DR.A.Jagadeesh

The Scientist 21-03-11

2011-03-21T06:26:00.002-04:00

Volume 25 | Issue 3 | Page 18
Date: 2011-03-01

Speaking of Science

Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Oxford

How fleeting are the wishes and efforts of man! how short his time! and consequently how poor will be his results, compared with those accumulated by Nature during whole geological periods!
—Charles Darwin, On The Origin of Species (1859)

Why them? Why is this species [the New Caledonian crow] on a small island in the Pacific able to not just use but to manufacture a variety of tools, and in a flexible rather than a rote or programmatic way? Why are they able to do at least as well as chimpanzees on experiments of cognition…?
— Russell Gray of the University of Aukland, as quoted by Natalie Angier in “Nurturing Nests Lift These Birds to a Higher Perch” (New York Times, Jan. 31, 2011)

Scientists are both feared and respected, perhaps not unlike the Aztec priests of old…57% of Mexicans interviewed agreed that “due to their knowledge, scientific researchers have power which makes them dangerous.”
—Antonio Regalado writing about a poll conducted by Mexico’s National Council on Science and Technology and the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (ScienceInsider, Jan. 5, 2011)

Although many “genome” companies and researchers are promoting personal genomics for medicine and/or life choices, regulation of data quality and standards is lacking, which has made deceptive marketing a reality in some instances.
—Genomicist J. Craig Venter, writing in Science on the 10th anniversary of the first peer-reviewed reports describing the sequencing of the human genome (Feb. 4, 2011)

No matter how many randomized clinical trials have been done on a particular topic, about half the clinical trials cite none or only one of them.
—Steven Goodman of Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Medicine, in a New York Times interview based on his article in Annals of Internal Medicine (154:50-55, 2011)

About two-thirds of our essential genetic information—our “dark genome”—is needed for processes whose nature mostly remains a mystery.
—Bruce Alberts, editor-in-chief, Science magazine, in an editorial, “Is the Frontier Really Endless?” (Science, Dec. 17, 2010)

Comment on this article

by Jagadeesh Anumakonda

[Comment posted 2011-03-06 15:06:29]

Very good quotes. Enhances knowledge.

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore (AP), India

Post Carbon Institute Last Update 21-03-2011

2011-03-21T05:55:00.002-04:00

China's New Green Plan: the Local Angle

Posted Dec 8, 2010 by Warren Karlenzig

To get a better view of what was happening at the local level in terms of China's new national low carbon and ecological planning, I recently traveled to Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province. Jiaxing (above--click on photos for full size) is a "small town" of about four million that is now only 21 minutes (80 kilometers) from metro Shanghai on a new high-speed electric train line, the fastest in the world--the line, which will eventually extend to Beijing, recently set a test record of 259 miles per hour.

I was traveling with other strategic advisers from the Institute for Strategic Resilience, Irv Beiman and Daniel Zhu. Jiaxing is Zhu's hometown, and he helped arrange our two-day visit.

Jiaxing sees itself as a "Garden City" (with more than 40 percent forest cover), and truly it felt that way thanks to extensive landscaping and forests planted on the site of former rice fields. Jiaxing is also billing itself as the "Oriental Silicon Valley," which embodies China's plans to transform its economy, particularly in eastern coastal areas such as the Yangtze Delta, from manufacturing to service industries, such as IT and green technologies, to supplant its product-export-dominated industrial base.

Jiaxing is the home of the first official Communist Party of China meeting. It occurred in 1921, with Mao Zedong and a few others from Shanghai on a boat playing Mahjong for cover out in the middle of the city's South Lake.

South Lake and a replica of the famed boat (above) have long been the site of pilgrimages from Chinese citizens, which may account for the town's relative superior level of historic and cultural preservation.

South Lake still hosts traditional fisherpeople who rhythmically clap boards on the gunwales of their sampans in order to scare fish into awaiting nets.

Jiaxing has been engaged in careful restoration and reuse of its city center's large 500+ year-old historic district (above). Starting with the canal that encircles its ancient district, the city is attempting to restore the ecology of its deltaic landscape and waterways through applied research of the Yangtze Delta Research Center of Tsinghua University, which is also located in the city. Jiaxing was a north-south node on the great Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, parts of which date back to 2,500 years, the longest engineered water body worldwide.

In Jiaxing City Hall, a five-story building passively daylighted with great artistry (above) and surrounded by acres of naturally looking forest planted eight years ago, we met with officials. City leadership included the mayor and representatives from the National Development Reform Commission, or NDRC, to which the mayor reports. They explained how the city wants to improve its environmental management and clean industry attraction.

They read us the new goals being dictated from the draft 12^th Five Year Plan for 2011-2015, including how they will need to reduce carbon emissions and decrease fossil fuel use, SO2, CO2 (and other more toxic emissions), water pollutants (measured primarily through chemical oxygen demand levels, or COD) and acid rain, while maintaining or restoring forests. While the United States regulates about 1,200 chemicals or pollutants, China currently only regulates about 200.

Water quality is a key national initiative, especially in the Yangtze River and Pearl River deltas. Poor water quality--at the Fourth World Forum on China Studies that I also presented at, Zhu spoke of water quality in some regional lakes as being 2,000 times over national standards for heavy metals--has been impacting not only the industry and residents, but also is degrading the estuarine fisheries of the East and South China Sea. The NDRC party official told us that the city's water quality in its canals is a "three or four" on a seven-point scale, with one being the best. The water in the canals did not stink, but it was an opaque dark brown indicating possible overload of fertilizers and other organic material.

We toured a new Science and Industry research center, which had a display on green chemistry. We also visited a state-of-the-art "living machine" type wetland of dozens of acres that the city designed to biologically clean its drinking water while providing open space for recreation. Water fowl and numerous plants species were abundant in the wetland.

Near the ancient city center, an intact island city of 500 years old, university-sponsored researchers were using an experimental technology to oxygenate the organic material-laden canals (from rice and other fertilizers) that flowed around town from the nearby Yangzte River.

Officials told us that Jiaxing is the first city in China as part of national pilot project to reduce SO2 emissions using a market-based emissions reduction program. At the city's pollution exchange center, an official explained how the price of $20,000 Renminbi ($3,000 US) was assessed per ton on SO2 for the next 20 years for existing industries. Industries or operations that produce too much air pollution are being discouraged from locating in the city by much greater emissions fees, three or four times more, that would apply to them.

Highly polluting and energy-intensive plants are being shut down around Jiaxing and throughout the nation, in China's east coast in particular. And true to the goals of the Twelfth Five Year Plan, Jiaxing, instead of pursuing more primary or secondary manufacturing, the "Oriental Silicon Valley" (there has to be a better way to translate that nickname!) is vying for software, telecommunications and service industries.

Though Jiaxing is making strides as a center of research and applied research for environmental management and low-carbon approaches and technologies, its new green evolution is not without hurdles.

Like many local and regional governments, the city and the Zhejiang Province, have been struggling to meet the energy efficiency mandates of the national 11th Five Year Plan that officially that ends December 31. In order to achieve the goals of the 11th Five Year Plan for energy-use reduction, rolling blackouts were occurring throughout the area, forcing industry to use dirtier diesel generators for electricity, which contributed to local air pollution as well as shortages of diesel gasoline used by trucks.

As Jiaxing illustrates, no one expects China's new greener path to be easy or without conflicts. The implications for this new direction, however, augers well on a number of fronts. China's new National 12th Five Year Plan should be a boon for greater technological innovation, greener economic growth and greater attention to global (climate change) and national environmental degradation, as well as international cooperation.

Warren Karlenzig is president of Common Current. He is a fellow at the Post-Carbon Institute, strategic adviser to the Institute of the Strategic Resilience and co-author of a forthcoming United Nations manual on global sustainable city planning and management.

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Anumakonda Jagadeesh

Excellent post. China's commitment to reduce green house gases to avert climate change is a welcome sign for clean environment.
Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India

9 March 2011

Tree Hugger II Last Update 21-03-2011

2011-03-21T05:25:00.009-04:00

treehugger

Chinese Army to Enlist 10,000 Pigeons, Just in Case

by Stephen Messenger, Porto Alegre, Brazil on 03. 6.11

Business & Politics

Photo: Public Domain Photos

From their humble beginnings along the rocky cliff sides of Africa and Asia some 20 million years ago, pigeons can now by found pretty much anywhere there´s a statue being erected or sandwich being eaten -- though long before we they were merely pests, they served a vital purpose that has evidently not been lost. It was recently revealed that China plans to increase its military spending 12.7 percent, but evidently not all that money will go towards tanks and fighter jets. According to China Central Television, the People's Liberation Army will soon be training 10,000 pigeons to act as couriers in the event that traditional communication equipment fails.

Humans first began domesticating pigeons around 5,000 to 10,000 years ago -- at first for food and to use their feathers, but later as carriers, taking advantage of their superb homing abilities to deliver messages over long distances. They were ideal couriers throughout the Ancient world, like in Greece where they reported the winners of the first Olympic Games.

The opportunity to employ pigeons for military purposes was certainly not lost on some of the best military minds throughout the ages. Even Julius Caesar had occasion to use pigeons to send a receive strategic messages across the front line. This tradition carried on through to the wars of the 20th century, with a few instances of birds being honored for their contribution to the military effort. Pigeons are largely credited for opening up communications with Europe prior to the invasion of Normandy during WWII.

But as technologies improved, with things like the radio, and more recently the internet, it seemed that our trusty feathered couriers could enjoy a bit of retirement from service -- that is, until the Chinese military began thinking about a 'worst-case' where these modern inventions fall short.

A report from The Metro elaborates on China Central Television´s announcement regarding the new pigeon recruits:

Training for the flock is believed to be under way in a central Chinese city. The bird army could be called to arms in the event of a mass breakdown in communication systems, helping to deliver vital messages.

The winged soldiers will also be dispatched on military missions between border forces.

CCTV's air force expert Chen Hong said: 'In modern warfare, the pigeon is indispensable.'

Chen Chuntao, the officer in charge of the pigeon force, stated that the birds were the 'most practical and effective short and medium distance tool for communications if there is electromagnetic interference or a collapse in our signals.'

If the strategic move seems like an almost comical technological about-face, it may be because we've grown a bit overconfident in our recent advances in communications -- which, history has shown in varying degrees, is not impervious to problems of their own. China, in placing the order for more messenger pigeons to join the military service, is actually making quite a remarkable gesture towards inherent superiority of the natural world in a field that we humans have largely thought ourselves unrivaled.

The unyielding forces nature count their time not in decades or centuries, but rather in milenia, and we would all be wise to consider the species therein 'indispensable' as a general rule. Pigeons, like most of our cohabitants on planet Earth, have histories stretching back much further than our own -- and with a murky future where such military build-ups are still thought to be necessary, chances are they'll be around a lot longer, too.

In the meantime, however, they'll be happy just waiting for us to drop a bit of our sandwiches before they deficate on statues of our beloved political and military figures.

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Anumakonda Jagadeesh 1 comment collapsed

Interesting Story.

Here are details on Pigeons and Pigeon carriers of Messages(Courier Pigeons):

How old are pigeons?
Pigeons have lived alongside man for thousands of years with the first images of pigeons being found by archaeologists in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) and dating back to 3000 BC. It was the Sumerians in Mesopotamia that first started to breed white doves from the wild pigeon that we see in our towns and cities today and this undoubtedly accounts for the amazing variety of colors that are found in the average flock of urban pigeons. To ancient peoples a white pigeon would have seemed miraculous and this explains why the bird was widely worshipped and considered to be sacred. Throughout human history the pigeon has adopted many roles ranging from symbols of gods and goddesses through to sacrificial victims, messengers, pets, food and even war heroes!

Biblical references
The first biblical reference to the pigeon (or dove) was in the Old Testament of the Bible in the first millennium AC and was the story of Noah and the dove of peace. Later, in the New Testament, the pigeon was first mentioned during the baptism of Christ where the dove descended as the Holy Spirit, an image now used extensively in Christian art. These early biblical references have paved the way for the many different ways that the urban pigeon is viewed in modern societies worldwide. Perception of the pigeon through the centuries has changed from God to the devil and from hero to zero!

The pigeon as a war hero
In modern times the feral pigeon has been used to great effect during wartime. In both the first and second World Wars the pigeon saved hundreds of thousands of human lives by carrying messages across enemy lines. Pigeons were carried on ships in convoys and in the event of a U-boat attack a messenger pigeon was released with details of the location of the sinking ship. In many cases this lead to the survivors being rescued and lives saved. Mobile pigeon lofts were set up behind the trenches in the First World War from which pigeons often had to fly through enemy fire and poison gas to get their messages home. The birds played a vital role in intelligence gathering and were used extensively behind enemy lines where the survival rate was only 10%. In the Second World War pigeons were used less due to advances in telecommunications, but the birds relayed invaluable information back to the allies about the German V1 and V2 Rocket sites on the other side of the Channel.

The pigeon as a messenger
The earliest large scale communication network using pigeons as messengers was established in Syria and Persia about 5th Century BC. Much later in the 12th Century AD the city of Baghdad and all the main towns and cities in Syria and Egypt were linked by messages carried by pigeons. This was the sole source of communication. In Roman times the pigeon was used to carry results of sporting events such as the Olympic Games and this is why white doves are released at the start of the Olympic Games today. In England, prior to the days of telegraphs, pigeons were often taken to soccer matches and released to carry home the result of the game. Their use as a messenger in war time resulted in many pigeons being awarded honors by both the British and French Governments. Incredibly, the last ‘pigeon post’ service was abandoned in India in 2004 with the birds being retired to live out the rest of their days in peace.

The religious significance of the pigeon
Many religious groups including Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs feed pigeons for religious reasons. Many older Sikhs feed pigeons ceremoniously to honour the high priest and warrior Guru Govind Singh who was a known friend of the pigeon (or rock dove). Some Sikhs also feed pigeons because they believe that when they are reincarnated they will never go hungry if they have fed pigeons in their previous life. Other religious groups in India believe that when a person dies his or her soul assumes the form of a bird (normally a pigeon) and therefore by feeding birds they are caring for the souls of their departed ancestors. The pigeon is revered in India with huge flocks numbering many thousands of birds being fed daily at Hindu temples in town and city centres throughout the country. In both eastern and western societies many of the most entrenched pigeon-related problems in urban areas are considered to be caused, certainly in part, by religious feeding of the birds. In the Christian religion the pigeon is both a symbol of peace and of the Holy Spirit.

Pigeon-gram Air Mail service
The first organised pigeon air-mail service was started in 1896 between New Zealand and the Great Barrier Reef. The sinking of the SS Wairarapa off the Great Barrier Reef, with the loss of 134 lives, was a catalyst for the service. News of the disaster did not reach New Zealand for 3-days and as a direct result a pigeon-gram service was set up between the two islands. The first message was carried in January 1896 and took less than 1.75 hours to reach Aukland. Up to 5 messages were carried by each pigeon with the record time for the journey being held by a pigeon called ‘Velocity’ taking only 50 minutes and averaging 125 kmph (only 40% slower than a modern aircraft!). Special pigeon-gram stamps were issued costing 2/- each (20 cents) with the fee being paid in cash before the pigeon was released.

Pigeons in Wall Street
One of the richest and most famous families in the world amassed its wealth, certainly in part, as a result of exploiting the pigeon. In the early 1800’s the Rothschild family set up a network of pigeon lofts throughout Europe and used homing pigeons to carry information between its financial houses. This method proved to be quicker and more efficient than any other means of communication available at the time. The speed of the service combined with the ability to send and receive information ahead of the competition helped the Rothschild family amass a fortune which still exists today. (Source: deterapigeoon, 21 Amazing Facts you don’t know about Pigeons).

The homing pigeon is a variety of domestic pigeon derived from the Rock Pigeon (Columba livia domestica) selectively bred to find its way home over extremely long distances. The wild rock pigeon has an innate homing ability, meaning that it will generally return to its own nest and its own mate. This made it relatively easy to breed from the birds that repeatedly found their way home over long distances. Flights as long as 1800 km (1,118 miles) have been recorded by birds in competition pigeon racing. Their average flying speed over moderate distances 500 miles is around 80 km/h (50 mph), but speeds of up to 177 km/h (110 mph) have been observed in top racers for short distance 100 miles.

Homing pigeons are referred to as carrier pigeons when they are used to carry messages.

History

Stamp for early Pigeon-Gram service

The Egyptians and the Persians first used carrier pigeons 3,000 years ago.They also were used to proclaim the winner of the Olympics.Messenger pigeons were used as early as 1150 in Baghdad and also later by Genghis Khan. In Damietta, by the mouth of the Nile, the Spanish traveller Pedro Tafur saw carrier pigeons for the first time, in 1436, though he imagined that the birds made round trips, out and back.The Republic of Genoa equipped their system of watch towers in the Mediterranean Sea with pigeon posts. Tipu Sultan used carrier pigeons. They returned to the Jamia Masjid mosque in Srirangapatna, which was his headquarters. The pigeon holes may be seen in the mosque's minarets to this day. In 1860, Paul Reuter, who later founded Reuters press agency, used a fleet of over 45 pigeons to deliver news and stock prices between Brussels and Aachen, the terminals of early telegraph lines. The outcome of the Battle of Waterloo was also first delivered by a pigeon to England. During the Franco-Prussian War pigeons were used to carry mail between besieged Paris and the French unoccupied territory. Possibly the first regular air mail service in the world was Mr. Howie's Pigeon-Post service from the Auckland New Zealand suburb of Newton to Great Barrier Island, starting in 1896. Certainly the world’s first 'airmail' stamps were issued for the Great Barrier Pigeon-Gram Service from 1898 to 1908. Homing pigeons were still employed in the 21st century by certain remote police departments in Orissa state in eastern India to provide emergency communication services following natural disasters. In March 2002, it was announced that India's Police Pigeon Service messenger system in Orissa was to be retired, due to the expanded use of the InternetThe Taliban banned the keeping and/or use of homing pigeons in Afghanistan.

Here is an interesting story of Pigeon Carriers in India:

Homing pigeons, the winged messengers of the Indian police force, are expected to be grounded, ending more than 50 years of distinguished service.

About 800 birds from the Police Pigeon Service, which have defied cyclones and floods to deliver urgent police missives between remote stations in the north-eastern state of Orissa since 1946, may be retired under government proposals that suggest e-mail and telephones make the birds obsolete.

The pigeons, which were used extensively by the British Army during the Second World War and were then given to the Indian police before independence in 1947, have often succeeded in monsoon conditions where modern communications have failed.

The winged courier service is trained and fed by a special force of about 40 police officers in 29 lofts across the state, at a cost of about 500,000 rupees (£7,200) a year. Officials say the auditor general's department had proposed grounding the birds long before the advent of telephones because they were an unnecessary expense.

But the retirement plan has angered bird-lovers. "The old pigeon tradition should not be destroyed. It's a vanishing art which should be protected," Rajat Bhargava, an ornithologist in Delhi, said. "These pigeons are excluded from the Wildlife Protection Act. So they can be kept. We're against cruelty to animals. But we're not against captive breeding of domesticated animals," he said.

