Sun Power… 13 December 2007

I recently read in the newspapers a few inter-connected pieces on solar power.

A study done by the Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune has shown that sunshine over India has reduced by five percent in the last 20 years due to smog created by industrial activity, biomass burning, vehicular exhausts etc. I wonder what the long term effects of this would be!

On a cheerful note, the government of Rajasthan and a private company Moser Baer have signed an agreement to set up India’s largest grid-connected solar farm in Rajasthan with an investment of Rupees one hundred crores.

Scientists in the UK are taking help of nano science to create alternatives to photovoltaic (PV) solar cells. The new products may be less efficient compared to the PVs but may be much cheaper to produce.

· Physicist Neil Greenham of Cambridge University is developing organic solar cells using semiconductor polymers.

· Professor Paul O’Brien of Manchester University is working on a hybrid solar cells using a coating of lead sulphide.

Exciting times in scientific research, indeed.

S. Gopal
…. Keying in is better than idling

Eco-friendly technology….the Indian connection 17 November 2007

Veena Sahajwalla was born in Mumbai and educated in the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. She is an award-winning material scientist working now at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

She has developed a `green’ steel technology that substitutes about 30 percent of coke and coal (required in producing steel using Electric Arc Furnace) with polyethylene waste plastic.

Plastic is simply another form of carbon. In making steel there is essentially no difference between the polyethylene plastic in shopping bags and a natural resource like coal.

Advantages:

• Millions of tonnes of waste plastic will be recycled into steel.
• Less space will be required for plastic landfill.
• Reduction in demand for coke and coal .
• Less power-on time and total power use.
• Drop in green house gas emissions

Commercial production using this technology is underway at the Sydney furnaces of OneSteel. There are 300 EAF steel makers in the world accounting for 40 percent of the world’s steel production. If all these use this new technology, the benefits will be immense.

S .Gopal
….Keying in is better than idling

Uranium, thorium, and India…. 8 November 2007

Uranium and thorium are two terms that appear in discussions pertaining to nuclear energy. What are they ?

Uranium is an element found in many rocks. However, all of it is not of use; only a certain kind of Uranium, known as Uranium-235 can be used to generate nuclear energy. One more kind, namely Uranium-238 is available in small fractions; this has to be converted to Plutonium-239 before it can be used to produce energy.

Out of the 95 000 tonnes of Uranium available in India, only around 675 tonnes is U-235. This quantity is not sufficient and hence most nuclear plants in the country are running below their capacities. Other countries have imposed a ban on the sale of Uranium to India because it has not signed certain international treaties.

Thorium is available in plenty in the beach sands of Kerala and Orissa. This also is not useful as it is, but it can be converted to Uranium-233 which can be used to produce energy. This technology is still under development in the country.

S .Gopal
….Keying in is better than idling

My hero and other inspiring news… 26 October 2007

Swami Agnivesh – one of my few heroes – has been selected for the 2007 Basavasri Award. A former lecturer of Business Management at St. Xavier’s College Kolkatta, he is now the president of Vishwa Arya Samaj. He has received several awards including the Right to Livelihood Award. His many contributions are his championing of dialogue for peace, anti-caste movement, liberation of bonded labour, movement against alcoholism, and equal rights for women (such as their right to education and reading Indian scriptures). We require many more like him.

Irinjalakkuda in Kerala has become the first completely electrified town in India. This place is already famous as it is home to several kathakali maestros and many Malayalam film actors.

India now has 250 million telephone subscribers. In the last month (September 2007) alone, 7.64 million connections were added. The projection for the year 2010 is 500 million subscribers.

United Nations has acknowledged the proactive work done by the Makkala Sahaya Vani run by the Bangalore Police in preventing trafficking of children

S. .Gopal …keying in is better than idling

Energy Balance… 15 September 2007

Energy Balance is nothing but the balance between the energy required to produce energy and the energy produced. Confusing? .

