something which was born in the 1970′s has matured enough to be taken seriously. The first flexible EPD for consumers could be available in Europe in 2012 itself.

This is one of the spectacular proof that, it is the Business and Industry which will finally be the torch bearers of abatement to Climate Change and Global Warming. And innovation should get support from all quarters to survive the vagaries of market forces. And ones which are as important as Saving forest and whole eco-system the Governments should support it. But before we put some thought as to how we can support and grow such ideas let us understand what it is -

Electronic paper, e-paper and electronic ink are display technologies which are designed to mimic the appearance of ordinary ink on paper. Unlike conventional backlit flat panel displays which emit light, electronic paper displays reflect light like ordinary paper. Many of the technologies can hold static text and images indefinitely without using electricity, while allowing images to be changed later. Flexible electronic paper uses plastic substrates and plastic electronics for the display backplane.

Electronic paper display (EPD) is often considered to be more comfortable to read than conventional displays.This is due to the stable image, which has no need to be refreshed constantly and has a wider viewing angle. An ideal e-paper display can be read in direct sunlight without the image appearing to fade. The contrast ratio in available displays as of 2008 might be described as similar to that of newspaper, though newly-developed displays are slightly better.There is ongoing competition among manufacturers to provide full-color ability.
Applications of electronic visual displays include electronic pricing labels in retail shops, and digital signage,time tables at bus stations,electronic billboards, mobile phone displays, and e-readers able to display digital versions of books and e-paper magazines. Electronic paper should not be confused with digital paper, which is a pad to create handwritten digital documents with a digital pen.

What an innovation. A genius of the human brain which can bring about sea change in the way we work. Tied to a e-book reader, a tablet, a computer and a smart phone, this was perhaps the penultimate tool, which can eliminate maximum use of paper; before we can adopt interactive projections in thin air in front of us, as shown in Sci-fi cinemas and is  some more time in becoming a reality for common persons to have.

So what could be the immediate uses, other than being another TV or a display kiosk? To my mind it can be used for printing architectural drawings, and each of these sheet can be reused till the final design to be produced is readied. And only those need be printed. Sure there would be trials and errors but human always find methods if there is a will. It could also act as submission sheets during class tests which are held with regularity in schools to prepare children for their annual and mid-term exams. The data can always be transferred into flash -drives for storage, thus refreshing the sheets for reuse, while still retaining record of previous data. Perhaps News corporations could devise ways where one could download the “News Paper view” form e-papers which already exist in the web and in fact they can rent out the flex-sheets, and charge as they would for the subscription. It is common knowledge that  amount of pulp that required daily to publish news papers are humongous.

But, as with Renewable Energy, such high technology would come at a price which would not be within reach of the common person. And here the Governments, guided by the UNEP and other responsible organisations like the World Bank, World Resources Institute, Climate Action International, Green Peace, Carbon Disclosure Project etc should come together to focus in finding the right financial instruments which would help scale it and make it affordable. In fact small amounts from those that are pledged under various programs to arrest deforestation and abate climate change could be pooled to make such innovations; I’m sure many more equally important are around the corner; a success.

In fact if the news paper readers from world over could just contribute $1 the amount would be huge, and in the bargain the Earth would gain.

Courtesy: howstuffworks.com, articlecity.com, bloglines.com, ask.com, click4carbon.com, wikipedia

 

 

Save Petroleum form Extinction – Save Earth !

Mean surface temperature change for 1999–2008 relative to the average temperatures from 1940 to 1980 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Petroleum products Nylon zippers, ballet tights,plastic hangers, pantyhose, permanent press clothing, flip flops/thongs, fake fur, polyester clothing, ball point pens ink, computer diskettes, computers copiers, magic markers, telephones, microfilm, cameras, earphones, footballs, knitting needles, tennis racquets, golf balls,  stuffed animals, band aids, Vaseline, rubbing alcohol, Pepto-Bismol hair colouring, soap, cough syrup, hair spray, lipstick, denture, adhesives, egg cartons, candles, wax paper, nylon spatulas, Teflon pans, Formica linoleum, garden hoses, plungers,  floor wax, Plexiglas, balloons, CDROMs, check book covers, video cassettes, credit cards, dice, watch bands, Plastic furniture… If I recycle these and don’t use…Petrol, Diesel, Kerosene, LPG,  Anti-freeze, trash bags, shopping bags, spray paint, freezer bags, plastic bottles (Each year, 1.5 million barrels of oil go to making plastic water bottles used in the United States. Less than 25% are recycled)….I get to save Petroleum. I reduce Global Warming and save the petroleum for more productive use than burning it all up or thrashing it to fill up land-fills.