One highlight of the pigeons' service history was in 1948, when they were used to send an urgent message to a remote area about arrangements for a visit by India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.

They also proved invaluable in the aftermath of a cyclone in 1999 that brought down communication links with coastal areas for days.(Source: Indian police's pigeon post finally gets wings clipped, By James Palmer, Thursday, 21 March 2002,THE INDEPENDENT WORLD).

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India

7 March 2011

South Beach, in Miami Beach, Starts Decobike Bicycle Rentals

by Bonnie Alter, London on 03. 9.11Cars & Transportation (bikes)

Photo by B. Alter

Here's a welcome addition to the achingly trendy South Beach scene: a new bicycle rental scheme. By day there are lots of tourists going to the beach and cruising the streets looking for fun. But there is also a thriving community of hip locals who love the ocean vibe and relative calm compared to Miami.

Called the Decobike, in appreciation of the fabulous art deco buildings everywhere, now everyone will be able to rent bicycles by the hour to get to the beach.

Photo by B. Alter

It's a first for Florida,the land of cars, where you have to drive to buy a newspaper. There will be 1,000 bicycles and 100 docking stations. A station will be located every 2 blocks in the busy downtown beach/shopping areas along a 7 mile stretch. Given that this is the most concentrated area of hotels, it would seem that it is a more tourist-oriented amenity than many of the other schemes in larger, more urban, places.

It will be sponsored by private companies, and since this is not just any beach, the likes of Ralph Lauren, the Shore Club, American Apparel and Benetton have all contributed. The private sponsors will pay $4M start-up for all of the infrastructure and the municipality will provide the street space for free. The city of Miami Beach will get a percentage of the revenue from rentals and from the advertising on the baskets.

They are pricing it a little differently than many other cities. There will be a free first half hour and then the next half hour is $4 or the next full hour is $5. A full day rental is $14. This would seem to encourage longer time periods that people will keep the bicycles. Most other schemes focus on a short-term rental and make a longer one prohibitively expensive. Since there is such a big tourist population, there is no pre-registration, you just swipe a credit card at the docking station (with a refundable pre-authorized hold of $250 which is a security deposit).

However residents are given a special deal: they can get unlimited usage by the month for $15.

Photo by B. Alter

The bicycles have been customized specially for the scheme. They are aluminum with hand brakes, adjustable seats and kick stand. They have electronic tracking technology that tells who the rider is and can even calculate the carbon offset. The baskets are roomy and sturdy and there is a bell.

But this cynical Londoner fears for their longevity; they just seem too light and too easy to kick in. Plus the docking mechanism doesn't seem strong and secure enough, but time will tell.

It is expected that the scheme will be up and running next month. So if you are planning a trip to South Beach, forget about the car rental and go the Decobike way.

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Anumakonda Jagadeesh 1 comment collapsed

Good scheme. I was in Denmark. There a Company designed a special bikes with its logo on it. One has to put a 20 Kroner coin in a slot to release the bike and has to put back at selected bike spots to get back the 20 Kroners. I found the same for hand drawn trolleys in the Railway Stations. This way people won’t leave the trolleys on the platform.

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore (AP), India

9 March 2011

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Riding the New London Bicycle Rental

by Bonnie Alter, London on 08. 3.10

Cars & Transportation (bikes)

Images by B. Alter

It's here and it's exciting: the new London Barclays Cycle Hire is open for business. Everywhere there are stands of shiny new bicycles just waiting to be ridden. And there are perplexed looking tourists and Londoners wondering how on earth they can get one.

It's easy if you live here: for now only people with a registered address can become a member (membership has its privileges) the rest of the world will have to wait until later in the season. The only drawback is that when all is said and done, you are still riding on the streets of London and that is scary!

First the system: after you register for membership you get an electronic key. You put the key in the slot, a light shines red if the bicycle is not available, amber while your details are being checked and green when they are recognized. Then you hoist the bike out. And they are heavy: each one weighs 50 lb. That's probably for good reason: you would have to be very committed to trash it. And they are designed to last for 40,000 miles of use.

The seats can be adjusted to any height.

There is absolutely no room for handbags or bulky packages. Apparently this was done on purpose, to discourage joy riders, but it is a nuisance.

As for the ride: it is slow but steady. Cyclists on speedy bikes whiz by and give you the thumbs up. Fellow Cycle Hire riders moan: one woman passed wailing that she hadn't thought it would be so hard. Agreed.

Finding the docking stations is easy. There is an app available for the iPhone. There are good maps at each station which show where you are and where you can go. There is also a computer terminal which helps.

The price: the first half hour is free. After that it is £1 for the first next 30 minutes and so on.

There are some wrinkles to be worked out, of course. The key doesn't work in every slot, people don't put the bikes back properly and get charged for longer periods, the app isn't the most precise about nearest locations.

The verdict: terrifying to drive on the streets. Car drivers ignore pedestrians at the best of times and do the same for cyclists. Pedestrians dart out everywhere without looking. Left turns really are a nightmare, despite the warning on the handle bars. And they've got to do something about the name (some are calling them Boris bikes, after the mayor, Boris Johnson).

But for short trips, it's faster than the bus, great exercise and a thrilling addition to the greening of London's streets.

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Anumakonda Jagadeesh 1 comment collapsed

Best way to promote CLEAN TRANSPORTATION.

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India

9 March 2011

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Cycling with Style Promotes New Bicycle Schemes in London

by Bonnie Alter, London on 07.13.10

Cars & Transportation (bikes)

Images from the Guardian Good for You, Green For London by Rachel Lillie

London's Transport Museum held a competition: asking designers and artists to create posters to push cycling and all its benefits. We know what they are: cleaner environment, healthier people, and fewer cars. But take a look at the many and delightful ways that these winning designs have illustrated the joys of cycling.

The timing is perfect: London's bicycle rental scheme, the Barclays Cycle Hire will be starting up this month, and the first of the new Barclays Cycle Superhighways is being opened next week. The top three winners' posters will be used to promote these events.

Cycling City by Harry Sankey

The competition was held with the Association of Illustrators and the winner was Good for You, Green For London by Rachel Lillie. All of the entrants' work is on display at the Museum hung amidst the vast collection of old buses, trains and carriages that are part of the vast and fascinating collection.

Spokes and Leaves Full by Mia Nilsson

The new Barclays Cycle Superhighways is a system of dedicated bicycle lanes leading into central London from outer London. The lanes will have bright blue markings to distinguish them and are meant to provide cyclists with safer, faster and more direct journeys into the city. There will be a dozen in all, with the first two opening next week. The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, wants to increase cycling in London by 400 per cent by 2025 (compared to 2000 levels).

If Super Heroes Couldn't Fly by Evgenia Barinova

The new bicycle rental scheme is due to open at the end of the month. Called the Barclays Cycle Hire (this is one bank that has a lot of money; they have spent £140M on sponsorship for this), 6,000 bikes will be available for short-term rentals within central London. People will be able to pick up a bike, pay a £1 access fee and then make a free 30 minute journey, before returning it to one of 400 docking stations. Stay tuned for on the spot reports next month.

Cycle Revolution by Frances Castle

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Anumakonda Jagadeesh 1 comment collapsed

Excellent post on Cycling with Style Scheme in London. This shows the concern of people to promote Clean Transportation.
Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India

9 March 2011

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Sneak Preview of London's Bike Rental Scheme

by Bonnie Alter, London on 12.15.09

Cars & Transportation (bikes)

Image from Evening Standard

Finally London is getting a bike rental scheme, along with Paris, Montreal, Barcelona and many others. It will be up and ready next summer, but new details of the programme are being announced and bike docking stations are already being installed throughout central London.

The users will pay an access fee to join, on a daily, weekly or yearly basis. The first half hour will be free and up to an hour will be a pound ($1.62 US), with charges rising for longer periods. It will be £4 for an hour and a half and £15 for three hours. As the Mayor, an infamous cyclist himself, said "It is amazing how far your bike can take you in 30 minutes if you put in a bit of pedal power."

Image from mail on line: Mayor Boris Johnson

The pricing increases with the length of rental. There will also be a late-return charge of £150 if a bike is kept longer than the access period, or for more than 24 hours. This encourages short journeys and quick returns so that someone else can use it.

There will be 6,000 bikes and 400 docking stations. The black and silver bicycles are variations of the Canadian Bixi, already in use in Montreal. They are made of light aluminium and have an elasticised bag carrier in the front. They are three-speed, with lights that come on automatically and puncture-resistant tires. The seats are adjustable. No helmets are provided.

Image from London Evening Standard: Docking Station in Progress

It has not been smooth sailing. Some shops and area municipalities are fighting against having docking stations in their vicinity. There have been some high-profile refusals - the Corporation of London objects to a stand near St Paul's Cathedral. It claims that the docking station could endanger workers and tourists. Islington has opposed a stand in the street where Mayor Johnson lives.

But so far planning permission for more than three-quarters of the 400 docking stations has been received and a summer start up is envisioned.

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Anumakonda Jagadeesh 1 comment collapsed

Good Scheme.

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India

treehugger

Montreal has Bixi and a Great Bike Lane System

by Bonnie Alter, London on 07. 7.09

Cars & Transportation (bikes)

As noted before, Montreal has its own public bike-sharing programme, Bixi, which is proving to be a great success with 3,000 bicycles in 300 different locations.

But Montreal was already a cycling-friendly city, with the Bixis complementing an already energetic scene. Not that many people seem to wear helmets but the city's highly sophisticated system of 4 different kinds of bike lanes make cycling seem almost to be a safe and friendlier thing to do.

Lane One:
This is a permanent lane on one side of the street. There is a permanent raised concrete median dividing it from the main roadway and it is two-way. It is commonly known as the "super highway" because it is new, nicely laid out and very fast.

Lane Two:
The Route-Vert (green line). It's a 2-way lane, with removable bollards. It is in effect from April to November, the rest of the year is snow-plow time and the lane disappears and it is like a normal road.

Lane Three
This lane is painted on the street, in white or orange, and no cars are supposed to drive on it. On a one way street, this lane will be one way, against traffic and the other direction will be marked with yellow bikes, on the other side of the street.

Lane Four
This lane consists of bike symbols stencilled on the street and can be very scary because cars drive through it as well.

This is a neat and simple little idea: a ring attached to the parking metre, so it is easier to attach the bike, and several can be chained at the same time.

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Anumakonda Jagadeesh 1 comment collapsed

Bicycle sharing scheme is good. In India we have millions of bicycle rental small shops where they give bikes on hourly rent basis with address proof. This way any stranger to the locality can get a bicycle for his use.

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India

9 March 2011

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The TH Interview: Bicing, Barcelona’s Bike Sharing System (Part 1: City Council)

by Petz Scholtus, Barcelona, Spain on 01. 8.08

TH Exclusives (the th interview)

For ten months now, Barcelona’s citizens have been riding and sharing 3.000 cute white- and red-coloured bicycles throughout the city. There are over 100.000 subscribers now riding the bikes, from high-heeled women to guys in business-suit and trendy Barcelonans across all generations. Over 3.000.000 times has the service been used since its launch in March. The name of this bike sharing system: Bicing. (Read our previous article here.)

We tried to find out more about this new phenomenon that brings hope to make Barcelona a world-class bike city and decided to do a series of interviews. Part one is an interview with Mayra Nieto from the Mobility Division of B:SM, the Barcelona Municipal Service.

TreeHugger: When and how did you first consider the idea of starting a bike sharing system in Barcelona?

Mayra Nieto: Before Bicing, the bicycle had grown to become one of the everyday ways of transport in Barcelona over the years. During 2006, 35.000 bike journeys had been registered, of which 88% were internal (start and finish in Barcelona). The city counts 128 kilometres of bike lanes in its urban network. An additional 22 kilometres are planned to be installed for the year 2008. Moreover, 53% of Barcelona’s road network is car-free. With the installation of the Bicing, the Barcelona City Council wanted to take the next step towards prioritising its sustainable policy and the promotion of public transport within the city centre.

TH: Did you contact or visit other cities (Paris, Lyon, Copenhagen, etc.) that have set up a bike sharing system before Barcelona for advice?

MN: We visited the city of Lyon in France as it seemed the most similar one to Barcelona. In Oslo they have a similar one too although I believe it is more of a renting system where any person can take a bike during a maximum of 3 hours.

TH: What other system providers (companies) did you consider?

MN: We launched a public competition and Clear Channel won because their system was the one that could best be adjusted to the conditions we set in the competition.

TH: Why did you get to decide on this particular system?

MN: Because it is sustainable, healthy and fully integrated in the public transport system of the city.

TH: Was it especially designed for Barcelona?

MN: The bicycles have a specific image, distinctive to Barcelona. The City Council collaborated with B:SM on the design for the Barcelona bikes. Its adjustable dimensions for youth and adults, the reduced weight (they only weigh 16,5 kg) and the wide and ergonomic handlebar make driving easy. All bikes have three speed gears, a foot peg for the resting position, anti-slip pedals, a nocturnal lighting system and both front and back breaks. They are made from the resistant materials steel and aluminum since they are always in the street.

TH: What are the system’s advantages and what would you say its downsides?

MN: One of the advantages would be that each Bicing bike has an ID number that connects the vehicle to the user that is using it at any given moment.

TH: How long is the contract with the service provider for? What is the anticipated lifespan?

MN: Ten years

TH: A yearly subscription of Bicing costs 24€ a year, after which the first half hour is free and every other half hour costs 30 cents. Is Bicing making enough money to cover its maintenance or do other city council programmes have to cover it?

MN: Like all public transport systems, it is financed by the City Council. In this case, a big part of the financing comes from the surplus of the Área Verde, or Green Area (road side parking regulation). Another part comes from its own subscriptions.

TH: Can you say anything of what the installation and launch costs have been to Barcelona (city council)?

MN: B:SM is the public company in charge of administration. It offered 2.2 million Euros per year for the company that would win the public competition. In this case Clear Channel won. Hence, Clear Channel gets paid the agreed amount each year in order to take over all logistics, installations, maintenance, staff, etc.

TH: There are rumours that some other cycling projects in Barcelona have suffered/not received finance because of the spend on Bicing. Is there any long-term plan for any Bicing revenue to be re-invested in other cycling provisions or schemes?

MN: The City Council has the intention to build more bike lanes in the coming years. Apart from this, Bicing is the only public transport by bicycle and therefore we believe that no parallel projects exist in Barcelona.

TH: Since cyclists are regarded a problem in Barcelona by some people, and as a consequence the government reinforced the laws for cyclists, we are wondering whether the idea behind installing Bicing was more to get private bikes off the road or to encourage more people to cycle.

MN: Bicing doesn’t pretend to substitute the use of private bikes, but rather offers an additional public transport mode that should be used for everyday journeys. For that reason we believe that Bicing promotes the general use of the bicycle.

TH: You said you expected 40.000 users to sign up in the first year, and had those after about two months. How did you deal with the big success of Bicing?

MN: The system has had since its installation very good feedback from the citizens. During the first months an average of 3000 registrations took place every day (at the time, we had an offer of 6€/year).

At present, the registrations follow the rhythm of about 100 per day. Anyway, after six months we had 90.000 users registered. Therefore it has been decided to extend the numbers of bicycles and stations by 6.000 vehicles before the summer 2008.

TH: Have there been any incidents of theft or vandalism of Bicing bikes or components?

MN: Until now, there are only a few isolated cases since the bikes are provided with an anti-vandalism mechanism and the pieces are not compatible with other bikes on the market.

TH: Why are not enough bikes made available for visitors to be able to use them too, since visitors can use all other forms of public transport?

MN: Visitors can obtain bikes from existing private companies that rent bicycle. At the moment the favoured is the citizen who lives or works in the city. Let’s not forget that Bicing is a public transport system and doesn’t pretend to substitute the bicycle used to go for a stroll.

TH: Has the city Council had to increase the number of bikes and bike lanes due to the success of this mode of transport?

MN: Yes, it has been decided to double what had been planned in the beginning.

TH: What new facilities are planned for non-Bicing cyclists? For example, Barcelona still seems to suffer from much theft and damage to legitimately parked cycles and some suggest there is a great lack of secure parking, both on-street and off-street.

MN: There is bicycle parking in the public car parks of the city. Moreover, additional bike stands are being installed at various points in the city.

TH: Is there an indication that the use of cars and motorbikes has decreased because of Bicing?

MN: At this moment, it is too early to calculate an outcome of this kind.

TH: Novice cyclists have been introduced to Barcelona’s streets through Bicing. Has the number of bike accidents increased or decreased since the introduction of the system? Would you say people are getting more used to bikers? What is being done to increase safety?

MN: Based on the information we have, accidents that have happened with Bicing are small and scarce. Since September 2007 the City Council applied a new law that regulates the circulation of vehicles in the city. This law always benefits the weakest over the strongest. For example, in front of the law, the pedestrian is better protected from the cyclist, and in return, the cyclist is the better protected one when it comes to motorcyclists, …

TH: Building the first bike sharing system in Barcelona is a big step toward more innovation in the city. What other innovative things regarding cycling and eco-friendly transportation are planned?

MN: There are already some in place like the public buses that run on gas, or the incorporation of the trams (Trambaix) that circulate recently through certain areas of Barcelona. (see an early post about the grass tram tracks here)

Apart from those interventions, the intention exists to create more ‘zones 30’ (zones in the city where you can’t drive more than 30km/h) and more parking zones specifically for motorbikes and bicycles.

TH: What do you think will be the state of cycling in Barcelona in five years?

MN: I think that the number of people that go by bike will go up. Maybe the Bicing cannot grow more in numbers of vehicles but the fact that you can see so many bikes circulating through the city will result in more people deciding to use this system or their own private bike to get around.

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Anumakonda Jagadeesh 1 comment collapsed

Excellent post.

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India

9 March 2011

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Bristol Gets a Pay As You Go Bicycle Rental System

by Bonnie Alter, London on 07.27.09

Cars & Transportation (bikes)

Image from Cool Bikes Blog

Bristol is the first city in the UK to get a pay-as-you-go bicycle rental scheme. Called "hourbike", it has just been introduced on a very small scale across the city. There are four hubs and 18 bikes.

The price is right--cheaper than the Velib in Paris--but there are not enough pick-up points yet to make it really work well. The other big problem seems to be that Bristol is a very hilly town. It's controversial; in a recent article in the Guardian there were 100 comments on this subject...

Image from Cool Bikes Blog

Many of the commenters insist that Bristol was the wrong place to introduce the concept because it has so many steep hills. Others defend Bristol's reputation as "Cycle City" and insist that the kinks need to be worked out, as in any new system.

However there are a lot of kinks. Compared to the roll-out in Paris or Barcelona, there are very few bikes and very few locations. A critical mass is needed to get people wedded to the bicycle-rental idea. In addition, vandalism is a serious matter and the bikes are not parked in a secure, covered location. They are parked in what looks like a normal bike rack. This could prove to be huge problem. The durability of the bicycles will also be an issue.

There is a one time £10 charge to join, the first half hour is free and then it is £1 for every subsequent hour. For the time being those wanting to use the bikes on a spontaneous basis cannot: they have to register online first and wait for a card.