If we wish to produce energy (electrical energy) using the electromagnetic radiation from the Sun with the help of photovoltaic cells (silicon wafers), then

- Silicon has to be separated from natural sources

- It has to be converted into very thin silicon wafers

- The silicon wafers have to be installed

- Electrical connections have to be made

- Batteries to store electrical energy have to be installed

- The system has to be maintained for optimum operation

All these steps will consume energy. Once commisioned, however, courtesy the free source of energy – the Sun – electrical power will start flowing.

Energy balance will break-even only when the electrical energy produced equals the energy spent in manufacturing, installing, and maintaining the system. It is estimated that it will take about five years for the energy balance to be achieved. Net gain in energy will start flowing only after five years of installation of the system !!! Interesting ?????

Gopal

…..keying in is better than idling

123 Agreement…..My understanding 14 September 2007

(Part IV of IV)

Note: Sorry, I have violated the 200-word limit rule.

Immediate benefit for India

Most of the nuclear power plants in the country are running much below their capacities as there is a huge shortage of uranium fuel. India produces meager quantities of uranium raw material; further exploration is bogged down by environmental concerns. No country can supply uranium to us because we are not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The 123 Agreement enables a mechanism to circumvent that. India can now get uranium from the US and the 45-nation strong Nuclear Suppliers Group.

Fears

There is a fear that this treaty will bar India from conducting nuclear tests. Before debating this aspect, one has to answer the question: Does India need to conduct further nuclear tests? Experts say that India has more than sufficient number of nuclear warheads (with tested technology) with it; there is no need to conduct any further tests. Need for further tests may arise only when some new nuclear bomb technology is developed; India is not having any such plans at the moment.

`India will become an American puppet’ some say. This is too far- fetched an argument. In the medium to long term US is likely to become dependent on India for many things and it will become impossible for the US to arm-twist us.

What has the US to gain from it all?

US needs a strong strategic partner in this region to counter China. US business hopes to hugely benefit from this deal; they can sell to India uranium, nuclear technology, and very expensive reactors. US has concluded that it is in its best interest to secure its energy needs of coal, crude oil, and natural gas.

A final, fundamental question

All said and done, some fundamental questions remain: Does India have to take the nuclear route to augment its energy requirements ? Is it safe enough ? Is it cost-effective ?

We will talk about this some other time.

Om Shanti, Shanti, Shantihi !!! Peace, Peace, and only Peace !!!!

Gopal

…..keying in is better than idling

123 Agreement…..My understanding 13 September 2007

(Part III of IV)

Note: Sorry, the 200-word limit rule has been violated.

What is this Hyde Act?

123 Agreement is an agreement reached between the two governments, namely the Indian and the US. As per the US constitution, a legal basis is required for such an agreement. The Hyde Act (earlier known as The United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act of 2006) provides the legal framework for the 123 Agreement.

(Note: Hyde Act is named after the Illinois Congressman and Chairman of the Committee on International Relations, Henry J. Hyde)

The Hyde Act envisages (Section-109) India to jointly participate with the U.S. in a programme involving the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration to further nuclear non-proliferation goals. The president of the United States is required to annually report to the congress whether India is fully and actively participating with the US and international efforts in nuclear energy.

It is said that this Act authorises the US administration to take action against India if the latter continues its co-operation with Iran, particulalry in the area of natural gas supplies to India.

Hyde Act is not an agreement with India but a legislation within the US. However, some maintain that the US can go back on the

123 Agreement taking recourse to the Hyde Act. Well, I do not know. Article 2.1 of the 123 Agreement says: `The parties shall co-operate……..in accordance with its respective applicable treaties, national laws…’ . The question is: `whose national law applicable on whom?’ US national laws applicable on India or Indian laws applicable in India or Indian law applicable on the US or US laws applicable in the US?

