Energised by vegetables

recently, a group of Kolkata-based taxi drivers did something quite unusual. They decided to tamper with the fuel in their taxis. They mixed 20 litres of diesel with one litre of mustard oil and ran their taxis on it. For them the doping made perfect economic sense. By default, researchers discovered that it reduced carbon monoxide (co) and sulphur dioxide (so2) emissions by as much as 85 per cent.

Passing the muck

When it comes to pollution at the workplace, automobile companies explain it away by flashing iso 14001 certificates. What escapes unnoticed is the fact that they delegate most of the dirty work to vendors.

Dirty fuel

according to a recent study by the us based non-governmental organisation Natural Resources Defense Council (nrdc), China has reduced its carbon dioxide emissions by 17 per cent in the four-year period from 1996 to 2000, even as its economy grew by 36 per cent. This reduction was the result of switching from coal to cleaner energy sources, initiating energy efficiency programmes and restructuring the economy.

Wide bands of energy

optical fibres can carry ten times the information previously believed to be the theoretical maximum. With the advent of the Internet, the demand for bandwidth (the information carrying capacity of the transferring channel) has increased dramatically. Today, most of the bandwidth in the world is not through copper cables but instead through optical fibers.

Powered by grass

are the tiny grass blades capable of lighting up our houses? Farmers in Switzerland are coming up with the world's first commercial grass power station. The station, in the Schaffhausen town of northern Switzerland, would produce about three million-kilowatt hours of electricity annually from 4,400 tonnes of grass. More than 200 farmers living within a 10-km radius of the station's site would provide the grass.

A ray of solar hope

when darkness approaches Sagar Island in the Sunderban delta of West Bengal, life no longer comes to a standstill. A silent revolution is slowly taking place in this remote island. More than 1000 houses are today electrified by solar energy through distribution lines, and more such projects are in the pipeline.

Cooling tactics

Cobweb wires

German researchers have developed ultra thin wires from cobwebs. These wires, based on latest technology, could spark revolution in miniature electronics. Spider silk is remarkably strong and can stretch a lot before it snaps. The researchers managed to reduce the silk from it's usual diameter of 3 and 5 micrometres down to 100 nanometres without weakening it. By using laser beams in opposite direction they evenly reduced the diameter of the silk.

Wonders of the Sun

the solar lighting system in Mundanmudy village, the largest installation of its kind in the world, has changed the life-style of local people here. The hundreds of houses (393 precisely) lined one after the other with bright solar panels in this village of Idukki district in Kerala, are quite impressive.

Alternative technology

Hydro Environmental Resources Inc, USA has developed a unique energy system. When water and a patent-pending formula are added to a converter, energy is produced. In the converter, reaction takes place and hydrogen gas, electricity and clean water is produced. The working model is a self-contained portable unit. It is cost effective and needs no outside energy sources. This new source of energy is clean and non-polluting and can serve the energy requirement of many industries ( Vatis Update, Non Conventional Energy , Vol 2, No 47).