Let's hope that Bristol works out the problems and introduces the scheme on a scale large enough to make it a success.

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Anumakonda Jagadeesh 1 comment collapsed

More and more cities adopting cycling. Good for Environment and best as an exercise,
Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India

9 March 2011

IndiaStudyChannel.Com

2011-03-06T14:43:00.001-04:00

INDIA GROWTH OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY IN

Posted Date: 03 Jun 2008

Author: b.thirumaya prabhu

Engineering education, unlike other types of professional education, has not had a long history. Though the ancients and medievals had built large brick and stone houses, castles, cities and huge temples, bad constructed long highways and aqueducts and dug canals, which show considerable knowledge of what are now earned civil and hydraulic engineering and of properties of building materials, this knowledge must have been derived empirically. Beginnings of mechanical engineering are to be found in the manufacture and use, of tools, means of transport, simple machinery like lathes, and weapons of offence and defense. Rudiments of chemical engineering are to be seen in the old metallurgical practices. But there were no organised schools for teaching apprentices the use of machinery or knowledge of processes; knowledge passed from generation to generation of craftsmen and artificers, by word of mouth, and was thus confined to castes and guilds.*1

The Industrial Revolution With the advent of the Industrial Age, which was ushered in by the discovery of the steam engine by James Watt about 1780, and the ability to, generate and to handle large amounts of power rendered possible by the invention of the steam engine, men passed from dependence on human labour and hand tools to large and complicated machinery ; production of commodities passed from cottage workshops to factories. Transportation by bullock-carts, horse-driven carriages, and wind or man driven boats, gave way to railroads and steamships. All this necessitated the construction of large machines, engines, ships and carriages, and gave rise to problems of industrial finance and labour.

Early Engineering School in Europe-While inventive genius was called upon to devise new kinds of machines and to handle new types of processes, the craftsmen and artisans were called upon to put these designs into actual practice. They were asked to test and handle these machines and to repair them whenever necessary. The engineer was thus evolved from two different streams- first from the artisans and craftsmen on one side, who belonged to the lower orders of the less specialised society of the last century, and on the other side from the genteel class who had knowledge of sciences, and had acquired habits of disciplined and organised thinking. Sometimes the two types merged in the same person i.e. the craftsman taught himself science, and learnt to think and invent, (e.g., James Watt); or the man with scientific definite objective 9 e.g., Sadi Carnot).

It was soon found that it was not possible to depend upon unlettered mechanics and craftsmen to manufacture, according to designs given to them, the new types of machines which were constantly coming into use, or upon apprentices to handle these machines properly, unless they were instructed in their use. Schools for general education of craftsmen and artisans, and for teaching apprentices the use of machines were founded by John Anderson at Glasgow about 1790, and Dr. Birkbeck in London in 1823. Anderson's university ultimately became The Royal Technical College, Glasgow. Amongst the universities, Cambridge took the lead in admitting engineering to the rank of university education. France started technical education about the same time (1794) when Ecole des Traveaux Publiques, later Ecole Polytechnic, was founded. In the U.S.A. the first technical school was founded at Bowdoin College, Maine in 1823, but this did not live along. The oldest surviving technical institute in the U.S.A is the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy (New York State), which was founded in 1823, and started giving degrees in civil engineering in 1835. Germany started late, but it built up, after the Franco-Prussian war a chain of technological institutes (culminating in the Technische Hochschules) which provided for the teaching of all grades of men from craftsmen to researchers, and this was mainly responsible for the great technical and industrial superiority of Germany which was noticed during the first world war. The great Technische Hochschule at Charlottenburg, Berlin was founded in 1879, as part of the university, but was later separated from it for the sake of administrative convenience. The success of this institution led to the foundation of the Imperial College of Science and Technology in London by the amalgamation of a number of smaller institutes in 1907. "By the terms of its Charter the Imperial College stands alone in being specially charged to develop postgraduate studies in their application to industries." (Universities Quarterly, Vol. 2, 1948).
Growth of Engineering Sciences

The nineteenth century has witnessed the birth of many branches of engineering and technology in addition to the classical ones of civil and mechanical.

The range of development in engineering and technology is illustrated by the following lists of separate engineering fields which are recognised and in which four or five years of under-graduate courses leading to a degree are offered in American universities and colleges. Within each one of the fields, there are further sub- divisions and specialisations, each being the subject of special postgraduate study and research.

Technology and engineering are products of fundamental discoveries in basic sciences, and as is well known, these began to accumulate in the late nineteenth and in the twentieth centuries and in greater variety than in all the previous 50 centuries of civilised life. Inventive genius in Europe and America tried to utilise these science for new industries, and for other human needs. Thus new branches of engineering began to grow. To give a few examples:

Electrical engineering which now claims as many as, or more professionals and students than the older branches of civil or mechanical, started actually from the year 1882, when Edison built the first central electric power house to supply electrical power to factories, and light and power for domestic use to dwellers of a city The discovery of the law of electromagnetic induction was made by Faraday in 1831, but it required work of a half a century to put the discovery to practical use.

With the multiplication of the number of e electrical power houses, and with the long distance transmission of power, the demand for men trained in the use of electrical machinery and acquainted with the fundamentals of the science began to grow, find the universities and technical colleges began to introduce courses in electrical engineering. But only one or two colleges are known to have introduced electrical engineering courses earlier than 1880. So rapid has been the progress in this field that the number of electrical engineers, technicians and craftsmen in the U.S.A. is now estimated to be nearing the million mark. The same is trite of automotive engineering which dates from the time of the discovery of the internal combustion engine by Otto in 1870. Rudiments of chemical engineering were known in earlier metallurgical practices, but the great discoveries in organic, physical and inorganic chemistry subsequent to 1880, led to more and more large scale chemical industries. Chemical engineering courses began to be introduced about 1890, almost simultaneously in the German Technische Hoschschules and in great American Technical Colleges like the Massaschusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.). The first courses were introduced in England in the Imperial College of Science and Technology in 1911.

Electrical engineering is a typical example of this change. For about 20 years it dealt mainly with electrical power generation, transmission and utilisation. With Marconi's discovery of wireless telegraphy (1898), electrical engineers began to study and watch the progress of Radio Communication. In some, university and technical colleges, the new science began to be pursued as a subject for post-gradate study and research. Then came the discovery of the use of triode valves in 1914 which revolutionised radio communication, and made broad- casting possible. This led to the need for a large number of engineers trained in the fundamentals of radio communications, and in the use of the necessary appliances. So universities and technical colleges were called upon to open undergraduate classes for the training of radio engineers.

Many developments of electrical engineering have emerged, such as power plant and transmission engineering, radio communication, telephone communication, electronics, electrical calculating machines, electric railway engineering, electrical recording apparatus, electricity and electronics in medicine, and surgery, electrical control apparatus, servo-mechanisms and many others.

These subdivisions of the engineering field illustrate how a mature economy develops a great variety of ways for controlling and using the processes and resources of nature. The great productiveness of a country like America is due less to possession of natural resources than to the development of a wide range of skills. Thus three basic types of engineering have developed into numerous new technologies, which have tended to become independent field.

The engineer should be alert for any fundamental discovery winch may be, turned to practical use and for betterment of the processes he is using. The structure of engineering education should be such that when opportunities occur it will be possible for the country or the industries to collect requisite personnel, from technicians to executive engineers, to turn the discovery to use within as short a period as possible. Such a set-up of engineering education existed in Germany, and exists in the U.S.A., but not in the United Kingdom, of which the Indian system was for long a bad and obsolete copy. Thus though many of the great and fundamental discoveries which led to Radar and Atomic Energy utilisation were made by British physicists, their large scale utilisation was for war purpose was possible only in America, where the requisite personnel of all types could be assembled and set to work*2. The British recognized this defect in their structure of Engineering and Technological Education during the course of the last way, Their Ministry of Education set up a committee under Lord Eustace Percy "To advise the Ministry on the needs of higher technical education in England and Wales, with particular attention to the means required for maintaining appropriate co-operation between universities and technical colleges."
Engineering and Technological Education in India up to 1920

The Beginnings of Engineering Education in India.-The impulse for creation of centres of technical training came from the British rulers of India, and it arose out of the necessity for the training of overseers for construction and maintenance of public buildings, roads, canals, and ports, and for the training of artisans and craftsmen for the use of instruments, and apparatus needed for the army, the navy, and the survey department. The superintending engineers were mostly recruited from Britain from the Cooper's Hill College, and this applied as well to foremen and artificers; but this could not be done in the case of lower grades- craftsmen, artisans and sub-overseers who were recruited locally. As they were mostly illiterate, efficiency was low. The necessity to make them more efficient by giving them elementary lessons in reading, writing, arithmetic, geometry, and mechanics, led to the establishment of industrial schools attached to Ordnance Factories and other engineering establishments.

While it is stated that such schools existed in Calcutta and Bombay as early as 1825, the first authentic account we have is that of an industrial school established at Guindy, Madras, in 1842, attached to the Gun Carriage Factory there. A school for the training of overseers was known to exist in Poona in 1854.

Meanwhile in Europe and America, Colleges of Engineering were growing up, which drew to them men having good education, and special proficiency in mathematical subjects. This led to discussions in Government circles in India, and similar institutions were sought to be established in the Presidency Towns.

The first engineering college was established in the U.P. in 1847 for the training of Civil Engineers at Roorkee, which made use of the large workshops and public buildings there that were erected for the Upper Ganges Canal. The Roorkee College (or to give it its official name, the Thomason Engineering College) was never affiliated to any university, but has been giving diplomas which are considered to be equivalent to degrees. In pursuance of the Government policy, three Engineering Colleges were opened by about 1856 in the three Presidencies. In Bengal, a College called the Calcutta College of Civil Engineering was opened at the Writers' Buildings in November 1856; the name was changed to Bengal Engineering College in 1857, and it, was affiliated to the Calcutta University. It gave a licentiate course in Civil Engineering. In 1865 it was amalgamated with the Presidency College. Later, in 1880, it was detached from the Presidency College and shifted to its present quarters at Sibpur, occupy in the premises and buildings belonging to the Bishop's College.

Proposals for having an Engineering College at Bombay city having failed for some reasons, the overseers' school at Poona eventually became the Poona College of Engineering and affiliated to the Bombay University in 1858. For a long time, this was the only College of Engineering in the Western Presidency.

In the Madras Presidency, the industrial school attached to the Gun Carriage Factory became ultimately the Guindy College of Engineering and affiliated to the Madras University (1858).

The educational work in the three Colleges of Sibpur, Poona, and Guindy has been more or less similar. They all had licentiate courses in civil engineering up to 1880, when they organised degree classes in this branch alone. After 1880, the demand for mechanical and electrical engineering was felt, but the three Engineering Colleges started only apprenticeship classes in these subjects. The Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute, which was started at Bombay in 1887, had as its objective the training of licentiates in Electrical, Mechanical and Textile Engineering

In 1915, the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, opened Electrical Engineering classes under Dr. Alfred Hay, and began to give certificates and associateships, the latter being regarded equivalent to a degree.

In Bengal, the leaders of the Swadeshi Movement organised in 1907 a National Council of Education which tried to organise a truly National University. Out of the many institutions it started, only the College of Engineering and Technology at Jadavpur had survived. It started granting diplomas in a mechanical and engineering course in 1908, and in chemical engineering in 1921.

The Calcutta University Commission, debated the pros and cons for the introduction of degree courses in mechanical and electrical engineering. One of the reasons cited, form the recommendations of the Indian Industrial Commission (1915, under the Chairmanship of Sir Thomas (Holland) against the introduction of electrical engineering courses is given in the following quotation from their report*1: "We have not specifically referred to the training of electrical engineers, because electrical manufactures have not yet been started in India, and there is only scope for the employment of men to do simple repair work, to take charge of the running of electrical machinery, and to manage and control hydroelectric and steam-operated stations. The men required for these three classes of work will be provided by the foregoing proposals for the training of the various grades required in mechanical engineering. They will have to acquire in addition, special experience in electrical matters, but, till this branch of engineering is developed on the constructional side, and the manufacture of electrical machinery taken in hand, the managers of electrical undertakings must train their own men, making such use as they can of the special facilities offered for instruction at the engineering colleges and the Indian Institute of Science".

The credit of first starting degree classes in mechanical and electrical engineering and in metallurgy belong to the University of Banaras, thanks to the foresight of its great founder, Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya (1917).

About fifteen years later, in 1931-32, the Bengal Engineering College at Sibpur started mechanical engineering courses, electrical engineering courses in 1935-36, and courses in metallurgy in 1939-40. Courses in these subjects were also introduced at Guindy and Poona about the same time.

Quite a number of engineering colleges have been started since August 15, 1947. It is due to the realisation that India has to be come a great industrial country, and would require a far larger number of engineers than could be supplied by the older institutions. In some cases, existing lower type institutions have been raised to the status of degree-giving colleges.
POST INDEPENDENCE SCENARIO

The last half of this century has transformed our environment, perhaps radically, and brought more changes in our lives and thinking than in any corresponding period in history. These are the consequences of discoveries of sciences and applications of technology. The concept of absolute knowledge in the sense of storing all knowledge is perhaps no more relevant today. Our efforts for reconciling the traditional concepts and ways with the demands of technological age cannot provide simple solutions for our difficulties and complexities based on such stored knowledge. Frontiers of knowledge are themselves expanding rapidly making it possible to device newer and more efficient methods of solving problems of the society. Education must therefore make efforts for securing knowledge and mastering modern skills and methods than merely storing and distributing the traditional ones. For this purpose of training of mind and mastering of skills and for harnessing science and technology to profitable and productive processes of economic growth and social well-being, the technological education system has to be continuously reviewed and adopted. This has indeed been the basis of our efforts during the last three decades, the result is that there is a well-organised structure and a wide network of technical institutions offering different types of programmes: craftsman courses, technician (diploma) courses, graduate and post- graduate courses, etc., catering to the various levels of knowledge, skills and competences required by the economy.
CRAFTSMEN COURSES: FACILITIES AVAILABLE

Vocational Training - Training is imparted in 32 Engineering and 22 non-engineering trades approved by the National Council for Training in Vocational Trades to young people within the age group of 15 to 25 years. For this purpose 357 Industrial Training Institutes with an overall capacity of 1,55,000 training places have been established in the various parts of the country. Period of training ranges from 1 year to 2 years. The Industrial Training Institutes are also used as Basic Training Centres for the Apprenticeship Training Programmes under the Apprentices Act 1961. The 103 trades designated under the Apprentices Act follow our national classification of occupations and cover 216 industries.

Craft Instructor Training - There are seven Central Training Institutes for training of Instructors under the Directorate General of Employment and Training. These Institutes conduct regular, refresher and retraining programmes for the Craft Instructors in various engineering and non-engineering trades. The Instructor- trainees are deputed mostly by the various Industrial Training Institutes and Industrial Establishments in the country.

At the end of the last decade, it was realised that higher or advanced levels of skills were required by the industry both in Public and Private sectors for working on the more modern and highly specialised type of machine tools and equipment coming to be used extensively. To meet this need the following institutes have been established:-

(i) Advanced Training Institute, Madras-The advanced Training Institute, Madras, imparts training in Advanced Vocational skills such as Tool Design, Tool and Die-Making, Heat Treatment, Metallurgy, Machine Tool Maintenance and Advanced Welding etc.

(ii) Foreman Training Institute, Bangalore - The Foreman Training Institute, Bangalore imparts training not only in developing further skills but also in managerial skills for first line supervisors.

(iii) Central Staff Training and Research Institute, Calcutta-The Central Staff Training and Research Institute set up at Calcutta is charged with the responsibility of conducting training programmes for officers and staff of the Central and State Governments and from industry, who control, regulate and direct Vocational and Apprenticeship Training Programmes. This Institute is also involved in the Research and Developmental activities in the field of vocational Training.

(iv) Advanced Training Institute in Electronics, Hyderabad-The Advanced Training Institute in Electronics, Hyderabad, has been set up last year to provide training at Craftsmen and Technician level for the electronic personnel required in the country.
TECHNICIAN COURSE: FACILITIES AVAILABLE

Post-Matric Technical Education - Diploma level courses for the training of middle level man power needed for a wide range of professional duties, for application of knowledge in field operation, in production and construction, testing and development etc., and such functions are offered in 291 polytechnics with an annual enrolment capacity of about 50,000 students. They offer a variety of specialization in engineering and technology as well as in a few non- technological fields. The courses are normally of three years duration where full-time institutional instruction is offered and 31/2 to 4 years when instruction is on a Sandwich or on part-time basis. Recently a number of diversified courses and facilities for evening part-time education have also been provided in some polytechnics situated in metropolitan cities where the demand for such courses exists.

About two dozen Women Polytechnics with courses of special interest to, and employment potential for, women, have also been established, particularly to cater to the needs of the socially/ economically inhibited classes who might be reluctant to take advantage of the facilities generally available in the regular polytechnics.

The products of the diploma courses are expected to take up supervisory positions in field and industry.
DEGREE LEVEL: FACILITIES AVAILABLE

Degree level-For the professional engineers and technologists, facilities for technical education are available in 141 engineering colleges offering courses leading to the award of Bachelor Degree in Engineering and Technology. The total admission capacity annually for these courses is of the order of 25,000. The duration of most of these degree courses is five years and with the new pattern of Secondary Education of 10+2, it is expected to change over completely by 1981-82 to a duration of four years.
POST-GRADUATE COURSES: FACILITIES AVAILABLE

Post-Graduate Courses-For the benefit of those who have higher level academic achievements as also for under taking research and development activities in engineering and technology, post- graduate courses have been offered widely in the various selected institutions offering degree courses. The number of the institutions offering such post-graduate courses is 65 with an annual intake capacity of about 2,000. These courses normally lead to the Master's Degree in the concerned discipline and are of two years duration. Facilities also exist at these centres offering part-time courses at the Post- graduate level for those who are already in service. Duration of such courses normally is three years.
MANAGEMENT COURSES: FACILITIES AVAILABLE

Management Education- Any effort at improvement of the utilisation of available resources and maximisation of results has necessarily to take into account better concepts of management and organisational development of the system as a whole. With this in view a chain of institutions numbering about 30 mostly in the University sector offering management courses both at the First Degree and Advanced levels has been started. The courses offered at the various institutions to date cover training at the Master's Degree level for the M.B.A. degree with an annual admission capacity of about, 1000.
INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK

As has been mentioned above, the Vocational Training/Craftsmen Courses are offered at the Industrial Training Institutes. The Diploma courses are offered in the Polytechnics which are widely spread over all the States and Union Territories and are affiliated to the respective State Boards of Technical Education who lay down in general the levels and standards of the courses and guide the system of evaluation of the students appearing at the examination. Degree and Post-Graduate courses are offered in colleges affiliated to the various Universities, certain University Departments, and institutions declared as of national importance or as deemed Universities.

