TREMOR SENSORS: Last year's earthquake in Kobe, Japan, has triggered
off a spate of earthquake-related
lighting equipments. An emergency
fight by Matsushita Electric Works
Ltd. Japan's largest lighting-equipment maker, comes with a vibration
sensor which turns on the light if a
medium intensity earthquake occurs.
It sells for US $524. The company has
also come up with shatter-proof
teflon-coated glass globes. A flashlight by Sanyo Electric Co, which
costs US, $33, automatically switches
on when its built-in sensor detects
a violent tremor and lasts for about
40 minutes.
breezing in: The Madras-based NEPC Micon, a pioneer in wind energy, will help Maharashtra catch up with other states in setting up wind farms assisted by the State Industrial and Investment Corporation of Maharashtra. The company is going to tap the 500 MW power potential of the state. It has identified wind-prone sites in the districts of Sindhugarh, Ratnagiri, Satara, and Sangli. The company plans to invest Rs 300 crore over a span of two years in wind farm projects which will facilitate rural electrification.
BUDDING FORTH: The horticulture
industry of India will get a fillip with
Maxworth Orchards (India) Ltd
establishing a Rs 7.5 crore research
and development centre near
Madras. Camtec Ag East of Israel,
Cross Singapore and UK-based High
Value Horticulture will provide technical collaboration. The centre aims
to introduce international horticultural practices after adapting them to
Indian conditions. The Israeli company will help Maxworth grow plants
in greenhouses, high and low tunnels
and in open fields while the UK firm
will chip in post-harvest technologies and Cross Singapore will help
cultivate orchids.
STRAIT DEAL: US oil
giant Conoco Inc is
making inroads in
the high-risk Taiwan Strait off the
Chinese coast. The
company has struck
a deal with Taiwan's Chinese Petroleum Corp
(CPQ to explore oil and gas in the
strait. Conoco would hold 75 per
cent of the stakes and invest about
US $65 million in the venture. The
company will fully finance the search
for oil and gas in the north, centre
and south of the strait on Taiwan's
side and the CPC would buy all the
production to supply in Taiwan's
market.
BYTES AT A BARGAIN: After making its
mark in Latin and Central America,
Asia-Pacific, Africa and West Asia,
the Singapore-based Acer Computer
International (ACI), a regional marketing unit of Taiwan's Acer Inc, will
launch a low-cost personal computer
(PC) in the second half of this year.
The PC will be sold in developing
countries like Indonesia, India and
the Commonwealth of Independent
States. The basic PC will cost
about US $1,000. It can he used as
an educational medium or as an
Internet terminal, said ACI president
William Lu.
GROWING NATURALLY: To meet the
global demand for natural products,
NOVA Agritech Ltd, Hyderabad, is
setting up a super critical fluid
extraction plant to process and
extract natural oils and oleoresins
from spices, herbs
and other plants.
The plant would
manufacture high
purity products
that are likely to
substitute synthetic
products used in
food processing, beverages and pharmaceutical industries. Natex Process
Technology of Australia will provide
the technical knowhow for the
Rs 13.8 crore project.
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