Island of waste spotted

Finally it has been confirmed: at least 1,700 miles of plastic trash is floating in what is now famously known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

A vague image of the trash the team expected to find in the North Pacific Gyre, a vortex where four ocean currents meet (see pic), has been located and data collected. The team of researchers, sailors, journalists, and government officials on a nearly four-week journey through the gyre say that plastic shards and netting abound in a space bigger than the state of Texas.

Among the assortment of items retrieved were plastic bottles with a variety of biological inhabitants. On August 11th, the researchers encountered a large net entwined with plastic and various marine organisms; they also recovered several plastic bottles covered with ocean animals, including large barnacles. The team collected several species in the gyre.

Shocked at the sheer mass of floating trash, the SEAPLEX, the Scripps Environmental Accumulation of Plastic Expedition, has brought home the ultimate lesson of what happens to waste simply discarded! It resurfaces and spells trouble for someone, somewhere.

Will they, won't they... save themselves

Western nations are trying to use India's "profligate reproductive behaviour" to force Delhi to accept legally binding emission reduction targets, India's environment minister noted. Jairam Ramesh’s speech comes as the 100 day countdown begins to the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen, which will agree on a successor to the Kyoto agreement, due to expire in 2012.

India's population of over 1 billion means that while it is the world's fifth biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, its per capita emissions are just one-twentieth of the United States. However, its population is rising quickly and the United Nations predicts India will have 1.7 billion people by 2050 – while China will by then have a population of 1.4 billion.

The minister minced no words when he said, "For us this is about survival. We need to put electricity into people's homes and do it cleanly. You in the west need to live with only one car rather than three. For you it is about luxury. For us, survival."

The Indian government – along with 37 other developing nations – has argued that rich nations such as the US should set a goal of cutting emissions by 40% from 1990 levels by 2020. As proof of concept that reductions can be made. Whether you believe population or consumption is the problem, there is no doubt that there is a big problem!

“When every (rich) country is in violation of the Kyoto protocol obligation, to ask China and India to take on legal targets smacks of hypocrisy… ” Which is true...

...but consider what happens if India’s per capita emissions rise by a factor of 3.5 and the population increases by 70% from now until 2050, as projected. This would make its current CO2 emissions from energy use 1,293 million metric tons/year in 2006 grow to roughly 7,700 million metric tons/year. (China’s 2006 emissions were 6,017 million metric tons, and the US’ were 5,902.)

Add to that China’s restricting their emissions only to the point where they equal their 2005 emissions in 2050 or the US simply refusing to budge, it would seem that life on the planet is set for sudden brake very soon. Apocalypse 2012 is no more laughable!

Meanwhile, the United Nations is pulling out all the stops, seeking millions of online signatures for the Seal the Deal! campaign. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon himself is calling on people around the world to add their voices to the petition demanding a fair and effective climate change agreement.

As governments quibble, citizens of the planet can come together!

Crores lost

A joint study by Manufacturers Association for Information Technology and Emerson Network Power (India) had earlier noted that Indian companies lost Rs 43,205 crore in financial year 2008-09 due to high occurrence of power outages, both scheduled and non scheduled. The study said that the amount of such direct losses has more than doubled since 2003 when it amounted to Rs 22,000 crore.

Now a study by power genset maker Wartsila India says Indians are spending around $6.2 billion (Rs.30,000 crore) every year to run their power back-up systems to escape frequent outages.

The erratic power supply in the country has helped the power back-up equipment industry - inverters, batteries and small gensets - grow to the present size of around $20.8 Billion (Rs.100,000 crore).

The real cost of power that Indians pay is far higher than what they think. The diesel used to power gensets is subsidised. Further, the quality of power from those equipment is also poor, according to the company spokesperson.

With the money people have already invested for buying power back-up systems, the country could have set up power plants with a capacity of 25,000 MW. The solution cited by the company is that the government go for rapid capacity build-up, for which resources could be raised by charging a "reliability surcharge" of 50 paise per unit on consumers.

