SatNav GPS Systems to Monitor Rickshaws in New Delhi Soon

Public travel in the three-wheeler i.e. the country's colorful rickshaw, at least when in the capital, is all set to get a much needed facelift. If you’re a frequent rickshaw-rider (for want of a better term) in Delhi, chances that you encountered an unreasonably rude driver must be quite high. Not that it's any different in any other city of course. But in the capital we often also hear about the plight of the female travelers, who fear for their safety when commuting via this mode.

Under the scanner..

A recent report in The Telegraph, has added a shade of optimism to the bleak reality. By the end of this week, as many as 250 rickshaws plying on the streets of New Delhi will have GPS from SatNav installed, a number which by the end of this month will soar to a good 55,000 rickshaws. These GPS devices will further be connected to a government server. Among the many purposes it is expected to serve, the device will track the journeys the rickshaw covers, thereby giving officials a way to check if the drivers are taking the easiest, fastest routes. Also, considering the increasing instances of indecent, rude behavior of the drivers towards the customers, especially female travelers, the monitoring will help the officials nail the guilty.

Appreciatively, the rickshaws will also include a panic button which female passengers can press to raise an alarm, to alert the cops if they sense danger. The move, for now at least has met with stiff resistance from the rickshaw drivers, owing to the high costs of the device. However, the officials have offered them an option of ‘renting’ the SatNav systems. This move comes as an attempt to improve the services of the three-wheelers in the busy metro of New Delhi, which accounts for good manners, professional behavior, personal hygiene, vehicle maintenance, among others.

Although this does seem to be a great move, considering the amount of dependency that metro dwellers have on their services, it remains to be seen if these services reach the other metros too.

China opens world's longest sea bridge

This photo taken Tuesday, June 21, 2011 released by China's Xinhua news agency shows the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. China opened Thursday, June 30, 2011, the world's longest cross-sea bridge, which is 42 kilometers (26 miles) long and links China's eastern port city of Qingdao to an offshore island, Huangdao. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Yan Runbo)

QIngdao Jiaozhou Bay Bridge is seen in Qingdao, Shandong province, in this general view taken June 27, 2011. The world's longest sea bridge spanning Jiaozhou Bay of Qingdao City, Shandong Province, opened on Thursday, June 30. The bridge is 36 km (22 miles) long, Xinhua News Agency reported. Picture taken on June 27, 2011. REUTERS/China Daily

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This photo taken Wednesday, June 29, 2011 released by China's Xinhua news agency shows the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. China opened Thursday, June 30, 2011, the world's longest cross-sea bridge, which is 42 kilometers (26 miles) long and links China's eastern port city of Qingdao to an offshore island, Huangdao. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Yan Runbo)

Mercedes-Benz India Launch Mobile Optimized Website

Stylish automotive manufacturer, Mercedes-Benz unveiled its first mobile optimized website in India. The German automotive manufacturer is the first one to do so. Starting from today, smartphone, Android, and other web enabled mobile device users will be able to access the new, optimized website.

Optimized, for ease..

The website, as mentioned before, has been customized specifically for viewing on the mobile device. Designed to function like a virtual car showroom, the website will bring forth a summary of the brand’s corporate website. The optimized website features details on product highlights, technical data, picture galleries, pricing, and other local service details.

According to Mercedes-Benz India, users with the optimized website can:

• Enter the virtual showroom, or get in touch with the dealers, or ask for brochures and test-drives right from their mobile device.
• Update themselves with all the news and updates, the brand’s TV commercials, wallpapers, among other services.
• The optimized site can be accessed from the main website, too since the latter automatically redirects the user to the former.

To view the website, and get a whiff of the features, you can visit - http://m.mercedes-benz.co.in

Prithvi-II successfully flight-tested

 Nuclear weapons-capable, surface-to-surface Prithvi-II missile on Thursday was successfully flight-tested for its full range of 350 km by the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) personnel.

The nine-metre tall Prithvi-II, the first indigenously built surface-to-surface strategic missile, was fired from a mobile launcher from Launch Complex-III at the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur in Orissa. It achieved a high degree of accuracy and zeroed-in on the pre-designated target in the Bay of Bengal with a CEP (Circular Error Probability) of less than 10 meters.

The flight test met all the mission objectives and was like a text-book launch.

A battery of radars, electro-optical telemetry stations and a naval ship located near the impact point tracked and monitored the entire event, including the missile's trajectory and final splash down.

The missile was picked up randomly from the production lot and the launch operations were carried out by SFC personnel and monitored by scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Capability

The single-stage, liquid-fuelled Prithvi-II that is capable of carrying payloads ranging from 500-1,000 kg had been inducted into the armed forces. It is equipped with a high accuracy inertial navigation system with sophisticated on-board control and guidance. It could be launched from anywhere with its mobile launcher having user-driven features.

Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister V.K. Saraswat, who witnessed the launch, congratulated the armed forces and scientists for the successful flight-test. V.L.N. Rao, programme director, AD, S.K. Ray, Director, Research Centre Imarat and top officials of the SFC and DRDO were present during the mission.

In December last, two Prithvi-II missiles were successfully test-fired for different ranges within a span of one hour.