Climate_Change_Attribution_fr (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So will Rio+20 UNFCCC meet think about these? Create awareness? If it needs to convince the World to turn around and reverse the 3.5°C rise in temperature, it needs to think and think from the view point of how to save our most precious resource, petroleum.

The one and only Petroleum, which helped us move away from wearing the Shakespearian tights to the colourful nylon stockings. Thus heralding the modern era, where we no more die of charcoal fumes but coal, petrol, nuclear etc a whole mix of deadly fumes as it helped in quantum jump of the Industrial revolution. If that is not progress, what is ?

On a more sombre note; More than six billion men, women and children will inhabit urban areas around the world in 2050 when the global population would have surged to nine billion, putting stress on the natural resources that supply energy and food. The Earth resources are finite, be it Land, Potable water or Forest cover and the minerals which are trapped under the forest cover. And it does not take a genius to understand that per capita profit is directly related to the amount of product and produce you have for trade.

Therefore, in the Rio+20 summit, let us not talk about Global Warming and Climate change and how important it is to abate it to ensure survival of civilization. But how profits world over would dip, if resource management is not taken up on an urgent basis.

It would be wise for the OPEC countries to stop selling crude to the Gasoline manufacturers but demand a long-term business relation with Plastic furniture manufacturer, Nylon makers and other petroleum by-product manufacturers and demand a premium. (and a hefty sum from all the air-borne paratroopers who need a plastic cloth to bail them out during emergencies or when they drop down on foreign soil to create an emergency for the ruling dispensation).

OPEC kind of controls the fate of Dell, Apple, Nokia, Victoria Secrets,Vaseline et all; if OPEC does not offer them the plastic they so need how can they profit? Therefore if OPEC ask for guarantees that their crude would not be burnt up into thin smoke but used to create the various by products they would profit more. Once the datum of the raw material changes, its value proposition at source would increase. So it can obviously make more profit and at the same time the OPEC Nations can bask in the glory of creating the Messiah solution for saving Earth from GHG induced Climate change. At least a major part.

And this would automatically give a fillip to renewable energy and bio-fuel industry too; which can finally take up its rightful place as the real energy providers in terms of electrical generation and transportation fuel.

Therefore it is not necessary for climate supporters to fight the coal and petroleum lobby but make popular through sustained information the by-products of petroleum and coal which very few people give a thought to and ask them what they prefer most. To burn up this precious substance or make maximum use of the by-products; many of which have a fair chance of recycle and reuse.

It would be prudent for all to understand that the modern life-style we are so comfortable with would vanish with the depletion of Coal & Petroleum. Products we take for granted would not come by cheap and plenty. It is therefore the need of the hour for the Citizens of every Nation to understand the challenges. Lastly this article only covers just two products which with their finite limit, can cause so much discomfort. We are yet to find out how to feed 9 Billion with food and water and then find them shelter!

All religion says 9 times God came to earth…. will we make it to 10 Billion? Or Extinction stares at the face.

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When wind is owned by a Village : The barriers in RE

The district of Satara, Maharashtra, India has its skyline dotted with wind-turbines. It seems endless, as the train winds down the hilly tract, twisting and turning in its way. Every-time I saw them, a little smile use to creep up my lips, thinking how glorious is the renewable energy story in this state. The state at present is facing severe drought and the cause is attributed to the Wind turbines which is driving the clouds away! Reading the article in the DNA newspaper I could only wonder at the lackadaisical pace of the government in controlling such rumours from spreading. I had heard similar tales in the state of Rajasthan too.

And then there is a policy of wind tax! It is reported that each village council under whose land the installed wind turbine fall, demand Rupees 94,000 per MW annually ! The government has issued a notice that it must pay minimum Rs 15,000/ MW.  I wonder if Wind RE will never be able to supersede  thermal energy price any time soon with this type of barriers. What intrigues me most that I have never heard Government paying fishermen any tax, while extracting Oil from off-shore rigs. Because by that logic, and even more so the waters belong to the fishermen and oil/gas leaks actually kill and loss can be directly and scientifically measured.