Whether it is outages or power quality, an equally good solution would be for big industrial units to go for their own captive power plants rather than use diesel back-up systems. The options are many for such plants, with renewable energy also showing much promise.

The excess power from such captive plants could be sold to the grid and help bring in revenues.

This would also ease the power demand from the grid. What do you think?

Tax individuals, not nations

As the climate change curve continues its ascent, it is time for all who are convinced on the science behind to get going on some action. Even in the developing world, like we have written about, renewable energy and energy efficiency drives are accelerating. Individual organizations and groups are at the forefront even where governments remain mulish.

How about reduction limits imposed on individuals rather than nations, as proposed by a team at Princeton University? Under this framework, the international community would draw a single, global line for carbon emissions. Countries would then be responsible for reducing the carbon footprint of individuals living above that line.

Overall, the researchers found that the United States and China would have the largest carbon dioxide reduction targets, while Russia, India, the Middle East, South Africa and north Africa would all have sizable targets, due to their energy industries.

Is this simply a way of transferring the onus? Is there really a comparison at all of the number of people living carbon-heavy lifestyles in the developed and developing world? For instance how many people in the US can boast of per capita emissions at 2 tonnes per person?

However, it would be a different thing to go by nations overall and in the developing world to assess emissions by individuals. After all when considering per capita, the total emissions is being divided by the population figure. Some sections in developing nations are emitting well above this figure.

The proposal also sets a floor for the 3 billion people predicted by 2030 to be emitting less than one ton of carbon dioxide a year. Those people - the poorest of the poor - should focus solely on bettering their lifestyles, and they should do so via any economical means, the authors say.

Should we actually go by the numbers then? Is that a better way of ensuring upliftment of the really poor without drastically altering the carbon bank?

And the winner is...

When talking of efficiency, we cannot ignore records being continuously broken on the solar cell arena. The latest claim for the world’s most efficient solar power cell comes from scientists at the University of New South Wales in Australia, who have concocted a multi-cell combination that converts 43% of sunlight into electricity, beating the previous record of 42.7%.

Yes, even 0.3 % counts. Ask Usain Bolt!

The team used a special silicon cell optimized to harness light at the red and near-infrared end of the light spectrum. When the silicon cell was combined with four other cells made from gallium, indium, phosphorous and arsenic, the scientists were able to reach the magic 43% mark. Far from commercialization, this is still something.

Solar cells could soon be produced more cheaply using nanoparticle “inks” that allow them to be printed like newspaper or painted onto the sides of buildings or rooftops to absorb electricity-producing sunlight.

Brian Korgel, a University of Texas at Austin chemical engineer, is hoping to cut costs to one-tenth of their current price by replacing the standard manufacturing process for solar cells. Korgel is collaborating with professors Al Bard and Paul Barbara, both of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Professor Ananth Dodabalapur of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.

The team used copper indium gallium selenide or CIGS, which is both cheaper and benign than silicon in terms of environmental impact. But efficiencies are at 1 percent and need to be taken to 10 before commercialization. Thin film solar cells have that disadvantage of efficiency but make up in the sparse amounts of material required and hence, reduced costs.

One percent efficiency may look as bad as zero efficiency, but consider if you can paint your rooftop at low cost and generate even a few watts. Something in itself!

Materials and methods hold the key.

India offers big incentives for energy efficiency

It is being picked by climate change watchers and energy observers as a big news – India opening a Cap and trade market worth 15$ bn. For this is what the nod to the National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency amounts to.

Under the Mission, some of the country’s most energy intensive industrial units will be able to cap and trade in energy savings certificates accrued from energy efficiency improvements.

This is the ‘Perform, Achieve and Trade’ (PAT) mechanism which would assign energy efficiency improvement targets to the industrial units, with the provision of allowing them to retain any energy-efficiency improvements in excess of their target in the form of Energy Savings Certificates, called ESCerts. Units will also be allowed to use purchased ESCerts to meet their targets.