Indian Institutes of Technology- These are our apex institutions for engineering education and research. Each Institute conducts a First degree course and Master's Degree course in a wide range of subject fields, and also offers facilities for Research and Doctoral work. The main emphasis at the Institutes is on the Post-Graduate studies and Research with an inter-disciplinary approach. To this end each Institute has developed good departments of Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Social Sciences which inter-act with the departments of Engineering and Technology. The student enrolment at the Institutes at the Undergraduate level is limited to 1250 and admission at the Post-Graduate level is designedly kept at about the same order as in the under-graduate courses. The Institutes are in various stages of consolidation and development. As part of the national plan of science and technology, five Centres of Advanced Study and Research have been set up in the Indian Institutes of Technology in Energy Studies (Delhi), Material Science (Kanpur), Cryogenic Engineering (Kharagpur), Ocean Engineering (Madras) and Resource Engineering (Bombay).

Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore- The Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore the oldest and leading post-graduate and research centre in Science and Engineering has facilities in special fields which include Electronics and Communication Engineering, Aeronautical Engineering, Heat and Power Engineering, High Voltage Engineering, Power Engineering, Bio-Chemistry, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics. A major Centre in Automation and Control Systems and another in Electronics Design Technology are in the process of establishment.

Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) - In order to strengthen science education & research in the country, the Government has setup three IISERs. Two IISERs at Pune and Kolkata commenced their academic session in 2006 while the third one at Mohali started its session in August, 2007. The vision of these institutes encompasses creation of research universities of the highest caliber in which teaching and education in basic sciences will be totally integrated with state-of-art research. The Institutes offer Integrated Master's Programmes (5 Years) (after 10+2) and when fully established will also offer Integrated Doctoral Programmes (after B.Sc) (5 Years plus) and Conventional Doctoral and Post-Doctoral Programmes in the areas of Physical Science, Chemical Science, Mathematics, Material Science, Environment & Earth Science and Computer Science. Admission into IISERs are based on IIT-JEE merit list. 72 candidates have been offered admission in IISER, Kolkata, 62 in IISER Pune and 36 in IISER, Mohali for the session commencing in August, 2007.

National Institutes of Technology - Seventeen Regional Engineering Colleges (REC's) were established in various States as a joint and co-operative enterprise of the Central and the State Governments concerned. Each REC was to function as an all-india institution admitting students and recruiting faculty from all parts of the country. Fifty percent of the admissions of these institutions (each of which was be meant to equipped for a total annual student intake of 250) was reserved for students from States other than the one in which they are located. In addition to under-graduate courses, these Colleges also offered Post-graduate courses in various fields.

In 2003, the Seventeen erstwhile Regional Engineering Colleges (RECs) were rechristened as National Institute of Technology (NITs) were taken over as fully funded institutes of the Central Government and granted deemed university status. In addition, Central Government has also taken over 3 other Institutes namely Bihar Engineering College, Patna, Government Engineering College, Raipur, and Tripura Engineering College, Agartala, and converted them into National Institute of Technology(NITs) on 28th January 2004, 1st December 2005 and 1st April 2006 respectively. Thus the total number of NITs has gone up to 20. These institutes are expected to be at par with other national level technical institutes and be able to fulfill the demand of high quality undergraduate and postgraduate level of education in engineering and technology. An Act, namely the National Institute of Technology Act, 2007, has since been enacted by Parliament. So as to provide a common statutory framework for all NIT.

The total budget allocation for all NIT's for the year 2006-2007 was increased to Rs. 110.00 crore under Plan and Rs. 200.00 crore under Non-Plan, from about 70.00 crores under Plan and 118.00
crores under Non-Plan at the time of conversion.

State Colleges and University Departments - In addition to the above institutions offering courses at degree and post-graduate level, there is a wide net work of engineering colleges established and administered by the State Governments, Universities and private agencies; they are also affiliated to the respective Universities, and offer degree courses in a variety of subject fields. Some of them are more than a century old and have been pioneers in engineering education in the country. Many of these State colleges and University Departments are making significant contribution in the field of technical education.

Special Institutions - In additions to the above institutions there are certain specialised institutions which offer education/training in specific fields-

Indian Institutes of Management - Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) located at Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Bangalore, Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode are institutions of excellence, established with the objectives of imparting high quality management education and training, conducting research and providing consultancy services in the field of management to various sectors of the Indian economy.

The IIMs conduct Post-graduate Diploma Programmes in Management (equivalent of MBA), fellowship Programmes in Management (equivalent to PhD), Short-term Management Development and Organisation based programmes as well as carry out Research and Consultancy for the industry.

These Institutes conduct research to cater to the needs of non-corporate and under-managed sectors, viz. Agriculture, Rural Development, Public Systems Management, Energy, Health Education, Habitat, etc.

IIMs play a leadership role in the nation’s managerial manpower development and carry out research in emerging areas. These Institutes are recognized as premier management institutions, comparable to the best in the World for teaching, research and interaction with industries. IIMs being Role Models have shared knowledge and skills with other institutions to improve their quality and standards in management education. IIMs have earned an international reputation for the quality of their alumni.

National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Bombay - Offers a two years post-graduate programme in Industrial Engineering as also a number of Executive Development Programmes and Unit based programmes in various areas of specific interest to specific employing agencies.

National Institute of' Foundry and Forge Technology, Ranchi - Offers a special post-graduate training programme of 12-18 months duration in Advanced Foundry and Forge techniques for personnel from the industry.

Indian School of Mines University , Dhanbad - Which has been declared a deemed University is a specialised Centre for Undergraduate and Post- graduate studies and research in Mining, Applied Geology, Petroleum Technology and Geo-Physics.

National Institute of Technical Teachers' Training & Research - At Bhopal, Calcutta, Chandigarh and Madras offer special 'training' to serving teachers of polytechnics.

Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering & Technology (SLIET), Longowal, Punjab -The institute was established by the Govt. of India in 1989 in the memory of Late Sant Harchand Singhji Longowal with an objective to provide technical education in emerging areas of Engineering and Technology. SLIET offers 12 certificate, 10 diploma, 8 degree and 3 PG Courses. The affiliation of this institute is with the Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar. The
annual intake of students is 1025.

School of Planning & Architecture (SPA), New Delhi - The School was established by the Government of India in 1955 in the name of School of Town and Country Planning, to provide facilities in education and training in the fields of rural planning, urban planning and human settlement. The School was renamed as the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), New Delhi in 1959 after the Department of Architecture was included in it. The School was conferred the status of ‘Deemed University’ in 1979. SPA provides undergraduate and post-graduate education and training in the fields of architecture, planning, design and management of different aspects of human habitat and environment. During the academic session 2006-07, 99 students were enrolled in undergraduate courses and 122 students in post-graduate programmes. The School is also conducting research in areas of Town Planning & Architecture. A Centre for Excellence has been inaugurated in the Department of Architecture of the School in collaboration with Autodesk Inc. during the year 2006. A Memorandum of Understanding has also been signed between Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and School of Planning & Architecture, New Delhi. The objective is to collaborate with each other in areas of mutual academic interests and further to disseminate knowledge jointly through teaching, research programmes and consultancy work. Besides this, Master’s Degree Course in Building Engineering & Management and Doctoral programmes are also offered leading to Ph.D. degree in disciplines available at the School. The faculty of the School also undertook seven professional/institutional consultancy projects entrusted by the various government departments.

North Eastern Regional Institute of Science & Technology (NERIST), Itanager-
The Institute was established in the year 1985 to cater to the educational needs of North Eastern Region. The Institute was accorded Deemed University status in the year 2005. 70% seats in the Institute are reserved for seven States of North-Eastern (NE) Region, 20% on merit basis from these States and remaining 10% from all over the country. Now, Sikkim has also been included as eighth member of North-Eastern (NE) States. The Institute offers six Certificate, six Diploma, seven Degree courses & few PG programmes. The courses are of modular pattern having multiple entry and exit options. The Annual intake of student in NERIST is about 1000 students.

Central Institute of Technology, Kokrajhar, Assam - The Central Institute of Technology was set up in 2006 in Kokrajhar District of Assam under Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) by the Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India in pursuance of the Memorandum of Settlement (popularly known as the "Bodo Accord") signed between the Govt of India, Govt of Assam and Bodo Liberation Tigers on 10.02.03. Initially this Institute started with two Diploma courses in Electronics & Communication Engineering (EC) and Computer Engineering (CE). Two more Diploma courses i.e. Food Processing Technology (FT), and Instrumentation & Control (IC) are under consideration for being started from July 2007.
UPGRADING OF THE FACULTY AND IMPROVEMENT OF INSTRUCTION STANDARDS

By the end of the Third Plan in 1966, most of the above institutions had been started and it was considered necessary to Jay special emphasis thereafter on consolidation and development of the facilities rather than on setting up of additional institutions. Accordingly a special scheme of Quality Improvement was launched for raising the standards of instruction/training at these institutions. The measures under the Quality Improvement programme included the development of faculty, revision and improvement of curriculum including laboratory practices, and schemes for industrial training and refresher courses for the teachers. Facilities are provided at 14 Centres including the I.I.Ts, Roorkee University, and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore for enrolling serving teachers sponsored by the various institutions/agencies for Master's Degree and Doctorate Degree programmes. In this effort of updating and upgrading the level and standard of the faculty, provision was also made for appropriate industrial training for periods of 1-3 months. Short-term and Winter Schools offering special orientation courses, refresher courses etc., were also organised both at these advanced centres and others wherever facilities could be identified and organised. So far about 26,000 teachers have taken part in these programmes. (Annexure 'H' gives the number of teachers participating in the Various programmes). Curriculum Development Centres were also set up in respect of the various branches of Engineering and Technology to update the curriculum at the under-graduate level in consultation with the users of the institutional products. These Curriculum Development Centres have also engaged them selves in developing concepts for laboratory lay-out, workshop practice etc.

On a similar analogy of the teachers for degree level institutions, considerable efforts have also gone in for the training of teachers for the technician courses. Because of the large number involved and the specialised training required it was considered to have a specific institutional frame work for this type of programme and accordingly four regional institutions were started for this purpose. These Technical Teacher's Training Institutes at Bhopal, Calcutta, Chandigarh and Madras have been offering a regular two-years course for serving teachers from the polytechnics in the respective regions. This two year programme consists of updating of subjects of the concerned teachers, industrial training and pedagogic training. In addition to these specific programmes, these institutes have also done work in areas of curriculum development, Short-term courses, refresher courses, production of teaching materials and textbooks etc.
APPRENTICESHIP TRAINING PROGRAMME

Apprenticeship Training Programme - With the sparsely distributed and relatively under-developed industrial base in the country and with a large number of technical institutions having been situated not within the easy access of industrial establishments, it was not possible in the earlier years of planning to arrange for in- industry training of all technical students. Nonetheless it was recognised and it is imperative that the institutional training should be supplemented with appropriate field/industrial training for adequate practical exposure to practical experience. With this end in view a practical training stipends scheme was operated in a limited way in cooperation with the then existing industrial establishments. Later on, however, a massive apprenticeship training programme was introduced in 1962 for the vocational Training level and in 1974 for the Diploma and Degree levels under the Apprentices Act, 1961 as amended. While for the craftsmen course, training is provided within the course framework, the training at the degree and diploma level is provided after the institutional courses for the duration of a year. This is expected to be both an extension of the educational process as also a preparation of the candidates for later employment.
CONTINUING EDUCATION

Recognising that opportunities for technical education might have been denied to some on various considerations of economic/ income constraint and other factors, efforts are being made to provide for a vertical advancement of the personnel from one level of a technical education/training to the next higher one. Thus a worker with a National Trade/Apprenticeship Certificate, can take on a diploma course and similarly facilities for some who have a proven ability for academic achievement might go for specialty designed degree courses in some of the institutions. Availability of part-time courses, evening courses, etc., in certain of the Centres also provides for this vertical mobility. These are, however, offered at present on a limited scale and within the structure of diploma/degree courses. Part-time post-graduate courses for serving engineers also cater to those who are desirous of these facilities at higher levels.
PROBLEMS AND PERSPECTIVES

Significant as the achievements in creating facilities for technical education in the country over the last three decades are, there appears a good need now for total review of the system that has been built up, with a view to make it more relevant and effective to the national needs. For historical reasons, the technical education system has been more or less inward looking: the impact of the system on the other elements of the economy is yet to be objectively assessed. The professional engineer or technologist is not a solitary individual unconnected with the happenings in the other spheres of the system. Of immediate concern, perhaps, for the professionals is, no doubt, the chosen field of his profession but the interaction with the allied professionals, as also the neighbouring community has also to be taken into account to determine the professionals, place in the whole system.

'Wastage' in the System - To take first the building of the competence of the professional itself, we might try to understand the efficiency with which the system has worked so far. Considerable facilities have been created in the institutions over the last number of years and even on the basis of the non-uniform and separate evaluation results themselves, one is rather constrained to find that there is a large wastage in the efforts put in the institutions. The figures of intake and out turn at the degree and diploma level are given at Annexure 'F', which reveal that the wastage at the degree level is of the order of about 20 to 22 % and at the diploma level nearly 52 %. The figures for the out turn at the degree level include those of the IITs also. Taking into account that the wastage at the IITs is very marginal, the wastage naturally is largely accounted for by the other institutions and we may, therefore, say that this would be of the order of about 30 %. Similarly at the diploma level this is as high as 52 %. These figures, if we remember our experience with the system for the last three decades, are not flattering. The Institute of Applied Manpower Research made a study of this problem some time ago. From a survey made by the Institute of the reaction of a few of the students that had undergone these courses, the possible reasons for wastage were stated to be:

(i) lack of necessary aptitude for the course among the concerned students;

(ii) inadequacy of instructional facilities;

(iii) ineffective teaching, possibly because of the teachers not being trained; and

(iv) a heavy curriculum. Valid as these reasons are even today, there may be many other contributory factors also such as: (i) non-selective admission of students to the institutions;

(ii) changing mix of urban and non-urban background of students without corresponding modifications/orientation of educational methods contributing to the detriment of the non- urban element;

(iii) inadequate utilisation of even the existing instruction facilities;

(iv) in spite of adequate capital investment and hardware provided in the institutions quite often, the lack of appropriate matching provision for adequate departmental operating and training costs;

(v) insufficient development of the correct attitudes to the professional education by both the teachers and the students; and

(vi) external factors, such as lack of motivation because of inadequate or assured employment opportunities at the end of the course.

(3) The intensive study of this problem of wastage is very necessary. This is needed on both academic and planning considerations. Any effort for improvement of existing courses, introduction of new courses, diversification of programmes etc. would be helped a great deal by such feedback information as would be available from such a study. From the planning point of view, any effort to reduce wastage would contribute to the efficiency of the system as such and thus provide for out-turn of additional manpower that may be required without further inputs.

(4) Improvement of the System - Any efforts at improvement of the system have naturally to take into account the various elements which contribute to its weaknesses as mentioned above. Under the " Quality Improvement Programmes " some steps have been taken to tone up that aspect of the system which concerns the teaching-learning process. Apart from these efforts, which, of course, require to be strengthened to a very great extent, there are other steps which might enhance the effectiveness of the system. Some of these are enumerated below :

(a) Special remedial courses for non-urban/non-elite students It would appear that the courses at present offered, based as they are on urban aptitudes, situations and characteristics, tend to cater to the needs of the elitist group. A majority of the students are from the non-urban sectors and from the institutions in the mofussil/interior areas. The background of the students also is not uniform. in that many of the students may be first or second generation learners. Because of the lack of communication facilities on the same basis as his urban counterpart, such a student would require to be given special orientation/remedial course to be brought on par with the other students. Not only that, even the programmes sometimes have to be appropriately changed to suit his non-urban experience and background.

(b) Multiple entry and flexibility - At present the attitude and aptitude of the students who take these professional courses have no obvious relationship with the professional courses offered to them. Quite often both because of the lack of aptitude, or absence of developing the correct attitude, or because of various other factors such as the duration of the course, the sudden change the student has to undergo in the professional courses as compared to his earlier academic experience, etc., have an adverse effect on his performance. Again for reasons beyond one's control or because of economic and social background etc., the student might have taken up a different course and might like to opt for a professional course at a later stage. Even within the professional courses, the student might like to change either the branch or particular study which he has chosen earlier, or the orientation of this particular course. Occasionally the possibility of the student having to migrate from one place to another within the country itself also exists. The present system is rather a straight jacket one, with more or less a single entry point and perhaps a rigid course structure. To allow for different types of contingencies, It is necessary to think in terms of multiple entry points (depending upon the earlier academic/field experience) as well as of flexibility of the course structure and organisation.

(5) Need for review of course content - It is necessary to have a good look at the courses being offered now not merely for the organisational purposes of "graded" facilities. Mere accumulation of information is not knowledge, and complete knowledge by itself does not give the necessary wisdom. The purpose of education is not to produce " educated " individual at one stretch by putting all information and knowledge into course at one time, but, on the other hand, it is to take the individual to progressive stages where he would be in a position to acquire what further information and knowledge he wants for his future activities. If we accept this philosophy, it is to be conceded that what is important is not to " load " the curriculum but to arrange it in such a way that different requirements and needs of the individual's calling are provided in the process of life-long education. The credit system no doubt can go quite some way in this regard. But a deliberate attempt is to be made to recognise the fact that many of those who pursue these courses of studies will remain as technologists whereas quite a few of them might end up as managers. Further even a technologist has to have sufficient insight into the marginal areas of the allied fields, if not in-depth study in that field itself. The course content therefore should be so modified as to allow for the technologist to have an overall view in addition to this core discipline, e.g., the professional may have to have managerial training in addition to his professional calling. The education in our institution campuses should break away from the rigid stand of a unidisciplinary approach and a fixed framework but cater to a larger interest to acquaint and give an insight in various fields of expertise of which the institutional faculty and facilities are capable of, by offering on a massive scale refresher courses, study programmes, etc. Attempts should also be made even in the undergraduate programme to provide for an intensive managerial training for those who desire it within the course frame work apart from those who want to pursue the technological programme. Complementary courses might also be provided for the technologist to acquaint himself with the necessary management techniques and practices, and vice versa.

(6) Diversification, new courses, etc. The infrastructure that has been built up appears to be quite adequate to meet the major requirements of the system for most of the efforts mentioned above. However, with the changing technology and development there may be many areas where specialised personnel are required. Many of the emerging areas have been enumerated in Annexure 'G', for industrial and rural requirements, etc. A cluster of courses might be required, organisation of diversification on a large scale and occasionally new courses also might be called for. This has to be looked into by appropriate agencies taking care at the same time to see that the fresh inputs for any such effort would be marginal and capable of diversion, whenever required. This is easily said than achieved in practice, but nonetheless the issues are important to be considered.

(7) Proliferation of courses - The facilities available at various levels right from the craftsman to the post-graduate level are adequate and any further expansion of these facilities has to be gone into only after a deep study and with caution. The ratio between the graduate, technician and craftsmen in some of the more industrialised economies is of the orders of 1:3:5; facilities for education being also provided for in that order. With us, the facilities provided at the graduate and technician level are in the ratio of 1:2, but in the output the ratio comes down to about 1:1. Organisation of any new course/diversification at one or the other levels has to take into consideration a systematic study of the manpower requirement and utilisation, linked with the occupational structure of the various employing sectors. It is, therefore, necessary to keep this in mind while organising any new course/diversification at any level right from the craftsmen to the post-graduate so that the entire spectrum of activities in the employing fields are kept in mind. This is not to forget the needs of the research and development activities where academic considerations might point to growth potential at a particular level.