English: Schematic diagram of a modern horizontal-axis, three-bladed wind turbine (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What worries me most is, as people slowly recognise the potential of these as revenue earners for the rich investors, the lack of coherent policy from successive governments to uplift the poor, would manifest into misdirected anger towers these RE power plants. Compound that with unschooled workers in coal/oil agencies who wrongly think, due to lack of information, that very soon oil / coal would lose out to these clean energy  and fearing loss of job, vent their frustration. In a country where it is rumoured that an MLC was against a mini hydro-dam because once “electricity” is removed from the water, it would be useless for the paddy fields as its energy has already been sucked out; we may be staring at massive protest against any future RE projects. And this would be playing right into the hands of the coal/ oil lobby, who may exploit the situation to their advantage. With the World economy in doldrums, and people worried about their immediate needs, a spark of protest in any corner of any country against Wind power could have a domino effect, driving out a potential bridge solution for abatement of Climate change.

But, as the saying goes – “there is no smoke without fire”; it must be probed with complete transparency, if the farmers where compensated well for their land or duped into selling cheap by citing it as useless barren land. No land is useless, which is proven by the tall wind-mill standing on it and “barren” should not have been made a case, because one was not purchasing it for farming, so that argument should not have been put at all !The Government too should use its collective intellect (tall order at times) to define the word “barren” when it is to be used for installing Wind or Solar power. Because, sooner than later the people who are mostly poor villagers; and protecting their interest is supreme in every political parties manifesto; would become wise of the fact and then their protest would be legitimate, even if it takes the ludicrous form of asking a “solar tax” by the logic of the sun falling on their village area!

As for the present Wind technology is facing the heat and just because of the unscrupulous few, a wonderful RET should not be held hostage and the international RE community and especially the Wind RET industry should come up with credible and easy to understand,scientifically proven and approved by the UN messages which advertise the pros and cons of this technology.Else they will be accused  by more people of stealing their wind and driving the rain clouds away !

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Greening The HVAC Energy Supply

English: A huge double HVAC exhaust of an office building. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The HVAC &R industry is transforming and morphing itself to the needs of the current Environmental scenario. They are packing more efficiency with less energy consumption and maintenance needs. The home versions too are coming with intelligent functions and sleeker smaller sizes which blend with the décor. Yet there is one thing which the industry requires to truly make it, what the environmentalist can call a GHG friendly product. And that is tie it to a power source which is a RE (renewable energy) source.
Imagine the advantage, a major revenue consumer like the HVAC & R, would have as an impact to the market if RE could be packaged to it. Let us examine the possibilities and potential of this concept.
Renewable Energy source such as Geo-thermal (rock-heat essentially) combined with a Gas based electric source would be the choice where the premise has the space but not the roof-top which can hold the other RE-source that is a Solar +Wind hybrid.
This is a solution which the HVAC&R industry should study closely, especially in light of the new BEE norms that have come into play from the year 2012. While compliance to the law is a must, with a weak Rupee and a fluctuating consumer market innovation can be the only solution.

CIX Diesel Generator (Photo credit: Tom Raftery)

While the roof-top AHU’s can be designed to have SPV panels on top, it would only increase the cost of the product, while making some energy generation green. However if the HVAC &R industry tie up with the nascent SPV industry which are offering Solar Solution in the Operation Expense Format, it can revolutionize the market dynamics.
Let’s first understand the OPEX-Solar model. In this model the certain SPV companies are offering solution in which the total EPC and O&M expense is being borne by the SPV Company for a minimum period of 15 years before handing over the ownership of the asset to the user. All that the Solar Co’s are asking is the tariff as generated. Although this model is already a success on individual roof-tops and can be provided for up to 1MW on connected load, this requires proper Government support to be able to increase the load to above 2MW and at nominal wheeling charges.
It would create a win-win situation for both the HVAC&R industry and the Solar Photo Voltaic industry and a revolution in India in the Clean Tech – HVAC & R space.