According to an official release, the Mission will enable about Rs 75,000 crore worth of transactions in energy efficiency. In doing so, it will, by 2015, help save about five per cent of the annual energy consumption, and nearly 100 million tonne of carbon dioxide every year. India’s emissions now stand at around 1.5 b tones annually. The Prime Minister expects the Mission to act as a powerful signal to the international community on India’s willingness to meet the climate change challenge.

The Mission is the second of the eight under India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change to be approved by the Council. The Solar Mission was earlier approved.

Other Mission initiatives include expanded use of the carbon market to help achieve market transformation towards more energy-efficient equipment and appliances, and the creation of two funds to help channel investment into energy-efficiency projects.

One of the funds, the Partial Risk Guaranty Facility, will provide back-to-back guarantees to banks for loans to energy-efficiency projects to reduce the perceived risks of these projects.
The other fund, a Venture Capital Fund, would support investment in the manufacturing of energy-efficient products and provision of energy-efficiency services.

A good initiative but as the PM mentioned, strict monitoring and implementation must be ensured. Else it stands in danger of becoming mere rhetoric in the face of growing international pressure to limit emissions.

PS: Yet another 'big news' is IPCC's Pachauri's comments on emission limit. He told AFP that, 'As chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), I cannot take a position because we do not make recommendations, but as a human being I am fully supportive of that goal. What is happening, and what is likely to happen, convinces me that the world must be really ambitious and very determined at moving toward a 350 target.'

Now consider that the CO2 emissions are now at 390 ppm and most nations are making plans to limit them to 450 ppm! Is what Pachauri says, and which is indeed necessary, practical??

Bigger to come

Looks like global obsession with big is not going away in a hurry. This is so whether you look at mega thermal power plants, or thin film solar plants, or wind turbines.

A year ago the world's largest thin-film power plant was just 10 megawatts. Now one near Cottbus, Germany comes in at 53 megawatts, Renewable Energy World reports: The Lieberose solar park is currently under construction and scheduled to be completed by the end of the year. It will occupy 162 hectares on a former Soviet army site and will consist of some 700,000 thin-film solar modules.

Then there is the 6MW wind turbine in Germany, and the 9MW vertical axis wind turbine that the Scottish reportedly have in the works. Now, researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, are up in the air with their gigantic 1.5MW turbine that has just been installed. Check out the picture on the left - yes those are people in the shaft! And even bigger is to follow. Soon, a 2.3 MW Siemens turbine will emerge the largest, generating 30 percent more power than Boulder’s.

Land based turbines are getting larger to meet the demand. But the aerodynamics of these huge machines is still not fully understood.

The question again is: which is better? Big, large plants that generate large amounts of power which is then transmitted across landscapes. Or small units located near point of usage?

Wheel, or push plates?

Alternate Energy has an interesting post on a new design to harvest energy from water flow. Comprising two plates, a chain and a connecting channel, the concept is simple though the design looks a bit complex.

As the water flows, through a narrow river or agricultural canal, the system runs continuously. By placing gears that spin the shaft of a generator, energy can be harnessed.

Interesting to see how the design works. But as asked by a reader is, what is the advantage over a conventional wheel? Is not lateral movement of plates less efficient?

Are we often getting carried away with technology? Simply thrilled to see a new way in which an old trick can be done? Or are we working around problems? In that case, how was the present design an improvement?

Is it not a good thing to look at hurdles, and then work to avoid these?

Developing a technology can be exciting, an Archimedes experience by itself. That is the way to get students interested. But taking it a step ahead to examine the pitfalls and then, tweaking the equipment must follow. Only then will technology have any significance. Else it is simply a toy that thrills.

Do write in to us about the concept and how you believe it is an improvisation or not.

CBM surging ahead

Reuters has a report on Asian efforts to expand production of coal seam gas - Asia's coal seam gas projects charge ahead, China leads. Projects to exploit coal-bed methane (CBM) are surging ahead in Asia, with China leading.