(8) Sisterhood programmes - While there is no doubt that certain segments of the Technical Education system have built up strong potential (IITs, University Departments, some of the State Colleges, for example), there are others which are rather weak. It is here that practicable and effective system of cooperation programmes between institutions of different types at different levels are to be organised. Desirable are the programmes of exchange of teachers on short term and long-term, on a massive scale planned in relation to specific levels and goals of development, providing opportunities and appropriate programmes for making available at specific and for known periods the facilities available at the better institutions for the use of the staff of the not-so-well-off institutions, organising of special programmes of refresher courses, extension lectures, etc. by the faculty of the better institutions at the other institutions etc. Efforts at curriculum development, faculty development etc., though now well organised and recognised, have yet to be gone through on a much larger scale and in a more purposeful way. Preparation of manuals for lectures, workshop practice etc., production of text-books, preparation of teaching aids etc. also have to be undertaken by all the institutions by pooling the resources that are available.

(9) Industry-Institution collaboration-For the improvement and further development of the system it is necessary that there is interaction between technical institutions and industry and other field organisations. There has been an awareness of the need for such interaction: creation of agencies such as Industrial Liaison Boards in the States, Co-option of Industrial representatives on the various academic bodies such as the Boards of Management, Boards of Studies etc., and the system of Visiting Professorship/guest lectures etc. has helped to an extent in breaking this ground. But much more remains to be done in this direction. This initiative so far has been with the technical education system with the industry and field organisations, unfortunately, not always showing more than lukewarm interest. This attitude had radically to be changed in that both technical institutions, who produce manpower for the industry and the field organisations, and also the latter themselves are partners in the same enterprise of developing the economy; and it is high time that this responsibility, is duly realised by setting up this interaction. The employing sector should go all out to associate and involve itself in all matters and at all levels of technical education, planning and implementation. On the other hand, the technical education system should make this possible by appropriate incentives and safeguards for such involvement by personnel from the industry and employing organisations. A stage has been reached where purely academic consideration in a system of professional education should not be the criteria in determining about the suitability of personnel for technical education. Sufficient credit should be given by the educational authorities for giving appropriate recognition for field expertise- while considering the faculty requirements. Schemes such as adoption of institutions by industry etc., which have been initiated, should be encouraged totally by the industry.

(10) Improvement of teaching methods-Production of textbooks, other teaching material and teaching aids which have been started now on a small measure have to be considerably stepped up. Manuals for better utilisation of the laboratory and workshop equipment, use of the library as a resource centre both by the teachers and the students have to be encouraged. In all these attempts of preparation of teachers and students materials, emphasis also has to lay on the possible slower comprehension of the non-urban student to the methods employed in the urban situation.

(11) Integration of practical training with the institutional courses-Because of the lack of sufficient 'training' places in industry and field organisations, the provision of training under the Apprenticeship Training Programme has been after the institutional course. For a more effective and coordinated approach, it is necessary to think in terms of integrating the practical/industrial training with the institutional course itself, at appropriate stages of the course. This will lead not only to better supervision but also better comprehension of the field precepts and practices by the student.
RESOURCE BANK FOR TECHNICAL i.e., DOMESTIC AND INTERNAL

In terms of the magnitude of human resources and expertise available and of physical facilities created over the last three decades, the system of technical education has become a formidable reservoir of technical expertise, which, perhaps, no other sphere of the economy has developed in such a concentrated manner. What is, therefore, required is to utilise this bank of expertise for the improvement of the system itself as also for the improvement of other elements of the economy.

2 As pointed out, the potential for technical education system both in terms of human and physical resources are so large that it is worthwhile for us to now think from the national stand-point to have a pooled bank for technical expertise and aid, both for domestic or 'external' purpose. A well organised and processed pool of such resources would be of great advantage for any need in any sector of the economy of the country including the technical education system itself for delivering many of the responsibilities for which now outside help is sought. Indigenous expertise has been sufficiently appreciated and, perhaps, in most of the other countries, we might not have anything better or even as good as what we have among the professionals in the country. Except, therefore, in special fields and areas of highly sophisticated technology, perhaps our expertise could be easily drawn up even for giving appreciable aid to many of the countries in the neighborhood and elsewhere. Concerted efforts have, therefore, to be made to channelise all this expertise available in the technical education system so that it will permit the system to grow vertically and also to support itself since the resources generated that way could not be in any way less considerable. This will also ensure job satisfaction to those who have expertise and higher attainments in sophistic technology and thus brain drain from the country.
RURAL AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND SERVICES

As mentioned above, in addition to his own field of specialisation and the group in which he works, the professional has also to discharge his responsibilities satisfactorily both to himself and others in the community. It is necessary, therefore that the professional instead of being in isolation as an individual under training, has also an in built training/education in the environmental aspects so that he will be able to appreciate when he later enters the profession of the various aspects that come to play on his role as a professional in the community.

Even as a professional he is not to be considered as if he is in his ivory-tower. It is necessary that the institutions also are considered as part of the total community activities. While considering the totality of his activity, it becomes imperative that the courses offered at institutions relate to the various demands of the neighbourhood in particular and the community in general, both at present and in the foreseeable future. The education which is offered in the institutions should be of relevance to the various problems that are posed by the society. It is not correct that in their attempts to attain excellence or even the highest standards that the immediate need of the society are forgotten. The various sector such as rural development including food and agriculture, energy, natural resources (water, mineral oils, forests, etc., both renewable and non- renewable), transport and communications all require immediate attention from the institutions and the courses offered therein. Here it should be recognised that this sort of platitudinous statement is easily made than could be practicable. In our current system of technical education, the main elements of human resources, i.e., the faculty expertise and the student power, if these are to be utilised for the benefit and advantage of the community in the specific sectors mentioned above, a great deal of attention is to be paid as to what exact role these elements have to play in the total set up, as otherwise the danger of the institutions degenerating into more social service organisations, forgetting their real objective of technical education and training is always present. The academic curriculum for the students should be so organised as to give appropriate credits for practical projects/ service to be made by the students as part of their curricular programme in the investigations taken up by the faculty in the above sectors. Without dilution of he vigorous and curricular content and bringing to bear upon it professional requirements, the possibilities of dovetailing the investigations in the programmes in institutions has to be worked out carefully. Similarly, the investigations carried out with the existence of the students should be amenable to proper supervisions, scrutiny and appropriate assessment by the faculty who in turn will carry it on further for the benefit of the community without sacrificing the permanent interest of either the institution or the community into which they are looking for the time being. This again underlines the factor that any attempts to take all social projects naturally will have to consider projects of long-term and permanent benefits instead of issues of local popularity or short-term propaganda. This sort of interaction with the problem of the society would help the institution- faculty/the individual students to grow both professionally as also in relevant fields.
FINANCING OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION

Increasing costs - This brings us to the issue of financing of the technical education system as such. By and large, the efforts at building up and development of the system has so far been under official auspices - either Central and/or States. However, looking into the enormous costs involved, the maintenance of these courses/institutions and the increasing prices around of men and material, it would not be difficult to envisage a situation where let alone the sponsored agencies, but even the Government agencies, would find it difficult to adequately meet the rising cost of technical education. This is a matter of serious concern and has to be faced squarely before it is too late when this system which has been built with so much of care might crumble because of lack of adequate attention.

Resource Generation by Technical Institutions-It is true that considerable efforts have to be made by the institutions them- selves for augmenting their resources, by way of various measures for resource generation such as consultancy practice, servicing and testing, production, etc. However, as was pointed out earlier In connection with the involvement of the system in community services, here again one should not lose sight of the primary objective of the system as such. Any attempt at raising the resources should have only a secondary role that too complimentary to the academic culture of the system and not for its own sake. If this obvious principle is accepted then the limitations on the institutions raising their own resources will become evident. So, we are left with the major issue again of the provision of adequate funds for the technical education system. It is here, perhaps, one should consider the ways and means by which large users of the products of the system also share the responsibility adequately for the cost of production. There have been suggestions over the years in this direction for motivation by way of incentives, or raising of resources by levying a technical education cess on the users etc. Certain incentives, of course, have been offered by giving to an extent exemption for industry in Income Tax, towards contribution to educational programmes and for a cess in the research and development establishment for R & D purposes. But, however, this has not resulted in a large shift and on the whole most of the burden has been solely on that of the Government. This has been because technical education has been considered as part of social service and governmental responsibility for the social welfare programmes has had to take care of such programmes. It is now necessary for us to have a detailed and fresh look at this issue.
NATIONAL ASSESSMENT AND ACCREDITATION AGENCY
BOARD OF ASSESSMENT OF QUALIFICATIONS

The Board of Assessment of Qualifications of the Government of India, which also deals with professional qualifications and equivalence of various awards has a limited view of assessment for a specific purpose, i.e., for governmental employment. Further, as it is practiced, the work of the Assessment Board is a sort of one time evaluation based on a minimum requirement.

For a healthy and effective growth, what is required is a sort of continuous and objective assessment aiming at higher and still higher standards. Even though many agencies, particularly, statutory agencies are involved and any such attempt may not be looked upon with unmixed favour, the point 'to be remembered is that we should without further delay, strengthen our system, by identifying the weaknesses and strength of a particular sector/course/institutions so that there is adequate motivation and direction for further improvement. This comprehensive purpose of assessment, not limited for any objective of recruitment by official agencies only, will act as a spur when such evaluation and assessment is done periodically. This agency for accreditation and evaluation of standards should be a national agency, with perhaps, regional and sectoral wings, as may be required. Professional organisations and persons of standing in the profession and representatives of accredited user agencies should be intimately involved in the work of an agency. A system of frequent and periodical evaluation with provision for a graded scale of attainment of individual courses/departments should be the objective. Such an agency might work under the auspices of the Ministry of Education but not as a part of it; it should be an autonomous Organisation so that it would be free to draw upon expertise wherever available.

(3) Monitoring and Information System: Manpower planning- The setting up of such an agency, of course, presupposes the availability and easy flow of the required information from the various organisations to this agency. A national (and regional) agency for such an information system should be built up without further delay. Any monitoring of man power requirements, availability and utilisation, naturally will be depending upon such an information system being readily available.
Courses offered in P.G. degree level

1 Civil Engineering 2 Mechanical Engineering 3 Electrical Engineering 4 Chemical Engineering 5 Food & Bio-Chemical Engineering 6 Pharmacy 7 Chemical Technology 8 Textile Engineering 9 Electronics & Communication Engineering 10 Metallurgical Engineering 11 Architecture 12 Mining Engineering 13 Silicate Technology 14 Applied Mechanics 15 Town Planning 16 Applied Geology 17 Space Engineering & Rocketry 18 Aeronautical Engineering 19 Operations Research 20 Exploration Geophysics 21 Regional Planning 22 Mineral Engineering 23 Industrial Management & Industrial Engg. 24 Agricultural Engineering
Courses offered in P.G. Diploma level

1 Traffic Engineering 2 Refrigeration & Air Conditioning 3 Hydrology 4 Technology of Food & Drugs 5 Computer Science 6 Computer Control Engineering 7 Scientific Instrumentation 8 Instrumentation Technology 9 Highway Engineering 10 Irrigation & Hydraulics 11 Inland water navigation Engineering 12 Town Planning.
Courses offered in Indian Institutes of Technology
Under Graduate Level

1 Civil Engineering 2 Mechanical Engineering 3 Electrical Engineering 4 Chemical Engineering 5 Textile Technology 6 Metallurgy 7 Aeronautical Engineering 8 Mining Engineering 9 Agricultural Engineering 10 Naval Architecture 11 Architecture 12 Applied Geology 13 Exploration Geo-Physics 14 Electronics and communication
Post Graduate Level

1 Aeronautical Engineering 2 Agricultural Engineering 3 Chemical Engineering 4 Civil Engineering 5 Electrical Engineering 6 Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering 7 Mechanical Engineering 8 Metallurgical Engineering 9 Mineral Engineering 10 Mining Engineering 11 Industrial Management and Industrial Engg. 12 Operations Research 13 City Planning 14 Regional Planning 15 Architecture 16 Applied Geology 17 Exploration Geophysics.
Courses offered in National Institutes of Technology
Under Graduate Level

1.Civil Engineering 2 Mechanical Engineering 3 Electrical Engineering 4 Electronics and Communication 5 Metallurgy 6 Architecture 7 Chemical Engineering
Post Graduate Level

1 Civil Engineering 2 Electrical Engineering 3 Mechanical Engineering 4 Metallurgical Engineering 5 Public Health Engineering 6 Structural Engineering
M.Tech. Industry-oriented Courses in National Institutes of Technology

1 Design & Production Engineering Machine Tools. 2 Electronics Instrumentation 3 Transportation Engineering 4 Chemical Plant Engineering 5 Advanced Physics 6 Advanced Engineering Mathematics 7 Hydraulics and Ground water Resources Eng 8 Design & Production - Power Plant Machinery Hydro-Electric. 9 Design & Production - Power Plant Machinery-Thermal 10 Design & Production - Power Plant Machinery-Heavy Electrical Equipment. 11 Foundation Engineering (Applied to Vibratory System) 12 Engineering Materials 13 Design & Production Engineering Medium Duty Machines 14 Mechanical Shaping of Metals (Rolling, Forging and Heat Treatment) 15 Extractive Metallurgy and Foundry with emphasis on Alloy Steel Production 16 Production of Fertilizers. 17 Extractive Metallurgy 18 Foundry Technology 19 Public Health Engineering 20 Integrated Power System and Diploma course in Metallurgy Ferro Alloys Production 21 Marine Structure 22 Industrial Structures 23 Industrial Physics 24 Analysis and Design of Process Equipment 25 Production of Process Machines and Equipment 26 Design of Process Machines 27 Design & Production - High Pressure Boilers and Accessories 28 Design & Production - Heavy Machines with emphasis on mechanical equipment for steel plants 29 Technology of Metallurgical Furn

Responses to the resource: "GROWTH OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY IN INDIA"
Author: Dr.A.Jagadeesh 05 Mar 2011
Good article and elaborate reporting on Growth of Engineering and Technology in India. Though there is proliferation of Engineering Colleges in India, facilities in many colleges are lacking which is responsible for poor quality of Engineering Graduates coming out from these Institutes. Quality should be the barometer in Engineering Institutes if they want to compete the best Institutes. Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore (AP),India

The Third Pole

2011-03-06T10:22:00.002-04:00

“We’re moving too slowly”

Joydeep Gupta
February 25, 2011

Gro Harlem Brundtland – high priestess of sustainable development – tells Joydeep Gupta why progress towards a healthier, happier planet is still too slow, wrapping up our special series on well-being economics.

“The oil and coal lobby in the US is mostly responsible for creating the kind of atmosphere that has prevented progress. These big corporations are very powerful. I know this myself from working against the tobacco industry.”

Gro Harlem Brundtland is the high priestess of sustainable development. The former head of the World Health Organisation and Norway’s first – and so far only – female prime minister commands a level of respect around the world perhaps matched only by Nelson Mandela.

Not many remember that she is also a medical doctor with a degree in public health, and that it was from the health sector that she took the concept of well-being and applied it to planet Earth when she became the chair of the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1983.

That commission is still better known as the Brundtland Commission, and it is no exaggeration to say its 1987 report, “Our Common Future”, has determined the direction of global debate from then until today – and that it is likely to continue to do so for the foreseeable future. It was this report’s concept of sustainable development and the urgent need to implement it that led to the so-far only Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. And it was that summit that gave birth to the three Rio conventions, at least one of which – the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – has commanded global attention. The other two aim to preserve biodiversity and combat desertification.

Now the UN secretary general’s special envoy on climate change, Brundtland visited India earlier this month to attend the annual Delhi Sustainable Development Summit, organised by NGO The Energy and Resources Institute. Speaking to the third pole project on the sidelines of the summit, Brundtland made clear her assessment of sustainable progress to date: implementation of the Rio conventions has been “too slow”.

Asked to recall the milestones of the sustainability and well-being debate since publication of “Our Common Future”, Brundtland said: “The Rio conventions were drawn up five years after the publication of the report, and the Kyoto Protocol was signed within another five years. So that was all right, and you can’t blame the conventions. But since then, the implementation of climate change and other conventions has been too slow.”

The Kyoto Protocol, adopted in 1997, set down the principle that developed countries must reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases, which are warming the atmosphere and causing climate change. But it took another eight years for the exact quantity of reductions to be agreed – and, even then, only reductions to 2012 were determined. The United States (at the time of the Kyoto Protocol the world’s largest carbon-dioxide emitter) has never ratified the treaty. Despite many meetings and summits, we not only have no agreement on the volume of reduction after 2012, but there is also a concerted attempt by governments in many rich countries to dump the protocol altogether.

Acknowledging the difficulty in reaching any international agreement on this, Brundtland said: “The issue is large. Those who point out that the Montreal Protocol worked very well forget that it was much more limited [in scope].” That agreement, which came into force in 1989, was used to phase out chemicals that were harming the protective ozone layer on top of the earth’s atmosphere.

Reducing greenhouse-gas emissions to combat climate change, said Brundtland, “is much more complex because the totality of our economy is at stake”. The main greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide, emitted by thermal-power stations, most factories and vehicles, and whenever a tree is cut down. Given the ubiquitous presence of these industries around the globe today, “having difficulty in agreeing over who does what is not surprising,” she observed.

But, insisted Brundtland, two of the Rio conventions – the pacts to combat climate change and biodiversity loss – are still highly significant and will continue “to play an important role” in global affairs. “I’m still optimistic, although we’re moving too slowly,” she said.

How can the negotiations be sped up? “We hope people learned from the breakdown in [the 2009 climate summit in] Copenhagen about the importance of listening more to each other,” Brundtland said, adding that there was no alternative to patient negotiations and no escaping the need to cut down greenhouse-gas emissions. The business world – let down by the paralysis in climate negotiations – must also be given more direction by politicians: “Businesses have not yet got the correct signals from governments. For example, the global price of carbon is not certain.” However, she said “more progressive” businesses were forming strategies to move towards a greener future.

The United States did not join the Kyoto Protocol – even though it was the world’s largest greenhouse-gas emitter until 2006 and is still the second largest today. Politicians, civil servants and observers from around the world have long felt that this, coupled with the failure of the current US government to pass the climate bill it promised, has done much to stall international negotiations on emissions reduction. Agreeing with this point of view, Brundtland said: “It is the oil and coal lobby in the United States that is mostly responsible for creating the kind of atmosphere that has prevented progress. These big corporations are very powerful. I know this myself from working against the tobacco industry.”

So who is working for the welfare of both the planet and the people? Would Brundtland count green NGOs among them? “Those that are analytical and pragmatic have been helpful,” she said. “They have tried to look for solutions and are working to see how you can accommodate the problems of politicians and businesses as well. Those NGOs which reply more on protests have also played a role in keeping the issue on the news agenda. They have made an important impact, mostly positive.”