English: Worldwide Renewable energy, existing capacities, at end of 2008, from REN21.http://www.ren21.net/globalstatusreport/g2009.asp Total energy is from BP Statistical Review.http://www.bp.com/statisticalreview (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Another area which the HVAC & R tied to RE can get advantage from is synchronizing their system to Diesel Generators. During Grid power failure, the captive power used to run the HVAC & R plants are large Diesel Generators and an expensive option. Diesel is used for various purposes. Trucks (37%), Passenger Cars (15%), Buses (12%), Agriculture (12%), Industry (10%) and Power generation (8%). If we add the last three we get 30% of the total diesel pie of which we can easily allocate 40% as to be utilized for use of HVAC & R, by these three industries, for the purpose of cold storage, shop –floor cooling & cooling administration offices. Therefore with HVAC equipments tied to RE, the industry create a space which has no parallel till date. And in the process opens up a funding line which was till now only given for Clean technology purposes.

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Green Building Ideas:Using Solar panels as roofing sheet instead of asbestos.

Using Solar panels as roofing sheet instead of asbestos. Simple process for creating affordable housing especially for the rural poor along with doing  village electrification.  With this thought in mind I spoke to one of my friends who is a Block Development Officer in the state of Orissa. The reception to my idea was instant. Rural electrification.

What if the Solar OPEX model which I helped devise and is working wonders for  the Indian cities be utilized for the villages? While taking off the load from Malls, Commercial centres and the rest which guzzle energy would free up plenty of energy for the state government to provide it to the rural poor, sadly the infrastructure to carry it is not there. We would require the large pylons to be installed first, then string the heavy duty cables then create sub-stations etc. All this network requires enormous amount of synergy between various stake holders and it is nothing but a nightmare in India.

So if I can convince an investor, who is already supportive of my Solar OPEX   concept and we are already having 2MW worth of commitments, for institutional and commercial establishment each, and work has already begun past the inception stage towards EPC; the same amount or perhaps more in Rural Electrification?

We have thousands of home in Rural India who have none or limited access to electricity. And also thousands of homes who have thatched /asbestos roof, which under various programs are being removed to give FRP or GI-Sheet roofing. Solar Panels by default come in metal trays which can also act in -parts as roof. Where that is not possible a Solar “trees” can be planted within the village at strategic locations and the power distributed within its periphery.

So if my B.D.O friend can devise an instrument where the various subsidies which are given to Kerosene, Diesel and roofing materials can be accumulated under one program and driven by say the MNRE & NREGA  missions combined,  which one can find by clicking on the link  and provide the subsidies to the investor of Solar, this idea of village electrification would become possible in the shortest possible period.

It is a Green Business Idea which corporates must think of coming around too, and frankly there would be no competition as the scale is so vast that even 10 large investors with an appetite of 100MW each can not consume it.

Moreover, as investors are more interested in their RoI, this is the right opportunity for them to invest. The subsidy on Diesel and Kerosene is breaking the back of the Indian economy. So if we can even implement a model of distributed generation for Malls, Cold Store Chains etc mandatory within the various city premise, to balance out the expense incurred for creating the rural electrification infrastructure, the total cost saved by the transmission agencies would be  enormous.

It is also a fact that most grid have massive under-recovery from many zones. It would serve well if States took the decision to limit transmission of power through the Grid to these areas, and implement the roof-top solar instead. Thus the defaulters would not be able to draw-in more power than what is generated in the day-time. And while the Grid would supply power into the night it can be timed such that it can be exploited the least.

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Solar Power: the Messiah for the Indian Oil Companies and the Finance Ministry

Solar Resource Map (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Distributed Generation” – my long-lost in touch friend and teacher, heading one of India‘s largest state power transmission, told me when I finally traced him. ” You are spot on when you say Solar P.V is the solution, but for the prohibitive cost.” “And if you say you have the solution, bring it on I am sure the State Government of India as well as investor world-wide would like to understand it.” said he.

“I don’t have the numbers, but the idea is good I am sure of that much”, said I.

“Speak your idea. There are enough intelligent people in this world who can figure out the maths much better than you can ever imagine” – he said.

Well, as of today the Indian Rupee is in free fall.While it could have been good news for the export industry, it is not so because of policy paralysis and international investors lack confidence in the Governance system of India. With the Euro-zone in trouble, US$ gaining traction and rampant corruption, which the once efficient Indian Government can no longer control; having given leeway for so long to the  perpetrators of this systemic rot due to political compulsions that it has become a normal life-style for all and sundry.

Corruption in India has become so endemic that with the inflationary pressure and International monetary crisis, compounded with Climate change which brings its own bouquet of trouble that the Country which remained more or less insular in 2008, is gasping for breath. Its leaders, those which are truly concerned about the Country and Governance need all the help it can to save the Country from a “Greek” tragedy.