China, the world's second-biggest energy user after the United States, is eager to develop CBM into an alternative energy source to drive its rapid industrialisation. The country extracted four billion cubic metres (bcm) of CBM in 2006, and is expected to pump up 10 bcm by 2010, besides further raising 300 bcm of proven CBM reserves.

CBM is extracted from deep coal beds through the drilling of wells. However, unlike drilling for natural gas, large amounts of water must be pumped from the coal bed area in order to depressurize the bed. Once the water is removed, the methane is able to escape from the coal and flow into the well itself.

The only problem with CBM is the water that is removed from the wells. Being saline this cannot be mixed with freshwater. Ways to clean it include evaporation in huge ponds, or pouring it back into rock fractures. The effect on acquifers can also not be ignored.

But utilization of this methane could not only help augment supply but also prevent the pollution of atmosphere that would result from methane escaping. As in the case of natural gas, burning of methane reduces emissions quite significantly.

Of course this cannot by itself meet the demand, only add to the mix of energy sources. But CBM projects are often capital intensive. Heavy drilling equipment alone can cost a lot. Additional support from mechanisms like CDM can help.

In India operational CBM fields can contribute to over 8-10 mmscmd of gas production in the next five years. Investment in coal and gas transportation infrastructure, including gas gathering, transportation and distribution, is necessary to move CBM from coal fields to local and more distant end-use markets.

A combination of resources is the best bet in today’s energy-hungry world, as we have been saying. The more localized the usage is, the better.

Big opportunity in building sector

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s (WBCSD) long-awaited Energy Efficiency in Buildings (EEB) report has been published, highlighting how energy use in buildings can be cut by 60% by 2050.

‘Transforming the Market: Energy Efficiency in Buildings’ is the result of the WBCSD’s four-year, US$15 million project, which was sponsored by 14 multinational companies.

The project took a bottom-up, market-driven approach to understanding the barriers to lower energy use. The report says large and attractive opportunities exist to reduce buildings’ energy use at lower costs and higher returns than other sectors.

They claim these reductions are fundamental to help achieve theInternational Energy Agency’s (IEA) target of a 77% reduction in the planet’s carbon footprint against the 2050 baseline to reach the stabilised CO2 levels called for by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The study’s recommendations are based on a data inventory of Brazil, China, the EU, India, Japan and US, which together account for 70% of the world’s GDP.

At energy prices proportionate to oil at US$60 per barrel and depending on the local context, building energy-efficiency investments totalling US$150 billion annually in the six EEB regions studied would reduce related energy use and corresponding carbon footprints by about 40%, with five-year discounted paybacks for the owners. A further US$150 billion with paybacks of between five and 10 years adds 12 percentage points and brings the total reduction to slightly more than half.

The report makes six key recommendations:• Strengthen building codes and energy labelling for increased transparency;• Use subsidies and price signals to incentivise energy-efficient investments;• Encourage integrated design approaches and innovations;• Develop and use advanced technology to enable energy-saving behaviour;• Develop workforce capacity for energy saving;• Mobilise for an energy-aware culture.

Fine. But all this can happen only when and if a nation and its people think that they are in the midst of a crisis. Till then, things will be half measure. As long as the power flows in, wasteful consumption cannot be curbed. A combination of steep hikes and disciplined load-sheddings could possibly influence change in this pattern. Right?

Methane joins the fray

British and German scientists have discovered 250 plumes of methane gas rising from the thawing seabed off the Spitsbergen archipelago in the Norwegian Arctic, apparently a result of the warming of the West Spitsbergen current. The researchers measured the plumes rising from the seabed at a depth of 150 to 400 meters (500 to 1,300 feet).

The methane — a potent greenhouse gas — is being released by frozen methane hydrates on the sea floor, which are thawing as a result of a 1 degree C (1.8 F) warming of the West Spitsbergen current in the last 30 years, the scientists said.

