Blue-blooded fossil
THE horseshoe crab, which is found on Orissa's coast, is a "living fossil": it has been in existence for over 250 million years. The arachnid has blue blood, from which can be prepared a diagnostic reagent that is useful in clinical treatment and the analysis of medicines and food. The reagent's by-products also can be of direct therapeutic use.
The Orissa Environment Society and the Odissi Research Laboratory have made extensive headway in developing the reagent and in conserving and sustainably utilising the horseshoe crab, and are looking for an organisation with an all-India network, based in the Capital, to join our project
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Bagasse's other use
THIS is with reference to the item Bagasse power (November 30, 1993) and the letter from Laxmi Narayan Modi of the Bharatiya Cattle Research Foundation (January 15, 1994), advocating the use of bagasse in generating electricity.
Although it cannot be denied that bagasse can help in power generation, there are alternatives like coal, lignite, gas and petroleum. However, bagasse has also been found to be a viable substitute for the paper manufacturing sector, which is excessively dependent on forest-based raw material or imported pulp/wastepaper.
The present set-up of sugar industries and their financial conditions may not be very conducive to using bagasse for generating electricity. Moreover, state electricity boards are unable to decide on how to distribute power that is generated seasonally and in a decentralised manner.
They are also unwilling to pay such generating units the price they charge their consumers. I wonder how investing in seasonal generation can be viable, especially when the price of bagasse is increased.
The policy of generating energy from bagasse in a decentralised manner should be reviewed from both the environmental and the economic angles. Ideally, the use of bagasse should be encouraged where it helps in conserving forest resources and in making us self-sufficient in paper production.
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The true cost
I WAS abroad when my interview was published in Down To Earth (November 30, 1993). Interviewer Gail Omvedt has made a small mistake in noting the cost of an optimum solar system, which is Rs 1,000 per square metre, not per 1.5 sq m....
Clarification:
Solar equipment with a 1.5 square metre collector area can produce steam at 200oC or even 300oC, with a total thermal energy output of 3,000 Kilo Cal/day. The cost per square metre of the collector-receiver is Rs 1,000. Thus, a 1.5 sq m unit would cost Rs 1,500.
The total investment for a solar thermal cogeneration system would be Rs 2,000, including the cost of tubing connections and controls to fit the system to conventional gas-fired boilers.
Featurea Editor Sumanta Pal replies: The error is regretted.
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