One of those solution is staring them at their face. Made by them but its implementation still weak. The beautiful NAPCC. A fantastic tool to at once infuse life to business while at the same time stay true to the abatement of Global Warming & Climate Change.

National Solar Mission for increasing share of solar energy in India’s energy portfolio (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

While each of the Eight National Action Plan on Climate Change are super ideas, combining the three – 1. The National Solar Mission; 2. The National Action Plan for Enhanced Energy Efficiency; 3. The National Action Plan for Green India, in my opinion would cover almost another 3 programs Buildings, Agriculture and the Water mission.

The Green Solution I propose is to go Solar. Today, India provides a huge rebate in Kerosene which gnaws away the innards of any fiscal policy. Stuck between the commitment to its poor and at the same time wanting to make its presence felt as a Global power, India needs to carry out which it already knows as a sure-fire way to stability.

Once we are able to offer through a program Solar Power for rural electrification we would be immediately save Kerosene subsidy which is huge, with Solar Water Pumps, Diesel which is also subsidized can be brought into rational level of costing. The positive effect on the exchequer would be huge even if we give the REC (renewable energy certificate) to the RESCO’s (Renewable Energy Service Company).

In my earlier article I had already mentioned about a model of OPEX Solar solution, it would really take-off in a Giga Watt scale should the Government, and by that I mean the Parliament makes a National commitment.

It is a win-win situation for the People – Parliament – Planet.

Money can also be pooled from the various housing missions for rural poor, Solar Photo Voltaic (SPV) modules come in standard fitting of metal sheet & glass. It has and can be created as a roofing material. Imagine, if with combining the program of Rural electrification; Rural roofing by eliminating asbestos sheet, and Empowering Women & Saving forest,* by giving them CFL bulbs under the “Bachat Lamp Yojna” and using the forestry fund to provide with a twin hob induction stove the sea change it would bring to the climate and the National exchequer. How connecting induction stove to solar is far better than using LPG is given in my earlier article provided with the *link.

What is more, World over there are programs conducted to control pests from destroying thatch/ wooden roof. The process itself gets eliminated, saving money and the environment in the process. Solar Pumps are not new, but a sustained policy is required, to be carried out by corporates in a super transparent manner to modify the diesel power gensets and pumps to work with solar. The SPV modules can also be made portable which can be towed by tractor, to various small plot owners, who can rent the same instead of having to install it, which they could not have due to lack of ample space.

Climate Change Top Election Search Topic (Photo credit: neeravbhatt)

Renewable Energy is a singular Business Idea which can be the messiah for many malaise hobbling the Countries growth, its time think tanks like the CAN, WRI, TERI make their presence felt and make it popular via advertisement.

The power of the media is immense. The Pen shall always remain mightier than the Sword. This must be utilized and the faster the better. Because once public perception changes, laws get made and most importantly get implemented.

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Green Business Ideas:The Next in Future RE – Lease to Own.

Renewable Energy as one understands has a very broad spectrum. From Wave technology, Geo-Thermal Energy, Micro-Hydro Energy, Wind Energy and Solar Energy.The developments of the first three are still at a nascent stage and there are lots of barriers to make it available to all. Mostly because they are tied down to certain geographical requirements. However when one looks at Wind and Solar technology, this barrier is minimized to a large extent.

In the Wind Energy Outlook 2011 Union Minister MNRE, Dr. Farooq Abdullah says – Wind energy is the fastest growing renewable energy sector in the country. With a cumulative deployment of over 13,000 MW capacities, it accounts for nearly 70% of the installed capacity in the renewable energy sector in the country. The sector is growing rapidly and we are likely to achieve, for the first time in the country, a capacity addition of 2000 MW in a year, this year.

Energy demand has continuously outstripped production, and a peak energy shortage of around 12.7% prevailed in the year 2009-10. To meet this shortfall as well as the National Electricity policy target of ‘Electricity for All by 2012’, the cleanest options available to India are Renewable Energy Technologies (RETs). Although it would be difficult for the government to meet its promise of electricity for all by 2012, renewable energy options including wind power & solar will have to play a crucial role in India’s emerging energy mix if this shortfall needs to be arrested in the near future. Not only are they environmentally sound but also their project gestation periods are much shorter than those for thermal or nuclear power plant.