The data was collected from the royal research ship RRS James Clark Ross, as part of the Natural Environment Research Council’s International Polar Year Initiative. The bubble plumes were detected using sonar and then sampled with a water-bottle sampling system over a range of depths.

Methane hydrate is an ice-like substance composed of water and methane which is stable in conditions of high pressure and low temperature. At present, methane hydrate is stable at water depths greater than 400 metres in the ocean off Spitsbergen. However, thirty years ago it was stable at water depths as shallow as 360 metres.

While most of the methane currently released from the seabed is dissolved in the seawater before it reaches the atmosphere, methane seeps are episodic and unpredictable and periods of more vigorous outflow of methane into the atmosphere are possible.

Furthermore, methane dissolved in the seawater contributes to ocean acididfication, which inhibits the ability of marine creatures to grow shells. Scientists fear that as the world’s oceans warm, huge amounts of methane will be released.

Graham Westbrook Professor of Geophysics at the University of Birmingham, warns: “If this process becomes widespread along Arctic continental margins, tens of megatonnes of methane per year – equivalent to 5-10% of the total amount released globally by natural sources, could be released into the ocean.”

On climate change, a recent report by the Global Humanitarian Forum found that human-induced climate change is already responsible for 300,000 deaths a year and is now affecting 300 million people around the world. (Global Humanitarian Forum, 2009) This report also projects that increasingly severe heat waves, floods, storms and forest fires will be responsible for as many as 500,000 deaths a year by 2030.

So, what do we do? Refuse to accept emission limits with all eyes unblinkered on 'growth'? Come on, let us know your views.

Acceleration mode

Between January and July of 2009, Beijing streets were graced with an 1,231 additional cars per day on average, according to the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau. All those new cars add up to an additional 261,000 vehicles -- the vast majority of which are private cars. This is a 9% increase from the same period last year.

This is actually a decrease from the last time we learned of Beijing rapidly expanding: In the first 45 days of 2009 some 1,466 cars were being added to the already crowded streets.

Meanwhile, in what could be seen as a related study, severe air pollution in China’s heavily industrialized east is impeding the formation of rain clouds and contributing to a drought in northern China.

The study, which looked at rainfall and pollution patterns for the past 50 years, concluded that pollution has reduced the number of days of light rain in eastern China by 23 percent. Atmospheric scientist Yun Qian of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory said that the large number of aerosols in China’s polluted skies has led to the formation of rain droplets that are up to 50 percent smaller than rain droplets in clean skies.

The smaller droplets do not as readily form rain clouds, which means that lighter rainfalls valuable to agriculture — ranging from a drizzle to accumulations of .4 inch per day — are occurring less frequently, according to the study, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres.

This is an area that is largely debated just like the role of aerosols in climate change. Do cities with their attendant fog and pollution and urban heat island effects induce rain or not? However there can be no doubts on the effect of adding so many vehicles to the road per day! How long before peak oil hits the automobile lobby? Meanwhile, it pays to make merry on sales today, right?

Food & water crisis

First it was the Prime Minister warning of drought in the country. Next came the state of the nation’s environment report, which paints a grim picture. Then yet another report on the state of vanishing groundwater. All is not well but what are we doing?

The third government report on the state of India's environment paints a grim picture, the Economic Times reports: "At least 45% of India's land area is degraded due to erosion, soil acidity, alkalinity and salinity, waterlogging and wind erosion." Particulate air pollution is on the rise in cities, hitting 110 million people, causing public health damage costs in 2004 of about $3 billion.

Intense irrigation across a 1,200 mile wide area of northern India, Pakistan and Bangladesh is depleting groundwater supplies at a rate of 1.5-4 inches per year. And that in an area where 600 million people live. The big picture of Indian groundwater comes from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission.

The area of land surveyed is the most heavily irrigated in the world, with 50-75% or more of land equipped with irrigation from groundwater or reservoir water. This new data shows that groundwater is being withdrawn at a rate 70% faster in the past decade than in the 1990s.