But other groups must also get involved in building a sustainable future, she said, including “associations of businesses and people serving the business community”. “They should be active in helping out. Apart from that, spreading knowledge is the way to the solution. Empower people.” As a key figure in the debate, she is trying to do this herself: “I’m being an inspirer to different groups, from businesses to NGOs. Now we need political decisions. There is too much inertia there.”

Joydeep Gupta is project director (south Asia) of chinadialogue’s third pole project.

Comments

anumakonda

2011年2月26日12:21

26 Feb 2011 12:21

Sustainable Development

Concern for the slow progress of sustainable development by Gro Harlem Brundtland is understandable.

Here is an authoritative report on Sustainable Development:

Sustainable Development: From Brundtland to Rio 2012
Background Paper* prepared for consideration by the
High Level Panel on Global Sustainability at its first meeting, 19 September 2010
September 2010 United Nations Headquarters, New York
*Prepared by John Drexhage and Deborah Murphy, International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) GSP1-6 Page 2 of 26

“More sustainable development pathways are needed in both developed and developing countries; which require a level of dialogue, cooperation and, most importantly, trust that simply is not reflected in today’s multilateral institutions or regimes.

A huge constituency around the world cares deeply and talks about sustainable development, but has not taken serious on-the-ground action. Deep structural changes are needed in the ways that societies manage their economic, social, and environmental affairs; and hard choices are needed to move from talk to action.”

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India

可持续发展

为可持续发展的格罗哈莱姆布伦特兰进展缓慢表示关切是可以理解的。

这是对可持续发展的权威性报告：

可持续发展：从2012年里约热内卢布伦特兰
*准备的背景文件的审议
高级别小组第一次会议9月19日2010年全球可持续发展
2010年9月联合国总部，纽约
*备约翰Drexhage和Deborah墨菲，可持续发展研究所（IISD）GSP1- 6页，共26 2国际研究所

“更多的可持续发展道路，需要在发达国家和发展中国家，需要对话，合作的水平，最重要的是，根本不相信，在当今的多边机构或制度中反映出来。

在世界各地庞大的选区深切和可持续发展的谈判，但并没有采取认真的实地操作。深刻的结构性变化，需要在社会管理方式，其经济，社会和环境事务，以及艰难的选择都需要从谈话转变为行动。“

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore（美联社），印度

anumakonda

2011年2月26日14:38

26 Feb 2011 14:38

Excellent Interview

Excellent Interview with Gro Harlem Brundtland.

Our Common Future, also known as the Brundtland Report, from the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) was published in 1987.

"development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
In addition, key contributions of Our Common Future to the concept of sustainable development include the recognition that the many crises facing the planet are interlocking crises that are elements of a single crisis of the whole and of the vital need for the active participation of all sectors of society in consultation and decisions relating to sustainable development.

The report’s major goals on SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT are still to be achieved.

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore (AP), India

优秀的访谈
优秀的访谈格罗哈莱姆布伦特兰。
我们共同的未来，也被称为布伦特兰报告，由联合国世界环境与发展委员会（WCED）出版于1987年。
“发展，满足，而又不损害子孙后代能满足他们的需要，目前的需要。“
此外，我们共同的未来的可持续发展概念的主要贡献包括认识到地球所面临的许多危机的连锁危机，是一个整体单一的危机和对各方面的积极参与，非常需要elements在协商和决定有关可持续发展的社会。
可持续发展问题报告的主要目标仍然有待实现。
Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore（美联社），印度

ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS NETWORK

2011-03-06T09:54:00.001-04:00

ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS NETWORK

New Compostable SunChips Bag Released

It’s always great to see a large company taking steps to reduce waste, which is why I’m very excited about the release of the new compostable SunChips bag.

Frito-Lay had high hopes when it first released the compostable SunChips bag last year, but one issue prevented the bag from being popular with consumers: its high level of noise. While customers loved that the bag was 100% biodegradable, it just didn’t seem to be worth the pain released on their eardrums. At one point, an Air Force Pilot even said that the bag created more noise than the cockpit of his jet.

Luckily, Frito-Lay listened to the complaints, putting engineers to work to create a newer version of the compostable bag that would be quieter than its noisy predecessor. They found that tweaking the adhesive holding the bag together - making it more rubbery - significantly reduced the bag’s noisiness.

The new bag will currently only be available for SunChips Originals in order to gauge consumers’ responses to the new design. Since the noise issue has been fixed, I hope that the company will soon roll out new packaging for the rest of its products.

To watch a video about the new bag, check out the SunChips website.

Image credit: Alan Levine via Inhabitat

by Karina Grudnikov

Comments

Dr.A.Jagadeesh

Feb 27th, 2011 at 16:03 | #1

Improvement in packing. Biodegradable bags is the need of the hour as throughout the world billions of these bags are used daily.

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore (AP), India

The NewYork Times

2011-03-06T09:46:00.002-04:00

Sunday, March 6, 2011 Last Update: 9:56 PM ET

The Opinion Pages

Dot Earth

AND EW RREVKIN

March 3, 2011

A Hybrid Path to Feeding 9 Billion on a Still-Green Planet

By ANDREW C. REVKIN

2:23 p.m. | Updated
Improvements in crop genetics and wasteful, inefficient farming and food management provide the biggest gains in a plan to triple agricultural production on today’s global farm acreage, with the potential shifts displayed above. This vision of a path to feeding roughly 9 billion people with rising living standards, while also limiting deforestation and other damage to ecosystems, comes from Jason Clay, a longtime analyst of the intersection of food and the environment and a senior vice president of the World Wildlife Fund.

Here’s his draft paper on this strategy. The genetic work he describes includes all uses of genetic research to improve plant productivity or farming efficiency. Genetic modification, the realm of the GMO’s that are anathema to some environmentalists and much of Europe, is a subset of that arena. [At the Climate, Mind and Behavior Conference of the Garrison Institute on Thursday, Clay laid out the logic behind working with big corporations to foster food production that can fit on a finite planet. He made a point that he stressed at the recent annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of science: "In the next 40 years we're going to have to produce as much food as was produced in last 8,000."]

Clay’s work builds in part on the research of Jon Foley, the director of the Institute of the Environment at the University of Minnesota. I encourage you to review Foley’s argument for a resilient hybrid strategy. Here’s how he put it in an interview with Earth & Sky:

I think we need a new kind of agriculture – kind of a third agriculture, between the big agribusiness, commercial approach to agriculture, and the lessons from organic and local systems…. Can we take the best of both of these and invent a more sustainable, and scalable agriculture? [Read, and hear, his answer..]

Here’s a bigger question. Given the glaring yield gaps between rich and poor places, particularly, can campaigners and citizens passionate about environmental conservation (and “green” eating) learn to embrace the need, in many crops and situations, for intensification as a path to a greener, thriving world?

Read this piece in Nature on http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100728/full/466542a.html”>the growing debate within Europe about the potential costs to that region in lost innovative capacity in agriculture if its barriers to genetic work persist:

Some farmers have also criticized the proposal, fearing that it will drive investment in agrobiotech away from Europe and make their industry less competitive. “This decision sends a clear signal to the rest of the world that the EU lacks interest in innovation and new technologies for a competitive agriculture industry and that it does not use evidence and science in its decision-making,” the UK National Farmers Union’s chief science and regulatory affairs adviser, Helen Ferrier, said in a statement. “The very real danger is that it risks discouraging technology companies investing in Europe.”

Meanwhile, environmental groups such as Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace are concerned that devolving decision-making on GM crops will make it more difficult to block their development.

My guess is that Europe’s resistance will fade as China pushes ever harder and as African countries, particularly, begin to recognize the gains — where they fit — from these technologies.

37 Readers' Comments

Dr.A.Jagadeesh India

March 6th, 2011 7:48 pm
Interesting analysis.
Here is a very authoritative study on the subject:
Food Sustainability: Can We Feed 9 Billion People In 2050? by John Johnston on 01/12/2011 in Earth,Living,Social,THE 9BILLION,People,Planet,Purpose,Pleasure:
“Will we be able to feed the estimated 9 billion people living on Earth in 2050? The answer may be yes, reports NewScientist. Well that’s according to a new food sustainability paper out this week.

The findings are the result of a five year joint modeling project by two French national agencies: INRA (French National Institute for Agricultural Research) and CIRAD (Agricultural Research For Development).

The aim was to see how 3000 calories per day per person, for 9 billion people, could be achieved, including 500 calories per person from animal sources. The team ran a global model repeatedly, with and without environmental limits on farming.
The upshot seems to be that we will need to counter excessive fluctuations in food prices so that imports in some regions (that will need imports) are not hindered, even if local food production rises.
Another main finding is that “the rich must stop consuming so much” food. It is pointed out that around 800 food calories per person per day is currently lost as food waste in the wealthier nations.
The study found that yield increases could help to feed 9 billion people, even as farmers take measures such as cutting down on the use of fossil fuels in industrialized farming practices. The key will be to come up with different solutions for different regions of the world.
Industrial high-yield farming currently means large areas of one crop. This is causing quite a few problems, including crop diseases and the overuse of pesticides. The researchers suggest that ways need to be found to raise yields at the same time as maintaining biodiversity. No easy task”

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India

The Opinion Pages

Dot Earth

ANDREW REVKIN

February 24, 2011, 5:44 pm

Scientist’s View: In Climate Action, No Shortcuts Around CO2

By ANDREW C. REVKIN

There’s been much discussion recently of quick, cheap steps, with many benefits, that could slow warming driven by the atmospheric buildup of heat-trapping greenhouse gases. They all involve greenhouse gases other than carbon dioxide, along with black carbon — the sooty emanations from diesel engines and guttering cooking fires that both heat and kill.

The latest focal point was a United Nations Environment Program report on black carbon and ozone (which, besides being a powerful greenhouse gas is a beneficial shield against radiation high in the atmosphere but a noxious pollutant near the ground).

I’ve done some writing in this arena, most notably in my coverage of opportunities to stanch vast leaks of natural gas (most of which is methane, a potent greenhouse gas) from oil and gas facilities around the world.

Back in 2000, I wrote the first stories about a push by James Hansen of NASA to curb black carbon (soot) as a first step, while working to build the bigger effort needed to address the tougher CO2 challenge. That work was sufficiently intriguing to prompt the Bush White House, resisting carbon dioxide cuts, to invite Hansen to brief the cabinet a couple of times.

Despite their appeal, such steps are almost meaningless when considering the grand challenge of limiting warming even as human numbers and energy appetites crest in coming decades, an array of climate scientists warn. (Hansen always stressed there was ultimately no way around the CO2 challenge.)

Given the recent push on other substances, many of the scientists most deeply immersed in charted human-driven heating of the planet have become increasingly concerned that carbon dioxide’s primacy is under-appreciated.

This group includes Susan Solomon, the federal climate scientist who led the 2007 science review by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Kenneth Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution and Stanford University and Raymond T. Pierrehumbert of the University of Chicago and (on occasion) Realclimate.org.

I recently toyed with the idea of calling such scientists “CO2 hawks” — as distinct from self-described “climate hawks.” But Solomon (wisely) counseled me against adding yet another divisive and implicitly political labels to the caustic mix.

To explore this notion more deeply, I solicited a “Your Dot” contribution from Pierrehumbert, which follows, and harks back to the “bathtub effect” behind the building greenhouse effect:

From the standpoint of improving human welfare, there are compelling reasons to expend resources to reduce soot and ozone pollution, just as there are compelling reasons to expend resources to provide access to clean water, or to reduce illiteracy. But it would be a mistake to view abatement of soot and ozone as a significant part of the effort to combat climate change.

There are many unresolved questions as to the effects on climate of soot and ozone control actions, but let’s for the moment accept the argument that these effects would be beneficial. It nevertheless remains true that, if one’s goal is to limit climate change, one would always be better off spending the money on immediate reduction of CO2 emissions while deferring action on short lived climate forcings.

Because the natural CO2 removal processes are so slow, CO2 accumulates in the atmosphere like mercury accumulating in the fat of a fish. If we wind up emitting an extra gigatonne [billion metric tons] of CO2 into the atmosphere this year, it commits the Earth to a certain amount of additional warming that can’t be taken back — a warming that starts to emerge within decades but will still be with us after thousands of years. An extra gigatonne per year of CO2 emissions will cause the atmospheric CO2 to grow by a certain amount each year, year after year.

Thus, the benefits of a reduction in CO2 emissions — or even a reduction in the emissions growth rate — increase dramatically with time. In contrast, soot and ozone do not accumulate in the atmosphere. They respond primarily to the emissions in any given year, so reducing these emissions only gives a one-time fixed climate benefit.

Reducing CO2 emissions is like turning down the water faucet filling a bathtub with no drain. The lower you turn the faucet, the longer you have before the bathtub overflows. Reducing soot emissions is like noticing your bathtub is in danger of overflowing, and responding by scooping a cupful of water out of the tub while leaving the hot water faucet going full blast.

Development of economically feasible direct air capture of CO2 would allow us to “open up the drain” to some extent, but it would be foolish at this point to count on that being possible. [Link added by Andy R. for context.]

Every year that action on CO2 emissions is delayed is another year that CO2 emissions continue to grow unabated, and each passing year inexorably ratchets up the warming to which the Earth is committed. In contrast, reducing emissions of a short-lived forcing like soot or methane will have almost exactly the same climate benefit a hundred years from now as it would if done immediately. So, it’s obvious that given a choice, where climate is concerned spending resources on reducing CO2 emissions trumps everything else.

The UN report itself is quite clear on the imperative for decarbonization, stating “Deep and immediate carbon
dioxide reductions are required to protect long-term climate, as this cannot be achieved by addressing short-lived climate forcers.” The danger in leaning too heavily on climate effects as a justification for soot/carbon mitigation
is that doing so tends to obscure this fundamental truth. When it comes to climate, CO2 is sui generis.

I go through this argument in more detail in my RealClimate article, “Losing time, not buying time.”

Further information about the way today’s CO2 emissions reset the climate of the next several millennia can be found in the National Research Council Climate Stabilization Targets report, of which I was a co-author:

Research discussed in that report indicates that, if one adopts the European Union’s threshold for dangerous climate change, then “the bathtub is full” when we have emitted a total of one thousand gigatonnes of carbon (in the form of CO2). We are about halfway there.

I wish to make it clear that I do think action on ozone/soot is needed. Some of the things one would do to reduce these pollutants would also stimulate investment in the clean energy systems needed to reduce CO2. It’s also probable that soot/ozone reduction would have some direct beneficial effect on regional climate. I’m not arguing against that. I’m arguing for recognition that soot and ozone are knobs that control a very different aspect of climate from the aspect controlled by CO2, and that these very disparate aspects should not in any way be
considered equivalent.

Whatever climate implications soot/ozone control may have, they should be lumped together with the general basket of environmental benefits provided by reductions in soot and ozone, and not viewed as addressing in any way the same issues as posed by CO2. We need to feed the children dinner tonight, and we also need to save for their college education; when money is tight, we naturally tend to do the former, and wonder how in the world we’ll manage to also do the latter. But we don’t argue that doing one substitutes for doing the other.

To my eye, this situation somewhat resembles the fight over the budget, in which the political inconvenience of tackling the real source of risk — the vast and ballooning entitlements — has driven most of the discussion to focus on relatively tiny programs.

That is a parallel that provides scant comfort in pondering the course of climate policy in coming years.

READERS’ COMMENTS

48.

Dr.A.Jagadeesh

India

February 27th, 2011 8:32 am

Everybody is concerned now about climate change in the wake of greenhouse gas emissions and global warming.

“Climate change concerns and the need to reduce carbon emissions are driving increasing growth in the renewable energy industries. Some 85 countries now have targets for their own renewable energy futures, and have enacted wide-ranging public policies to promote renewables. Low-carbon renewable energy replaces conventional fossil fuels in three main areas: power generation, hot water/ space heating, and transport fuels.

In terms of power generation, renewable energy currently provides 18 percent of total electricity generation worldwide and this percentage is growing each year. Renewable power generators are spread across many countries, and wind power alone already provides a significant share of electricity in some areas: for example, 14 percent in the U.S. state of Iowa, 40 percent in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, and 20 percent in Denmark. Some countries get most of their power from renewables, including Iceland (100 percent), Brazil (85 percent), Austria (62 percent), New Zealand (65 percent), and Sweden (54 percent).
Solar water heating makes an important and growing contribution in many countries, most notably in China, which now has 70 percent of the global total (180 GWth).
Worldwide, total installed solar water heating systems meet a portion of the water heating needs of over 70 million households. The use of biomass for heating continues to grow as well. In Sweden, national use of biomass energy has surpassed that of oil. Direct geothermal heating is also growing rapidly.

Renewable biofuels for transportation, such as ethanol fuel and biodiesel, have contributed to a significant decline in oil consumption in the United States since 2006. The 93 billion liters of biofuels produced worldwide in 2009 displaced the equivalent of an estimated 68 billion liters of gasoline, equal to about 5 percent of world gasoline production.
Scientists have advanced a plan to power 100% of the world's energy with wind, hydroelectric, and solar power by the year 2030, recommending renewable energy subsidies and a price on carbon reflecting its cost for flood and related expenses(Source: Wikipedia)”.

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore (AP), India

ScienceBlogs

2011-03-06T09:31:00.000-04:00

Class: M ScienceBlogs

Just how much power do we need anyway?

Category: Energy alternatives • fossil fuels
Posted on: February 21, 2011 1:26 PM, by James Hrynyshyn

We all know we need to get off fossil fuels and replace them with carbon-neutral alternatives. The question is not IF we should choose this path, but how best to get where we need to go. There are those who, fairly enough, worry that those clean renewables aren't up to the job. This is a critical question, because if renewables can't fill the void, then we are left with no option but to build more nuclear reactors, with all the myriad problems that accompany them, most notably price, which is forever rising. So much money is at stake that we need to sort out this question, soon.

It all boils down to power demand. How much power do we need? If the number is such that the most realistically rapid installation rate of new wind, water and solar power supplies won't be enough to satisfy our needs in say, 2030 (by which time we need to have at least made a sizable dent in replacing the existing oil, gas and coal plants), then we have a problem. So what is a reasonable projection of power demand in 2030?

Unfortunately, that depends on whom you ask. Even estimates of current power consumption vary widely For example, over at Yale's e360, David Biello turns to MacArthur fellow Saul Griffith for a scenario that assumes

.. the U.S. will require roughly 4 terrawatts of power by 2050 (a conservative estimate, given that we already use more than three)...

You can find similar projections all over the place. But two other analysts, Mark Jacobson and Mark Delucchi, who survey the issue in some detail in a pair of papers discussed here, say current U.S. end use is only 2.5 TW, significantly less than 3 TW, not more. The higher figure is what we produce, the lower is what we use. The difference is lost during transmission and distribution, and to wasted heat. (Current end use figures, which are based on the U.S. Energy Information Administration data don't appear in the Jacobson-Delucchi papers, but they are available at Jacobson's website here in an Excel spreadsheet.)