For India to meet its Energy Challenges and meet its goal by 2020, along with capacity building it must encourage through policy adjustments level playing field for all innovation and ingenuity that can be brought into the field of RET. Already there is a company which is trying to provide electricity through gas in an OPEX format in Mumbai, India. The model offers power to the client at a lower tariff by certain percent than the grid and over the contractual period increases year on year the tariff per unit thus recovers its money. Though the IRR is not very good, the company is keeping its vision long term, as it knows that conventional energy would become more and dearer both in terms of supply and cost.

Renewable Energy (Photo credit: SEDACMaps)

The same idea can be applied for Renewable Energy, especially in Micro-Wind and Roof-top Solar. Indian investors have the money and the ingenuity to come-up with solutions. The Government of India has been trying to encourage the Micro-grid especially for rural areas. However, much of Urban tire-II & III cities facing power shortage during peak demand, in Indian summer. Companies which can model its finance intelligently from the various subsidies in offer and factor in the increase in cost of generation of conventional power should be able to come out with a viable instrument.

Once OPEX RET becomes a viable alternative in small captive power model, towns and villages in India would make it their main frame power source. This is because there is abundance of sunlight available throughout the Country and in certain pockets it can be combined with a hybrid wind + solar model to make the RoI better. By offloading the cost of only the inverters to the user, it can become a win-win situation for both.

In bigger Metro too there is abundant scope, especially if one ties this to LEED / GRIHA norms where RE power is an inbuilt criteria to attempt higher credit rating.  It also opens up possibilities for building retrofit to become more energy efficient.

Energy efficient products in lighting, HVAC and other product too stand to gain if their parent company can also through association or otherwise bring in the RE – OPEX model to their end customers.

Wind & Solar both have a bright future; the idea is to look at roof-tops rather than creating only large power plants. This way it would be able to overcome the limitations it faces in transmission and distribution and also increase its share in the energy pie.

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Killing is not a crime,only Murder is;The difficulty of preaching Sustainable Living.

Ants originated 145 million years ago and were witness to the extinction of dinosaurs.………….

I killed my first Ant when I was five years old. I was called a brave lad and explained that I should not be afraid of Ants, Mosquitoes, Cockroaches; on the 10th year, I learnt not to be afraid of Mouse,stray Cats, stray Dogs, Crow, Pigeon and by year 12 I was pretty much unafraid of any bird or animal be it snakes which we always saw being stoned to death, or Lions and Crocodiles we saw people pelting with stones and sticks in the Indian zoos.

But I was always warned to stay away from strangers, meaning unknown Humans. And be very afraid of them. As a inquisitive child I asked our man-servant,(who was slicing the throat of a few chickens and dropping their head-less body into a big tin box so that they death throes need not bother me) about this being afraid of strangers, he was not able to explain so he asked me to talk to the Gardner who was burning and slashing away wild plants and trees at the edge of our sprawling home to create an English lawn, which my grand-father wanted, as my cousin sister would be married that year and the guests needed to be entertained by the small pond nearby that patch of land. He also had ordered the local fishermen to come and clean up the pond and take away any turtles and  other small fish etc and seed it with a particular type of fish which is very popular among us, from the state Bengal and its a must during weddings.

I’m sure, that many of the readers of this article would find similar tales to tell. The society we live in sadly does not consider the destruction of any other living being other than Man as crime.

Whatever the modern man has touched, it has insured its doom – Terrestrial & Marine life even the Water and Air. It can not manage its food, its either wasted on the table or rots in the ware-house (Indian wheat story is the prime example), Saints die unsung to save the river Ganga, which is the very identity of the concept of being a Hindu. As without its waters no Hindu sacrifice can be considered complete. Man has managed to chop down trees to such an extent that once lush green meadows have become arid or semi -arid regions where the final bell already tolls for man himself, as stories of farmer suicide becomes more of a norm than exception. Yet the modern man refuses to learn. While I do not advocate vegetarianism or any “ism”; totally apolitical in my views, I do believe we must stop being wasteful. We must let go the concept of hoarding and over-producing thus creating a cycle of market forces which makes us destroy more. We must stop the concept of “buy 2 and take 1 free”. Nothing is FREE!! Its ripple effect is felt somewhere along the supply chain.