Monsoon rains in India between June 1 and Aug. 12 were 29% below average and nearly 177 of the 625 districts in the country have been declared drought-hit. The monsoon is crucial for the agriculture sector as most farmers don't have irrigation facilities and depend on rains for their crops. Agriculture is key to the Indian economy as it contributes about 18% of gross domestic product and provides jobs to more than two-thirds of the country's 1.1 billion population.

The Ministry of Agriculture has been largely reactive as also in the recent case where it issued a notification on providing a distress diesel subsidy - "to enable the farmers to provide supplementary irrigation through diesel pumpsets…” as also encourage of more fertilizer intensive agriculture!

Now, scientists meeting at World Water Week in Sweden are saying that without serious reforms to the way many Asian countries manage water chronic food shortages may result -- even without the impact of climate change on water supplies. The BBC quotes report co-author Tushaar Shah: Without water productivity gains, South Asia would need 57% more water for irrigated agriculture and East Asia 70% more. Given the scarcity of land and water, and growing water needs for cities, such a scenario is untenable.

In Revitalizing Asia's Irrigation, the International Water Management Institute and the UN Food and Agricultural Organization say that food and animal feed demand in Asia is expected to double by 2050 and that relying on trade to supply this will "impose a huge and politically untenable burden on the economies of many developing countries."

The solution to all this, the report says, is 1) modernizing irrigation systems that in many areas are 30-40 years old; 2) support farmers initiatives using locally-adapted and appropriate irrigation technologies; 3) tap into public-private partnerships to provide incentives to improve water delivery efficiency (though it is admitted that this is "largely untested"; 4) expand education through engineering programs, workshops for farmers, etc.; 5) invest outside the irrigation sector in areas which influence it.

Are we doing anything for the long-term management of water and food production? How deep and how longer can we keep digging for groundwater? Is it not time to tackle agricultural practices on a war footing, for what is sustainable?

Rising Sun

Acme Group is on track to get the first half of its first 10 MW solar thermal power plant in Rajasthan online at the beginning of 2010. Acme has active plans for a further 230 MW, and thinks it can really bring the cost down.

Acme says the initial plant will cost about $3.14 million per megawatt, but can reduce costs to $1.68 million per megawatt as more projects get built. That's partly because of economies of scale and lower cost for materials in India, but more because of the nation's new National Solar Mission, which establishes new feed-in tariffs and financing possibilities.

Although part of the reduction would come with economies of scale, the company founder Upadhyay attributed the rest to India’s new National Solar Mission, which lays the framework for a feed-in-tariff and low-cost funding (see India’s new climate plan aims to set 20 GW solar goal). Those measures could reduce the cost of solar thermal power in India to power to Rs 5.80 ($0.12) per kilowatt-hour by 2015,

The eSolar agreement provides Acme with an exclusive license for India to develop 1,000 MW of solar thermal projects in the next 10 years (see Solar sell-off accelerates). ESolar developed a modular, scalable solar thermal power technology that focuses thousands of mirrors on a single point to efficiently harvest the sun’s energy and reduce costs. Acme is building a 5-MW plant in Maharashtra and has signed memorandums of understanding to build a 110-MW plant in Gujarat and a 100-MW plant in Madhya Pradesh.

Acme has exclusive license for up to 1,000 MW of plants using this technology. Looks like things are beginning to look bright in power starved India?

Live bridges

There are plenty of examples of living in harmony with nature. And there are plenty of ways to destroy nature like we do in our cities. In the forests of Meghalaya, India, the War-Khasis people have discovered a patient way of crossing the many rivers of their wet region. By guiding the roots of an abundant species of rubber tree, they were able to create a living system of bridges that are in some cases over one hundred feet long and can support the weight of 50 people.