Legislation in India

While the US constitution requires

- an act (like Hyde Act) to provide a legal framework to the agreements that the US may sign with other countries

- an agreement like 123 Agreement to be ratified by their legislature,

no such stipulation exists in India. The government of India can enter into any agreement with other countries, there is no need to get them ratified in the Indian parliament. Approval by the Central Cabinet is essential, though.

There is now a demand from some quarters to amend the Indian constitution to say that all such treaties must be ratified by the parliament before they become operational.

More on the subject in the next issue of Penumbra.

Gopal

…..keying in is better than idling

123 Agreement…..My understanding 12 September 2007

(Part II of IV)

Note: Sorry, the 200-word limit rule has been violated.

Why is it called the 123 Agreement ?

All matters in the US pertaining to atomic energy are governed by the United States Atomic Energy Act of 1954. The section of that Act under the heading ” Cooperation With Other Nations ” which controls the nuclear deals that the US may have with other countries is section number 123. Any nuclear deal that the US signs with any other country is known as the 123 Agreement.

To date, the U.S. has entered into roughly twenty-five 123 Agreements with various countries. Some of the countries with which the U.S. has or had a 123 Agreement are: Morocco, Ukraine, Romania, Japan, China, Switzerland and now India (draft completed, requires signatures from U.S. and India )

Note: The terms of agreement between the US and India are more liberal (I mean, more favourable to India) than the ones between the US and China (I mean, more favourable to the US)

Why is this treaty significant?

You must have heard of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). It is an international treaty to limit the spread of nuclear weapons.There are currently 189 states party to the treaty including China. ONLY four nations are not signatories: India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea. India and Pakistan both possess and have openly tested nuclear bombs. Israel has had a policy of opacity regarding its own nuclear weapons program. North Korea ratified the treaty, violated it, and later withdrew.

This places India under the category of `rouge states’ which do not toe the line of the `international community’ and particularly of the US. ONLY those countries who are signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) are granted access to civilian nuclear technology from each other as well as nuclear fuel via. the Nuclear Suppliers Group in exchange for certain international verifications.

With this deal, India comes out of the `untouchable’ status in spite of the fact that India is not a signatory to the NPT. India will now get access to civil nuclear technology, nuclear fuel as well as equipment. However, all civil nuclear plants will come under the scrutiny of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) -a body of the United Nations. The significant point is that the military nuclear plants (which are engaged in activities related to military, which in plain English means `factories engaged in processes leading to making nuclear bombs’) are NOT covered by the inspection of the IAEA.

More on the subject in the subsequent issues of Penumbra.

Gopal

…..keying in is better than idling

123 Agreement…..My understanding 11 September 2007

(Part I of IV)

Note: Sorry, the 200-word limit rule has been violated.

A lot of heat and dust has been generated in the country on the subject of 123 Agreement. I wish to share with you whatever I have understood of that.

This is a treaty between the government of the United States of America (US) and India on civil nuclear energy co-operation. However, this treaty is much more than that. Behind this treaty lie several important issues like:

- Long term co-operation with the US

- India distrusts China; US is afraid of China. Hence India and China are friends !!!

- Countering military ambitions of China

- Keeping Pakistan in check

- Admission on the part of the US that India is poised to be a superpower and hence can not be ignored

- Once this treaty is signed, 45 other nations known as the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG) will offer more co-operation with India even in non-nuclear fields.

Note: Now I wish to make an important personal statement here. I do not at all like the US because they are arrogant, organisers of international terrorism and crime, and pushers of arms race. But, I also subscribe to the view that we should act in the best interests of our nation. Our current economic growth hinges quite a lot on the US. Hence, we have to be (and also seen to be) on their right side. An analogy is in place: If I wish to run a business, I cannot afford to be un-friendly with the police, the politician, the tax department, and the local dada (to whom I have to pay regularly to keep out of trouble from him and others)

More on the subject in the subsequent issues of Penumbra.

Gopal

…..keyingin is better than idling