Furthermore, because most electric power options are more efficient than those based on the internal combustion engine, and efficiency is expected to improve across the board in the coming years, they expect U.S. demand to be only 1.78 TW in 2030 if we convert all fossil fuels to wind, water and solar. And make sure we tighten up on the transmission and distribution losses, both of which will be significantly lower if power generation is decentralized and produced closer to where it's used.

Jacobson and Delucchi write in Part 1 of their two-part paper that

... the direct use of electricity, for example, for heating or electric motors, is considerably more efficient than is fuel combustion in the same application. The use of electrolytic hydrogen is less efficient than is the use of fossil fuels for direct heating but more efficient for transportation when fuel cells are used; the efficiency difference between direct use of electricity and electrolytic hydrogen is due to the energy losses of electrolysis, and in the case of most transportation uses, the energy requirements of compression and the greater inefficiencies of fuel cells than batteries. Assuming that some additional modest energy-conservation measures are implemented (see the list of demand-side conservation measures in Section 2) and subtracting the energy requirements of petroleum refining, we estimate that an all-WWS world would require ~30% less end-use power than the EIA projects for the conventional fossil-fuel scenario.

What about 2050? Well, it's reasonable to assume that by 2030 the U.S. as a whole would have learned how to do what California has done for the past 30 years -- keep power demand growth near a flat line even while GDP expands greatly. So by mid-century, power demand likely won't be much more than 1.78 TW. Let's say 2 TW to be conservative. That's only half of what Griffith estimates -- quite a difference, almost certainly more than enough to change the answer to the question at hand.

Global use and demand trends are comparable in the Jacobson-Delucchi vision. This might be debatable, in that what is possible for the U.S. may not be as likely to occur in developing nations. But one can make good arguments that developing nations are actually more likely to embrace efficient technologies than countries where existing fossil-fuel power plants still have decades top run before they're paid off.

This discussion will be familiar to advocates of rapid deployment of renewables. Say, as most climatologists who have studied the problem insist, we need to cut our emissions of greenhouse gases by 80-90& over the new three or four decades to avoid irrevocable and/or catastrophic global warming. That sounds daunting. But if we can cut demand in half through improvements to the efficiency of existing infrastructure, introduction of new technologies that are more inherently more efficient, and stop wasting so much heat and energy in the first place by making some strategic changes to how we work and get around, the task isn't quite so daunting after all.

Building enough wind turbines and solar PV arrays to replace 85% of our energy mix will be difficult. Building enough wind, solar thermal and PV, geothermal, small-scale hydro and tidal generators to replace 42% sounds doable. And just so Griffith isn't cast as the villain here, I'll give the last word to one of his less pessimistic observations:

If society's efforts were turned in different directions, shifting from making fewer consumer products to making more devices to capture renewable energy, the transition might ultimately fuel itself. After all, beverage makers now produce some 300 billion aluminum cans per year, Griffiths notes, which is enough production capacity to manufacture 100 or 200 gigawatts of solar thermal annually. "So we could do 1 terrawatt of solar in 10 years if Pepsi and Coca-Cola and all the breweries became solar companies," he says. "We have the industrial scale. We are just right now prioritizing what we want to make with it and we are making disposable aluminum cans instead of solar mirrors. That gives me reason for optimism. We can do it.

Comments

Interesting article.

Here is a n authoritative forecast on Energy Scene in 2030:

BP Energy Outlook 2030

Emerging Economies to Lead Energy Growth to 2030 and Renewables to Out-Grow oil,Days BP Analysis.

Release date: 19 January 2011

Quick Bit: Get DT on your Kindle!

BP's 'base case' - or most likely projection - points to primary energy use growing by nearly 40% over the next twenty years, with 93% of the growth coming from non-OECD (Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development) countries. Non-OECD countries are seen to rapidly increase their share of overall energy demand from just over half currently to two-thirds.

Over the same period, energy intensity, a key measure of energy use per unit of economic output, is set to improve globally led by rapid efficiency gains in the same non-OECD economies, under these projections

According to the BP Energy Outlook, diversification of energy sources increases and non-fossil fuels (nuclear, hydro and renewables) are together expected to be the biggest source of growth for the first time. Between 2010 to 2030 the contribution to energy growth of renewables (solar, wind, geothermal and biofuels) is seen to increase from 5% to 18%.

Natural gas is projected to be the fastest growing fossil fuel, and coal and oil are likely to lose market share as all fossil fuels experience lower growth rates. Fossil fuels’ contribution to primary energy growth is projected to fall from 83% to 64%. OECD oil demand peaked in 2005 and in 2030 is projected to be roughly back at its level in 1990. Biofuels will account for 9% of global transport fuels.

Transport growth is seen to slow because of a decline in the OECD. The region’s total demand for oil and other liquids peaked in 2005 and will be back at roughly the level of 1990 by 2030. Toward the end of the period, coal demand in China will no longer be rising and China is projected to become the world’s largest oil consumer.

OPEC’s share of global oil production is set to increase to 46%, a position not seen since 1977. At the same time, oil - and gas - import dependency in the US is likely to fall to levels not seen since the 1990s, because of improved fuel efficiency and the increased share of biofuels. Global consumption growth is also impacted by higher oil prices in recent years and a gradual reduction of subsidies in oil-importing countries.

The fuel mix changes over time, reflecting long asset lifetimes. Oil, excluding bio-fuels, will grow relatively slowly at 0.6% per year; natural gas is the fastest growing fossil fuel with more than three times the projected growth rate of oil at 2.1% per year. Coal will increase by 1.2% per year and by 2030 it is likely to provide virtually as much energy as oil excluding biofuels. The strong carbon policy drive in OECD countries risks being more than offset by growth in emerging economies.

Wind, solar, bio-fuels and other renewables continue to grow strongly, increasing their share in primary energy from less than 2% now to more than 6% projected by 2030. Biofuels will provide 9% of transport fuels and nuclear and hydropower will grow steadily and gain market share in total energy consumption.

According to the Energy Outlook’s projections, oil continues to suffer a long run decline in market share, while gas steadily gains share. Coal’s recent gains in market share, on the back of rapid industrialisation in China and India in particular, are reversed by 2030, with all three fossil fuels converging on market shares around 27%. The diversifying fuel mix can be seen most clearly in terms of shares of growth. Over the period 1990-2010 fossil fuels contributed 83% of the growth in energy; over the next twenty years fossil fuels are likely to contribute 64% of the growth. Renewables (excluding hydro) and biofuels together account for 18% of the growth in energy to 2030.

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India

Posted by: Dr.A.Jagadeesh | February 27, 2011 5:37 AM

Digital Trends

2011-03-06T09:27:00.002-04:00

All energy could be renewable by 2030

By: Ryan Fleming •

January 20, 2011

A new study shows that by 2030, we could create 100 percent of our energy around the world from totally renewable and affordable sources. But will we?

Hopefully this news isn’t a big shock to anyone, but fossil fuels–which currently make up 80-percent of all the world’s energy supply—are running out, and at the current rate of consumption, the world will hit a cataclysmic energy crisis within most of our lifetimes. When that happens, the world will quickly fall apart, wars will be fought over the smallest surpluses, our technology will be pushed back centuries, dogs and cats will live together, etc., etc. In short, it would be bad. Very very bad.

But that doesn’t mean we should all begin stocking up on our ammo and sharpening our knives just yet. The grim future predicted by many, where even starting a gas guzzling V8 car would be ruinous to all but the richest people in the world, can be avoided, or at the very least slowed significantly.

A new study published in the Energy Policy Journal and recounted by Physorg.com, claims that with a concerted global effort, all energy could come from affordable and 100-percent renewable energy sources by the year 2030. We would also be able to continue to provide renewable and low pollution energy indefinitely.

So why aren’t the governments of the world lining up to be the first to stamp an “Energy Saver” sticker on their charters? The sad answer is, of course, money.

The study in question was written by Mark Delucchi from the Institute for Transportation Studies at the University of California, and Mark Jacobson from the Department of Civil Environmental Engineering at Stanford University. The duo created a mathematical formula that calculated the decline in costs associated with renewable energy, and proceeded to find an equation that would show how long it would take for those technologies to become cost effective to the point that they would be able to practically and affordably replace all forms of energy production in the world.

The study itself focused on wind, solar, wave and geothermal sources only, then determined how long it would take to replace the current sources of energy, including the 80-percent of the world’s energy that is reliant on fossil fuel, the 6-percent that uses nuclear energy, and the much smaller percentage that relies on biomass, which is currently the world’s most widely used renewable energy source—biomass was excluded from the study due to the pollution it causes.

To accomplish the bait and switch with our current sources of energy development, it would require nearly 4 million 5-megawatt wind turbines, 1.7 billion 3-kilowatt roof-mounted solar photovoltiaic systems, and nearly 90,000 300-megawatt solar power plants. On paper it is an obvious conclusion to the one fear that every nation in the world–rich or poor, strong or powerful—shares.

But here is the rub: first, the wind turbines required have only recently been introduced, making them extremely expensive prototypes that are also time consuming to build without several manufacturing plants specifically being redesigned to create them. The majority of turbines in use today are 2 to 3 times less powerful than those required by the study’s results, and only a handful of 5-megawatt turbines exist in the world. The first of these turbines is less than four years old.

The solar panels would also be an issue. The solar plants the study recommends would need to use a mix of what are called photovoltaic panels, that combine with concentrated solar plants, to boil water in order to drive generators. There are only a handful of these types of solar plants around today, and they are still expensive, almost prohibitively so. The plan would also require solar panels to be used as part of housing construction, with the panels placed on top of each newly constructed house, which creates a new series of logistic hurdles for builders not to mention the cost increase that would be associated with building and/retro fitting houses. With the housing market still suffering from the recession, it is not a good time to massively increase the costs.

But assuming all of those issues can be overcome, the majority of the components are readily available, with the exception of the mineral neodymium. Even that could be overcome with a five time increase in the size of the mining operations, as well as increased recycling. According to the scientists responsible for the study, the major hurdle would be the necessary increase in particular pieces needed to develop the devices that convert the power. If the necessary manufacturing plants can be built, and the resources are made available specifically for these devices, by 2030 the world could be using 100-percent renewable and inexhaustible energy.

But while the ability to construct the necessary generators and solar panels might be within our grasp, there are a few things to consider that the study fails to tackle. For this idea to succeed, it would need the combined efforts of the majority of the world to work together in order to mine and manufacture the materials needed, split the production around the world to those best prepared for it, and generate enough power throughout the surrounding areas to help overcome the differences in nation sizes—even if a small state like Luxembourg was willing to contribute, the physical size of the country would mean that it would be reliant on the wind turbines in fields across Europe, as well as the rivers throughout the continent. While a country in the EU might not have a major problem with that, it presents several problems elsewhere around the world where conflicts arise.

But putting that aside, and assuming that it somehow became logistically possible to create the amount of energy needed throughout an entire region, there are still the other factors. Namely the financial and political ones.

The survey based the energy figures on the idea that it would be affordable energy. We may have the technology to be able to create renewable and reusable energy to replace all energy consumption today, but if the cost would be ruinous. In order to begin construction, it would take an act of Congress, and similar governmental approvals around the world to help provide subsidies. That is of course assuming that the country was wealthy enough to provide the subsidies, even if it wanted to. But at the risk of sounding unduly cynical, the forces that control the oil lobbies in Congress, as well as the major oil companies themselves, would probably not look favorably on a proposal that would effectively run them out of business in 20 years. Never underestimate the power of self-interest, even when put up against that good of all humanity.

For this plan to work, it would take a drastic event in the world, or the oil companies themselves to be at the vanguard of this movement. It is a sad truth, but with the power and influence the big oil companies of the world wield, creating a new world order that effectively cuts them out could lead to a disastrous fight that nobody wins.

So even though this project may die a horrible death at the hands of governments around the world, it does give us hope that the apocalyptic predictions of humanity falling into a new Dark Age when all the TVs stop working might be avoided. Already America is doing our part, and our consumption of gasoline is decreasing, and should never increase again. So high-five, America! Sure, we are still the biggest user of oil by far, and sure we have been for decades, but that is besides the point…

The technology is there to jump start the next age of civilization. Pollution would be almost a non-issue, the resources needed would never run out, and the energy needed to continue our societies would be abundant. All we need now is the will to undertake the world changing event. Maybe one day.

Comment

These are all tall projections. At best Renewables can supplement conventional energy sources like coal, petroleum etc. Enormous energy is wasted in lighting, irrigation pump sets etc. in developing countries. Energy saving and energy efficiency should be given top priority in developing countries.

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore (AP), India

27 February 2011

Guardian Edinburgh

2011-02-27T15:11:00.001-04:00

Edinburgh

25 Feb 2011:

A closer look at Edinburgh's new Innertube bike map

A unique view of the Scottish capital's extensive 100km off-road cycle network, inspired by the London underground map

Comments (8)

Edinburgh's cycle recycling charity The Bike Station has finally unveiled its Innertube map.

As previewed on the Guardian Edinburgh blog recently, the map aims to promote off-street cycling. 30,000 copies are being sent to residents in the city.

It will be followed later this year by an interactive version of the map, aiming to give locals more control over the maintenance of the routes. Anyone will be able to update the map with geo-tagged reports of problems on the paths, pictures, videos and stories.

To view the map fullscreen, click here or use the tools below to zoom in and scan around the map

Edinburgh's Innertube Map - The Bike Station

The map was developed through the Bike Station's Climate Challenge Fund project, A better way to work.

The Innertube map shows:

* each route in its own separate colour
* all of the easily-cycled exits along each path
* road connections between major paths
* paths still under construction

The map was conceived by The Bike Station's Mark Sydenham and designed by Martin Baillie of Leith-based Hillside Agency.

Hear Sydenham talking about the map below, on the morning after the charity won £98,100 of funding from the People's Postcode Lottery to "inflate the Innertube map." Without that cash, he said the social media and conservation elements of the project would not be possible.

Link to this audio

It has been a dream of Sydenham's for more than a decade. He hopes it can continue to grow and spawn all kinds of community initiatives. He said:

"It's beyond the remit of this current project, but there's so much more that could happen there in the future. The paths are just a tiny fraction as a proportion of the whole land.

"There's scope there for community gardens for allotments and that's something we'd like to see happening, so they become living streets where things happen.

"Rather than it being something that happens at people's back doors, we want people's front doors be onto these routes."

Comments in chronological order (Total 8 comments)

anumakonda

26 February 2011 2:16AM

Excellent planning. Bicycles are in great use in China, India, Indonesia etc. nobody thought of the plan like the one presented. Infact bicycle is the clean energy mode of travelling and transportation (Three wheeler).

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore (AP), India

News Of Future

2011-02-27T12:59:00.004-04:00

Another Great Year for Wind Power

December 18, 2020 - This year shows strong growth for wind power when the total global installed capacity added a record 62,000 MW, making the total capacity more than 480,000 MW. Wind power is by far the renewable source with the largest growth in worldwide capacity during the last decade.

The US was quite slow adopting wind power compared to many European countries, but passed Germany as the biggest producer of wind power in the world in year 2013. US now has a capacity of 84,000 MW compared to 48,000 MW for Germany. China was the country with the strongest growth related to the total capacity, adding another 25% and still the third biggest producer in the world with 30,000 MW installed.

US is though behind Europe when it comes to wind power as part of the total electricity demand, serving only 6%, compared to 12,7% for Europe. Denmark is with 40% still the country with the highest share of wind energy, most likely reaching 50% within the next five years. Even though wind power as a renewable resource has its environmental advantages, the increasing demand for wind power is related to the low cost for the energy output, pressed down with more efficient larger wind turbines and the maturity of the market.

The trend in the last decade of wind energy has been towards more offshore sites. In Europe, offshore now counts for about 19% of all wind power capacity, compared to less than 2% 15 years ago. The already projected wind farms give a forecast of about 50% of the total European capacity to be offshore by year 2030.

Argument: Wind power has had a strong growth during the last decade and will continue to. The numbers are from the European Wind Energy Association, the American Wind Energy Association, the Danish Wind Industry Association, the German WindEnergy Association.

Comments

The forecast is reasonable. Wind Energy (Especially Offshore) will advance in leaps and bounds in countries where wind energy is already having significant impact.

Dr.A.Jagadeesh
Wind energy Expert
Nellore (AP), India
E-mail: anumakonda.jagadeesh@gmail.com

Posted by: Dr.A.Jagadeesh

19 February 2011

Yale Global Online

2011-02-27T11:52:00.002-04:00

India Needs a Sputnik Moment

To compete globally, India must jolt education and spur innovation

David J. Karl

YaleGlobal , 4 March 2011

Poor grades: India’s primary education ranks 98^th among 139 nations (top); Research "hitting an all-time low."

LOS ANGELES: History is back in the news in a bid to shape the future. Recently US President Barack Obama recalled a 53-year incident to energize the country. India, one of the emerging giants, could take a page from Obama’s book.

US politicians used the Soviet launch of the Sputnik I satellite on 4 October, 1957, to spur massive new investments in technology and education. By November 2, the New York Times suggested that “The long orbital shadow of the sputnik has been able to do in a few weeks what scientists and educators have been unable to do in years,” in an article headlined “Sputnik Acts a Spur to U.S. Science and Research; Changes Coming.” President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Defense Education Act, boosting math, engineering and science education, in September 1958. NASA began operations the following month.

More than half a century later, Obama returns to a theme common in US policy circles, citing global competition from China and India in his State of the Union address. He regularly refers to the prodigious output of brainpower from the world’s two most populous countries in exhorting the need for US economic and education reform. As he told a town-hall meeting in 2009, “we can’t afford our kids to be mediocre at a time when they’re competing against kids in China and India.” At a gathering last year in Las Vegas, he cautioned that if both countries are “producing more scientists and engineers than we are, we will not succeed.”

US business leaders and scientists warned that India and China are acquiring a vast reservoir of brainpower.

There is no doubt that China and India are enhancing their research and development profiles, churning out more scientists and engineers than the United States. Yet the caliber of their graduates is generally poor. In India’s case, this reality tends to be obscured by the prominent role of India-born engineering and scientific talent in driving US prosperity and innovation – most prominently in Silicon Valley – as well as the swelling number of bright, diligent Indian students enrolled in American universities. These images formed the backdrop for a widely-publicized 2005 report, Rising Above The Gathering Storm, by an eminent group of US business leaders and scientists who warned that India, along with China, was quickly acquiring a vast reservoir of low-wage, highly-trained brainpower that will inevitably sap America’s edge in innovation.

Yet for India to become a true competitive threat, it must overcome the stark inadequacies of its educational system. India not only exhibits the lowest educational indicators in the Group of 20, its public education system scores poorly relative to Brazil, Russia, China or other emerging-market countries. The 2010-2011 Global Competitiveness Index issued by the World Economic Forum places India at 98^th out of 139 nations evaluated, in terms of the quality of primary education, and 85^th for higher education and training. China ranks 35^th and 60^th, respectively.

For India to become a true competitive threat, it must overcome the stark inadequacies of its educational system.