This graceful solution came from a people who saw a problem and solved it using their surrounding environment. The roots are woven and guided in hollowed out betel nut trunks until they reach and grab onto the opposite banks. Over time these root systems become strong enough to support the daily movement of people across the rivers.

Maybe it is time we think of how we can have our roads and save the trees. Any ideas anyone?

Pedal and charge

A recent study concluded that it’s dangerous to text while driving.

What about texting while bicycling? That’s also not advised, but a device from a company called PedalPower+ will charge your Blackberry while you ride. It also will charge your iPod.

The device, similar to the old school dynamo systems used to power headlamps via the back wheel of a bike, also stores generated power in a battery and will charge with solar panels even when you’re not riding, according to a report from the Austrailian Broadcasting Corp.

Gizmag, a technology blog, explains that developers spent three years working on PedalPower+, to work out the kinks of safely regulating current to electronic devices via a spinning bike tire.
As a result, the patented technology will charge a mobile phone from flat to finish in about two hours, the company says.

Right now, the devices are only available Down Under. But the company says it’s setting up distributors in the United States and Europe.

Every little bit that diverts users away from the main grid helps. Just like the solar flowers that help charge mobiles and laptops we told you about. It is time we took school/college projects seriously and started implementing them. Perhaps it is time the main grid power is reserved for essential uses only.

Friendly cement, helpful bacteria

Green cements and low carbon cements have been on the anvil but now, a Stanford Professor has invented a new type of cement that is carbon neutral—a huge innovation for a material whose production process normally spews vast amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere.

But Novacem, a British spin-out, is attempting to make a cement that actually sequesters carbon. Low carbon cement is needed not only for buildings, but for also for binding together concrete freeway overpasses.

Novacem’s cement will actually absorb more carbon dioxide over its life cycle than it emits. Instead of using limestone; they make cement from magnesium silicates which don’t emit CO2 in manufacture but actually absorb carbon dioxide as they age.

In yet another promising find, a new desalination process will generate electricity as well as clean water, according to a team of researchers from the US and China.

The team uses a microbial fuel cell, which uses bacteria to convert wastewater into clean water and electricity, to desalinate salt water.

Instead of requiring an electrical input and high water pressure to desalinate water, the new process uses organic matter to remove 90% of salt from brackish water or seawater. Typical microbial fuel cells have two chambers – one containing wastewater or other nutrients and the other water – each fitted with an electrode. Bacteria in the wastewater consume the organic material, generating electricity in the process.

In the new process a third chamber containing seawater is added to the fuel cell in between the other chambers, separated by ion-specific membranes. When the bacteria consume the wastewater, charged ions are produced, which are separated by the membranes. Some are consumed at the electrodes – desalinating the water in the central chamber and generating a current.

Not yet a practical system, there is proof of concept, as the team says.

Bacteria are the original inhabitants of the planet, we have merely inherited the earth from them. No wonder they have a few tricks up their sleeve, which we are only beginning to understand. Bacteria is also being used to convert cellulose to biofuel.

5000 MW solar power for Gujarat

The Clinton Foundation proposes to generate about 5,000 megawatt of power is way larger than India's biggest power project of 3,260MW in Vindyachal. The biggest solar power plant planned so far is a 160MW project in Portugal.

Gujarat has decided to allocate 1,500 hectares of land in the desert and a small stretch in Santalpur in Bankaskantha district. The Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation will create infrastructure for the ambitious `Solar Park'.

Companies are queueing up for setting up plants largely due to the incentives offered in the state’s new Solar Power Policy, including exemption from electricity duty and demand cut of 50% of the installed capacity. Units that start production before December 31, 2010, can avail these concessions.

Also thrown in is a guarantee to buy power for 12 years at its production cost Rs 13 per unit for photovoltaic projects and Rs 10 per unit for thermal projects. Apart from Kutch, the Clinton Foundation is also exploring the international borders in Banaskantha and Patan districts. A joint study conducted by the foundation and Tata Energy Research Institute shows that Kutch offers the best solar radiation.