It is time for the United Nation‘s  condemn and make punitive laws to stop the destruction of the Ecosystem by the actions of Man, especially when through proper review and scientific conclusion, it be proved beyond doubt that the destruction was wilful and for aggrandisement of an individual or a Corporation.

Is it not the failure of the collective intelligence of the most intelligent living being on this planet? Perhaps the self declared ‘most intelligent’ animal Man bestowed upon itself ages back, was nothing but pompous Ego which is getting deflated by each evidence of utter failure in managing its life-style?

Studio Earth – Severn Cullis-Suzuki (Photo credit: JuliannaYY)

Will he then be able to prove his intelligence during the UNFCCC summit. Will after 20 long years the prayers of Severn Suzuki be finally be heard ? Let the collective gauntlet from all the environmentalist be thrown at Rio+20 to make laws which are Earth positive. Its win would be the win for Humankind and Man would survive.

Ants originated 145 million years ago and were witness to the extinction of dinosaurs…..and will survive Man too!

 

Affordable Housing: The Simples rules required.

Prototype residential housing system (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In India, we have a unique habit of expressing ourselves. We mean what we say but it is not necessary that the meaning would be what the person hearing it understands. The most superb example is – “Affordable Housing“.

A million Dollar house is affordable; obviously otherwise how do those luxury homes sell all over the World ?

A million Rupee house is also affordable to many in India.The only problem being if it is being built in Mumbai, Maharashtra you would just get a 100 square feet.

Now before you think that is the carpet area, please don’t be naive. One needs to deduct the built-up and super built-up area from that. Surely one can’t deny the logic that there is an expense both in man and material to make the stair-case, the boundary wall, and the rest of the common services which say would be around 33%(actual data vary depending on typology and other regulations and guidelines). And this expense needs to be recovered. No sane person can grudge that to the developer. So the actual room carpet area, or the liveable area would be  67 ft2 in size. ( By the way in some cases the super-built up and built up has been shown as high as 55% too. I refuse to take it into my debate as the area it leaves as carpet is too embarrassing )

Now what one can do with 67ft2? So you need to multiply this 7 times to get 469ft2 which an Indian middle class family can just squeeze into. But once you do that it is no longer affordable.

So how can we end this debate? If at all ?

Frankly it requires a few simple things -

1. Political will to pass laws which are truly beneficial to the public, rather than create a web of sly rules which ultimately help in lining the pockets of those who wield the administrative power and the coterie of  unscrupulous builders.

2. A expert panel comprising the best from the structural, civil & architectural field, who should make a ready reckoner on what should be the actual cost of construction for the basic core and shell of a building. And this should be revised periodically.

3. Make specific development plans for each area and fix price of land based on it. There should be a maximum and a minimum price set for land and it should no more be left to be governed by the free market forces.

Once the cost of construction becomes uniform, it would be easy to monitor quality of construction, deduce the correct price depending on the amount of  work done and above all help the government truly frame policies which would ultimately lead to making of ‘affordable’ housing.

The next step should be educating the citizens (builder, politicians and administrative personnel are citizens too) in Sustainable living. For as long as there would be buyers for badly constructed housing colony which do not follow the five basic principles taught by Mahatma Gandhi on sustainable living, we would be trapping ourselves in creating situations which would forever keep the dream of affordable housing for all as just that – a dream. Therefore as I had mentioned in my earlier article town planning in accordance to the principles of Agenda 21 and follow the agreed criteria of C40 Cities to which Mumbai is a signatory, the dream of affordable housing would come true, not because cost of construction would become cheaper but the standard of living of the citizens of this bountiful city we call Mumbai ( Bombay) would vastly improve.

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MayDay…Earth Calling…!

1st May – International Labour day is also the raising day for the State of Maharashtra, India. On this day it became officially one of the States in the Union of independent India, post British Raj.  Maharashtra attained statehood on 1st of May, 1960 when the then state Bombay state was divided into two states, Maharashtra and Gujarat on the basis of different languages, Marathi and Gujarati,under the Saurashtra re-organization act.

On this 1 May evening, as an invitee to the Governor House in Mumbai, I had the good fortune to hear his excellency the Governor of Maharashtra speak, before felicitating the Padma Bhusan and the Padma Shree from the State. The  third and the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India. Among the regal settings and protocol, what struck me most was what our Governor spoke, especially about food and water. Touching the subject of Climate Change on such an important day, he underscored the thinking of the State as well as the Government of India, which had mooted the NAPCC a few year ago.