Half of India’s children drop out of primary school; an additional half fails to complete high school. Despite recent efforts at improving primary and secondary education, Indian children on average attend school several years fewer than those in many emerging countries. Deep flaws also are evident in the university system. A much smaller proportion of the college-age population is enrolled in some form of tertiary education than is common in other emerging countries; the share is twice as high in China than in India.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, declaring that India’s “university system is, in many parts, in a state of disrepair,” catalogued the problems in June 2007: “Around 10 percent of the relevant age-group is enrolled in any institute of higher education – as compared to 40-50 percent in most developed economies…. Less than 50 percent of secondary school students continue into college education in any form. Almost two-third of our universities and 90 percent of our colleges are rated as below average on quality parameters. And most importantly, there is a nagging fear that university curricula are not synchronized with employment needs.”

Total outlays on the higher education system are lower than in other countries, affecting capacity for teaching and research.

Total outlays on the higher education system are much lower than in many other comparable countries, affecting the capacity for teaching and research. Singh’s scientific advisor has warned that research from Indian universities is “hitting an all-time low.” Even the research output from the world-renown Indian Institutes of Technology is slim. As a result, the country has few institutions with strong international standing, making it difficult to attract and retain top scholars and researchers. Indian faculty members publish a comparatively low number of research articles in leading international journals. Incredibly, given the country’s high-tech image, the Infosys Science Foundation in 2009 failed to find a worthy recipient for its inaugural prize honoring an Indian researcher in the field of engineering and computer science. And The Journal of the ACM, the world’s leading journal in the computer science field, has for a number of years not published Indian submissions on quality grounds.

The quality of graduate education in critical technology fields lags behind the United States and Europe. Concerns about the caliber of India’s legions of engineering graduates have mired New Delhi’s bid for full membership in the Washington Accord, which governs international recognition of foreign engineering degrees. Despite the world-class reputation of India’s technology sector, the country manages to produce few PhDs in computer science each year; indeed, Israel graduates approximately the same number as India despite the 1-to-160 population disparity. A senior government official in New Delhi recently acknowledged that India would never become a great power on the basis of such paltry numbers.

India’s transformation over the past two decades commands world respect, though that should not blind
us to its daunting challenges.

Educational deficiencies have led to an acute skills shortage. Although the country mints about 650,000 new engineers a year, a recent McKinsey study reports that only a quarter of technical graduates and just about 15 percent of general college graduates are suited for employment in offshore IT and business process outsourcing industries, respectively. The rest lack in requisite technical knowledge, English language capacity and collaborative skills. The report foresees a potential shortfall of 3.5 million IT workers by 2020. Another official in the prime minister’s office acknowledges, “The stark reality is that our education system churns out people, but industry does not find them useful.” This view is echoed by a recent report by a parliamentary committee, which observes that the employability of graduates of the country’s technical schools “remains a matter of serious concern.”

The skills gap also has acute consequences in other fields. A 2009 World Bank report concludes that an acute deficit of civil-engineering skills severely jeopardizes the country’s growth prospects. The number of civil-engineering graduates from Indian universities must increase threefold in order to make good on New Delhi’s ambitious plans to improve the nation’s decrepit infrastructure. And to expand the ramshackle energy sector, India has been forced to rely on tens of thousands of Chinese guest workers. The chairman of the Central Electricity Authority admitted in a recent interview, “We don’t have that amount of skilled manpower in the country.”

India’s stunning transformation over the past two decades commands world respect, though that should not blind us to its daunting challenges, perhaps none more formidable than in the area of human-capital development. The country’s prodigious demographic resources could one day be the basis for India’s emergence as a full-fledged global power. For now it remains an open question whether India has the capacity to distill potential into actual achievement. Like the United States, India requires its own Sputnik moment that will jolt it into a higher educational orbit.

David J. Karl is president of the Asia Strategy Initiative, a consultancy based in Los Angeles. He recently served as project director of the Bi-national Task Force on Enhancing India-U.S. Cooperation in the Global Innovation Economy, jointly sponsored by the Pacific Council on International Policy and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Comments on this Article

I differ from some of the views expressed in the article. India’s Advancement in Science and Technology, Education is well-known to the world. Being one of the populous countries the development is noteworthy.

A New Frontier
The tradition of science and technology (S&T) in India is over 5,000 years old. A renaissance was witnessed in the first half of the 20th century. The S&T infrastructure has grown up from about Rs. 10 million at the time of independence in 1947 to Rs. 30 billion. Significant achievements have been made in the areas of nuclear and space science, electronics and defence. The government is committed to making S&T an integral part of the socio-economic development of the country.

India has the third largest scientific and technical manpower in the world; 162 universities award 4,000 doctorates and 35,000 postgraduate degrees and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research runs 40 research laboratories that have made some significant achievements. In the field of Missile Launch Technology, India is among the top five nations of the world.

Science and technology, however, is used as an effective instrument for growth and change. It is being brought into the mainstream of economic planning in the sectors of agriculture, industry and services. The country's resources are used to derive the maximum output for the benefit of society and improvement in the quality of life. About 85 per cent of the funds for S&T come directly or indirectly from the Government. The S&T infrastructure in the country accounts for more than one per cent of the GNP. S&T in India is entering a new frontier.

Atomic Energy
The prime objective of India's nuclear energy programme is the development and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes such as power generation, applications in agriculture, medicine, industry, research and other areas.

India is today recognized as one of the most advanced countries in nuclear technology including production of source materials. The country is self-reliant and has mastered the expertise covering the complete nuclear cycle from exploration and mining to power generation and waste management. Accelerators and research and power reactors are now designed and built indigenously. The sophisticated variable energy cyclotron at Kolkata and a medium-energy heavy ion accelerator 'pelletron' set up recently at Mumbai are national research facilities in the frontier areas of science.

As part of its programme of peaceful uses of atomic energy, India has also embarked on a programme of nuclear power generation. Currently eight nuclear stations are producing eight billion kilowatt of electricity. Four more nuclear power stations are planned. The new nuclear reactors are designed in India. The peaceful nuclear programme also includes producing radioisotopes for use in agriculture, medicine, industry and research.

Space
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), under the Department of Space (DOS), is responsible for research, development and operationalisation of space systems in the areas of satellite communications, remote sensing for resource survey, environmental monitoring, meteorological services, etc. DOS is also the nodal agency for the Physical Research Laboratory, which conducts research in the areas of space science, and the National Remote Sensing Agency, which deploys modern remote-sensing techniques for natural resource surveys and provides operational services to user agencies. India is the only Third World Country to develop its own remote-sensing satellite.

India joined a select group of six nations on October 15, 1994, when the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) successfully accomplished its mission of placing the 800 Kg remote sensing satellite, IRS-P2, in the intended orbit. Earlier in May, the fourth developmental flight of the Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV) achieved its mission by placing the 113 Kg SROSS-C2 scientific satellite in a near-earth orbit. India is well on its way to developing a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) capable of putting 2000 Kg satellites into space. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is currently trying to develop an indigenous cryogenic engine for GSLV. A GSLV model has already been tested in wind tunnel.

The INSAT series of satellite launched earlier are performing well and provide vital services for telecommunications, television, meteorology, disaster warning and distress detection. The latest INSAT series include new features like Ku-band transponders and mobile satellite services transponders.

The remote-sensing satellites, launched in 1988 and 1991, have already become the mainstay of the natural resource management system of the country.

The projected launch of advanced remote sensing satellites will not only enhance the scope of their application, but will also offer commercial service to other countries.

The Indian achievement in the application of space-based remote sensing technology has led a US company to enter into an agreement for marketing the data from Indian satellites globally.

India's progress in space technology has attracted worldwide attention and demand, with leasing agreements for marketing of IRS data and supply of space hardware and services. India also believes in co-operation in space with agencies all over the world. A high-level UN team selected India for setting up a UN Centre for Space Science and Technology Education. India is on the threshold of achieving self-reliance in the launch capability. It will be a befitting tribute to the father of the Indian space programme, Dr. Vikaram Sarabhai, whose 80th birth anniversary was observed in August 1996.

Electronics

The Department of Electronics plays the promotional role for the development and use of electronics for socio-economic development. Many initiatives have been taken for a balanced growth of the electronics industry. The basic thrust has been towards a general rationalization of the licensing policy with an emphasis on promotion rather than regulation, besides achieving economy of scale with up-to-date technology. A multi-pronged approach has been evolved for result-oriented R&D with special emphasis on microelectronics, telematics, and high-performance computing and software development.

Application of electronics in areas such as agriculture, health and service sectors has also been receiving special attention. For upgrading the quality of indigenously manufactured products, a series of test and development centers and regional laboratories have been set up. These centers for electronic design and technology help small and medium electronics units. A number of R&D projects have been initiated to meet the growing requirements of the industry.

Oceanography

India has a coastline of more than 7,600 km and 1,250 islands, with its Exclusive Economic Zone covering over 2 million sq. km and continental shelf extending up to 350 nautical miles. The Department of Ocean Development was established in 1981 to ensure optimum utilisation of living resources, exploitation of non-living resources such as hydrocarbons and minerals, and to harness ocean energy. Two research vessels, ORV Sagar Kanya and FROV Sagar Sampada, are assessing and evaluating the resource potential.

Survey and exploration efforts have been directed to assess seabed topography, and concentration and quality of mineral nodules. In August 1987, India was allotted a mine site of 150,000 sq. km in the central Indian Ocean for further exploration and development of resources. India is the only developing country to have qualified for Pioneer Status by the UN Conference on the Law of the Sea in 1982, and it is the first country in the world to have secured registration of a mine site.

India has sent 13 scientific research expeditions to Antarctica since 1981, and has established a permanently manned base, Dakshin Gangotri. A second permanent station, an entirely indigenous effort, was completed by the eighth expedition. The objective is to study the ozone layer and other important constituents, optical aurora, geomagnetic pulsation and related phenomena. By virtue of its scientific research activities, India acquired Consultative Membership of the Antarctic Treaty in 1983 and acceded to the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources in July 1985. India is also a member of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, and has played a significant role in adopting a Minerals Regime for Antarctica in June 1988.

A National Institute of Ocean Technology was set up for the development of ocean-related technologies. It is also responsible for harnessing resources of the coastal belts and islands.

Biotechnology

India has been the forerunner among the developing countries in promoting multi-disciplinary activities in this area, recognizing the practically unlimited possibility of their applications in increasing agricultural and industrial production, and in improving human and animal life. The nucleus of research in this area is the National Biotechnology Board, constituted in 1982.

A Department of Biotechnology was created in 1986. Recently, the Biotechnology Consortium India Ltd. was set up. It will play the role of a catalyst in bridging the gap between research and development, industrial and financial institutions. Some of the new initiatives taken include developing techniques for gene mapping, conservation of biodiversity and bio-indicators research, special biotechnology programmes for the benefit of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and activities in the area of plantation crops.

The areas which have been receiving attention are cattle herd improvement through embryo transfer technology, in vitro propagation of disease resistant plant varieties for obtaining higher yields, and development of vaccines for various diseases.

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)

CSIR was established in 1942, and is today the premier institution for scientific and industrial research. It has a network of 40 laboratories, two cooperative industrial research institutions and more than 100 extension and field centers. The council's research programmes are directed towards effective utilisation of the country's natural resources and development of new processes and products for economic progress. It is now playing a leading role in the fulfillment of the technology missions evolved by the Government(Source:India MapsofIndia).

The number of publications by Indian scientists is characterized by some of the fastest growth rates among major countries. India, together with China, Iran and Brazil are the only developing countries among 31 nations with 97.5% of the world's total scientific productivity. The remaining 162 developing countries contribute less than 2.5% of the world's scientific output.

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India

6 March 2011

In wealthy nations as well as in poor ones, consumers express alarm about fast-rising food prices, and their governments are well aware that shortages can quickly translate into unrest and political crisis. Complaints today may be mild compared with those looming ahead unless governments take steps to curb policies that encourage speculation, warns economist David Dapice. Subsidies that divert corn to ethanol fuel reduce food supplies and add to price rise. Despite extreme weather events in some exporting nations, per-capita food production has climbed in recent years, he explains, adding that low interest rates encourage speculation, stockpiling and waste. Price hikes are less noticeable for wealthiest consumers whose products carry high marketing and packaging costs, but for the poor it’s a question of survival. Research and technology advances in the agriculture industry may sustain a growing population for only so long. Failure to address the needs of the poor could risk security for all. – YaleGlobal

The Looming Food Crisis

Extreme weather, economic forces of rising demand and speculation threaten global food security

David Dapice

YaleGlobal , 18 February 2011

Food scramble: As food prices climb, Tunisians jostle for bread (top); Bangladeshis throng for rice rations

MEDFORD: The sharp rise in food prices has sparked fears of a global food shortage. The Food and Agriculture Organization recently announced that food prices had hit an all-time high, and the World Bank stated that 44 million more had fallen into hunger due to food prices. Spreading unrest in the Middle East fueled partly by skyrocketing food prices adds urgency to the gathering crisis.

Those monitoring climate change observe, correctly, that extreme weather events are harmful to crops, as recent severe droughts in Russia and China and floods in Australia, India, Pakistan and Europe showed. Others observe that China is growing fast and its middle-class citizens include more meat in their diets, which requires more feed grains. Some inflation hawks suggest a hike in interest rates, despite high unemployment, because rising commodity prices might spark inflation.

Whether these fears come true or not, a complex array of global forces shaping the next decade may make current problems seem easy. First, production is up. From 2006/07 to 2010/11, the US Department of Agriculture estimates total production of rice, wheat, corn, soya and other coarse grains and oilseeds rose from 1.78 to 1.96 billion tons, an increase of 10 percent. World population grew less than 5 percent in those four years, so output is rising more than twice as fast as population. How long this may continue into the future is a different question. But it’s hard to argue that bad weather has driven up food prices when the world has more per capita than before.

Whether these fears come true or not, a complex array of global forces shaping the next decade may make current problems
seem easy.

Second, China’s demand is a factor, but so far mainly in soya and other oil seeds. Increasing use of these oilseeds is mainly for animal feed. This demand is growing faster than human demand for basic grains. China’s output of soybeans is stagnant, so any increased consumption comes from imports. China’s imports of oil seeds grew about 30 million tons from 2006/7 to 2010/11, accounting essentially for all import growth in the entire world. Total global oil seed production rose only 36 million tons, so China accounted for most global production growth in this period. China’s net imports of wheat, corn and other grains grew modestly, by about 4 million tons when production grew by about 140 million tons, though this may change if drought cuts into wheat supplies. Corn and other grains can substitute to some extent for oilseeds in animal feed, so pressure on oil seed prices translates into general pressure on grain prices. Farmland can be planted with soybeans or corn; more of one often means less of another.

Percentage of Leading Exporters of Food 1980-2009. Enlarge Image

Third, the US ethanol subsidy diverted more than 100 million metric tons of corn into ethanol last year. This did little to reduce global warming, and made basic grains and meat more expensive for most people in the world. Nearly a third of US corn is now used for fuel. If the Senate lowered the US deficit by reducing the tax break on ethanol, corn prices would drop and China’s increased consumption would easily be accommodated. Since there was a recent decision to increase the amount of ethanol in gasoline, this problem will likely intensify. A move to cellulose-based ethanol would be helpful. Land released from corn could be used for soybeans and reduce prices for several crops.

Fourth, the impact of higher grain prices is felt in all nations, but unequally. A pound of flour used to cost about 12 cents in 2007 and is now about 20 cents, a jump of two-thirds. A loaf of bread in the US normally costs up to $2 a pound, so even a huge jump in wheat prices has modest impact on final bread prices because much of the consumer price is packaging and marketing costs. This is not true in poorer countries, where the rise in prices is more direct. In any case, grocery-bought food is only a 10^th or so of US consumer spending. In poorer nations, food takes up half or more of total spending. Urbanization has made unemployment and high food prices a painful combination, more so than in rural areas where many live on farms and can, to some extent, grow their own food. For the unemployed and poor in cities, this jump in food prices literally leads to belt-tightening.

Percentage of Leading Importers of Food 1980-2009. Enlarge Image

Fifth, many countries try to protect their consumers by increasing imports and subsidies, even blocking exports of food. Russia did this to wheat during its drought. The effect: World prices jump more as demand fails to adjust – even for eating less meat – due to subsidies. Supply to other countries drops as exports end, prompting many importers to stockpile extra food and pushing some countries towards self-sufficiency due to the perceived unreliability of the world food market.

Sixth, the jump in Chinese soybean imports was only half driven by consumption. Stocks of oilseeds in China grew by 15 million tons from 2006/7 to 2010/11. There are various ways to interpret this, but one is that the Chinese government, fearing a weak dollar, decided to keep reserves of food rather than US Treasury debt. It’s otherwise difficult to understand why stockpiles of oilseeds would skyrocket when prices are doubling. It could be panic stockpiling or speculative behavior by state firms with access to cheap credit. Whatever the explanation, a large part of the demand seems to come from speculative buying – and it might not only be in China. If real interest rates begin to approach normal levels, such speculation is more expensive and normally reduced.

Seventh, for those inflation hawks, the only way that loose money causes inflation is through this speculative channel. Money supply and loans in the US are scarcely growing; there’s immense spare labor and capital in the system, even adjusting for skills and different types of demand. If low interest rates are causing inflation, it’s due to speculative purchases of commodities, more than their use.

In conclusion, increasing food prices is a major problem, especially in poor nations with large urban populations. The increases cause political instability, bad economic decisions and real hardship. The US contributes to this problem with its ethanol program; to a lesser extent, China does, too, with stockpiling.

If climate continues
to move toward extreme temperatures, droughts and floods, growing food will be more expensive and uncertain.

If climate continues to move toward extreme temperatures, droughts and floods, growing food will be more expensive and uncertain. In any case, farmland is lost to urban growth, and water is pumped excessively from many aquifers. While technology and investments help offset these negatives, it’s not clear if they’ll be enough to push agricultural growth along at past rates. Increasing food research and development would be a wise precautionary move.

Demand for meat is growing in many developing nations, and this implies more demand for grains and oilseeds. Since a pound of packaged beef contains up to five pounds of grain, further increases in grain prices would push meat prices higher, eventually depressing consumption. Per-capita meat consumption could be reduced with a net positive impact on health, so that part of demand adjustment is not all bad. Furthermore, some estimate that up to half of all US food is wasted. More expensive food would doubtless reduce that fraction and further ease supplies

However, for those who seldom eat meat in the best of times, jumps in food prices cause immense problems. It’s not at all clear that the policy of major players is concerned with this group. But they might do well to remember that when people are injured and ignored, they find ways to get the attention of those who caused the pain.

David Dapice is associate professor of economics at Tufts University and the economist of the Vietnam Program at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

Comments on this Article

20 February 2011

Yes. I agree. Extreme weather conditions are the cause for decline in food grain production globally.

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India

DR.A.Jagadeesh

The Scientist 21-03-11

Post Carbon Institute Last Update 21-03-2011

Posted Dec 8, 2010 by Warren Karlenzig

Tree Hugger II Last Update 21-03-2011

History

IndiaStudyChannel.Com

INDIA GROWTH OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY IN

Posted Date: 03 Jun 2008

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Comments on this Article

Joydeep Gupta
February 25, 2011