With the potential of solar energy in India, it cannot afford to ignore this technology. Incentives like the above will get more players into the arena while the buyback at production cost makes solar power attractive.

The other important aspect is that of climate change. While placing the onus of responsibility, India cannot expect to get away with zero liability for current emissions beyond 2012. It would be good to take a pointer from China, which is working to reduce emissions through a strategic relationship with the US. Encouraging renewable energy through substantial incentives is one way to achieve this.

Despite global recession and for the tenth straight year CO2 emissions keep rising. Global carbon dioxide emissions in 2008 rose 1.94 percent year-on-year to 31.5 billion metric tons, according to a Reuters report. The German renewable energy industry institute which research also has a solution: Stop trying to curb industrial activity and instead tie renewable energy investment to CO2 emissions.

IWR said that "Kyoto is not working out" -- rather than falling, emissions have climbed some 40% based on 1990 levels -- but that trying to persuade countries to slow industrial activity will only result in bickering and hostility. Instead investment in renewable energy needs to be tied to the amount of emissions a country is producing -- nations with higher CO2 emissions having to make greater investments in renewable energy.

IWR recommended that the $170.3 billion invested in renewable energy in 2008 will have to be increased to about $710 billion per year to prevent catastrophic climate change.

Peak oil in 10 years

How long will oil last? Or, when will see it peak? A few decades? Maybe earlier, going by what IEA chief Fatih Birol says. Oil will peak in ten years, he says in an interview.

The first detailed assessment of more than 800 oil fields in the world, covering three quarters of global reserves, has found that most of the biggest fields have already peaked and that the rate of decline in oil production is now running at nearly twice the pace as calculated just two years ago.

"One day we will run out of oil, it is not today or tomorrow, but one day we will run out of oil and we have to leave oil before oil leaves us, and we have to prepare ourselves for that day," Dr Birol said. "The earlier we start, the better, because all of our economic and social system is based on oil, so to change from that will take a lot of time and a lot of money and we should take this issue very seriously," he said.

The IEA estimates that the decline in oil production in existing fields is now running at 6.7 per cent a year compared to the 3.7 per cent decline it had estimated in 2007, which it now acknowledges to be wrong.

In its first-ever assessment of the world's major oil fields, the IEA concluded that the global energy system was at a crossroads and that consumption of oil was "patently unsustainable", with expected demand far outstripping supply.

How equipped are we for a shift to other fuels?

India's first wave power project

India may be high up there among the top greenhouse gas emitters but there are many attempts to wean away from fossil fuel dependence. In what is a first for the country, the Maharashtra Energy Development Agency (Meda) has commissioned a wave energy project in Guhagar area of Konkan region. Implemented by private company Apar Urja, the pilot project can generate 25 kW with a initial cost of Rs 40 lakh. This will soon be upgraded to generate 250 kW and then 1 MW by August 2009 after which commercial generation will be commenced.

Around 150 sites have been identified along the state coast for similar projects.

The cost of power generated according to the state ministry of non-conventional sources is Rs 1/KWh which means it si cheaper than conventional power. The technology makes it possible to harvest energy of low energy waves also by tapping both upward and horizontal thrust of waves, unlike existing plants, says the company.

The centre has announced big plans to save 10,000 MW by 2012 through energy efficiency measures. To start with, air conditioners and refrigerators will have to mandatorily exhibit efficiency labelling by next year. More appliances will be included soon.

Meanwhile, Karnataka has plans of formulating a renewable energy policy. Solar technologies in domestic, public and institutional buildings, a green cess to be used to fund more renewable energy projects, energy conservation and efficiency measures to release 1000 MW, etc have been proposed. Some aspects need more detailed structural definitions while some like processing fee and extension fee could be reduced. But overall, such moves indicate an encouraging trend in the country.

With a renewable energy law to be enacted at the centre, things are poised for a change. What do you think is the push needed to set things going for renewable energy? More laws? More incentives? More new technology? Innovative financing?