Yet, are we doing enough ? And in time ? The answers to my thoughts as I sat in the regal “Durbar” Hall came to me in today’s DNA news paper. Where a few headings stood out -

NABARD‘s lies on restructuring process; The National Bank on Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) set up to finance agriculture and rural development, has been giving evasive replies to specific questions raised by the Union Finance ministry and the Parliament…. showing that in the primer organisation set up by an act of parliament in 1981, all is not well. Then in the following pages were more grim news -

5 more Vidarbha farmers commit suicide; according to a farmer advocacy group, the total number of suicides by farmers has reached 332 in the four months of 2012.And then a news from the legislative assembly -

Congress MLAs: Government blind to eastern Maharashtra drought; CM urged not to ignore the situation in Vidarbha and Marathwada. And then in the business page a story ran -

India’s Consumer story is ticking well; The result of Hindustan Unilever (HUL), Dabur and Godrej hold out hope because the aam aadmi (Hindi for – common person) is doing his bit to keep the engine of the economy ticking.

What I found ironical is how can such diverse report be published in the same day, talking of the common person in such diverse perspective, one of hope and the other of gloom? What is then to be believed? Are the business predictions which speak of India’s resilient and resurgent economy correct or the fate of poor farmers and the sceptre of drought and famine in the State of Maharashtra incorrect?

In my opinion here lies the danger, the danger of many of us not being able to listen to the distress calls of “Mayday” by both the common person and mother Earth. Because, lulled as many would be from the report of the stellar performance and statements from the captains of industry; the result they hold is more holistic than any region specific. Therefore the bountiful opportunity say the consumers and people of the state of Gujrat project is not necessarily the picture which the poorer and deeply distressed states both in terms of governance and vagaries of climate may project. But this will never get reflected in any Corporate pie-chart or graph; simply because such graphs have not been created, which can project such complex problems in one go. Because had it been so, then the very companies such as Unilever , Godrej and the rest who are truly trying to be Climate responsive would have been measured in their response.

But due to this inaccuracy the message that reaches out to the vast majorities of common persons, who are not affected by famine and drought, is that everything is fine and we can continue to consume and pollute and live irresponsibly. And this most true for those who are live in the mega cities. And it is the mega cities; in which all the political and corporate masters reside and usually keep it insular from all problems should be most afraid. Because when ( “IF” – is a very remote chance) the last chain in the socio-environment snaps, the cascading effect of food and water crises would effect the mega cities most.

We all know that drought is a condition which occurs in absence of water which can not always be attributed to absence of monsoon. I may not be an expert on water but reading about it since I was a school student, I can deduce a very simple fact that, water management is the solution. Monsoon is a natural cycle and it has never failed to arrive in the Indian sub-continent even once in the last 10 years at least. So, if we still face drought in Maharashtra then it is the fault of our governance and utter failure of implementing proper water management solutions.

Mumbai, India (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

To understand this, one only needs to pause and look around, such as the city of Mumbai. It does not have a single lake within the town barring the Powai lake, which does not hold sufficient water to feed the total populace, so water comes from outside the city.  All its food comes from miles away. It does not even have  housing colonies, where homes have kitchen -gardens. Or a well from which non-polluted drinking water can be drawn. These were long paved over, and trees cut down. In the tree census report of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), it was reported that there is 1 tree for every 9 men in this city of Gujrat. According to the global ratio of total trees per person, there should be 61 trees per person. If this is true, then Mumbai would perhaps have a fraction of a tree per person. And it is an established fact that trees hold ground water and also help reduce heat island effect. Trees are also source of food.

Tough Work, Maharashtra (Photo credit: Michael Foley Photography)

Therefore in an eventuality of a consecutive wide-spread drought in Maharashtra, the city of Mumbai would be toast. And I do not mean only the heat.With scarcity of water and food, it is but obvious that to supply the very same to the city, the administration would have to deny some to the rural populace. What that can lead to is best left aside, while we earnestly look for solutions. The solutions we require are simple. Climate responsive laws need to be implemented, not just printed and tabled in the assemblies.

But if the answer to it is we are still facing drought in-spite of  implementation of all the recommendations,then Climate change is already staring at us and bringing with it the devastation foretold.

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