Samsung Rumoured to Buy Nokia

Just last week, there were rumours on the web that Microsoft was thinking of buying Nokia. These rumours were shot down by Nokia. Nokia is currently working with Microsoft on their upcoming Windows Phone 7 devices. There have been analysts who claim that Nokia should get out of the slump and improve once the WP7 phones arrive, but they won’t be able to take on the might of Android and iPhones. Nokia ended up in a mess after failed attempts to develop customer interest in the Symbian OS. Nokia’s stocks have been dropping, and more similar rumours have started surfacing. The latest one states that Samsung is thinking of buying Nokia. If rumours are true, the deal might be somewhere to the tune of $20 billion. Samsung has refused to comment on the story, since it’s against company policy. While Samsung is doing well and will have little to gain by paying this sizable amount. Microsoft was rumoured to be buying Nokia for an approximate $19 billion. Source: Business Insider

Osama's Secret Computer Drive Stash Found

What can one expect to find in the hidden stash of someone who was once the most feared face of terror on the globe?

The secret stash..

Post the Sunday showdown that killed the Al – Qaeda chief, Osama bin Laden, soldiers of the US Navy SEAL managed to lay hands on what they nicknamed ‘the mother lode of intelligence’. A bunch of computer drives and disks that were recovered might unlock the mystery on Al – Qaeda’s operations and provide other clinching evidences. However, at the moment this seems to be a far – fetched thought since, the information at hand might just be encrypted. The US officials fear the usage of the AES-256, an encryption method which, if used correctly, would make it potentially impossible to crack any sooner, at least not till the age of the universe. These fears aren’t baseless, and are most likely a possibility.

Last year, in an edition of Al – Qaeda’s magazine, Inspire an article appeared that explained in detail the methodology of using a piece of encryption software known as Asrar al-Mujahideen 2.0, which uses AES-256 along with other encryption methods. Usually, the officials would force the person in question to blurt out the password, but, with Osama having exited the picture completely, the lane of options seems to have grown frighteningly narrower for US in particular, and the world, in general.

A known alternative would be the ‘backdoor’ to the encryption scheme. However, now, its only the NSA that could reveal further.

World's Fastest Bird? Chubby Snipe Snaps Nonstop Record

Great snipes can fly nonstop from Sweden to sub-Saharan Africa in two days.

A plump little shorebird has smashed the record for the fastest long-distance, nonstop flight in the animal kingdom.

In a new study, scientists have discovered that great snipes can complete a transcontinental flight across Europe, from Sweden to sub-Saharan Africa, in only two days without resting. The birds traveled roughly 4,200 miles (6,760 kilometers) at an average speed of 60 miles (97 kilometers) an hour.

To track the birds, biologists captured and tagged ten great snipes with geolocators at their breeding grounds in western Sweden in May 2009. Tracking data for three of the birds was retrieved after their recapture in Sweden a year later.

At first glance, great snipes don't look especially speedy or well equipped for such an arduous journey. Their bodies are small and chubby, not aerodynamic, and in the autumn the birds get so rotund that, when shot, "their skin sometimes ruptures when the shot bird hits the ground," according to one 19th-century account. (See shorebird pictures.)

But it's these ample fat reserves that allow the birds to fly such long distances without stopping, said study leader Raymond Klaassen, a biologist at Sweden's Lund University.

"They almost double their body weight before the flight," Klaassen said. "And all this fat will be burned during the flight, and they will arrive lean and exhausted in Africa."

Fast Flyers a Rarity

It's a rare bird that can fly both far and fast. For example, the Arctic tern racks up as many as 50,000 miles (80,000 kilometers) during its yearly migration from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back again. However, the animal spreads the flight out over several months and fishes along the way.

At the other end of the spectrum, peregrine falcons can reach speeds of up to 200 miles (322 kilometers) an hour but only in short bursts to catch prey.

The only other bird that comes close to matching the great snipe's abilities is the godwit, a wading bird. In 2007 scientists recorded a godwit flying more than 7,000 miles (11,500 kilometers), from Alaska to New Zealand, in nine days at an average speed of about 35 miles an hour (56 kilometers an hour).

"[One] difference between the godwits and the snipes is that the godwits travel over the ocean, and thus have no possibilities to stop," Klaassen said. "Hence, their amazing flights are not their choice."

By contrast, snipes have several rest-stop options during their autumn migration to Africa but choose not to take advantage of them. The reasons for that are unclear, especially since the birds make several stops during their return flights to Sweden in the spring.

Bird Migration "Revolution"

As with other migratory birds that fly long distances, it's unclear how great snipes can apparently fly for such long periods with little or no sleep.

"This is one of the unsolved mysteries of long-distance flights," Klaassen said. "We now believe that half of their brain sleeps at [a] time, alternating between the left and the right side. Or they do not sleep at all, but this seems impossible regarding the importance of sleep in general."

Klaassen says so little is known about bird-migration strategies that he wouldn't be surprised if the great snipe's record is broken soon.

"Generally we know rather little about the performances of different species, as many have not yet been tracked," he said.

"I foresee many surprises in the nearby future, due to the recent development of minute tracking devices. The field of bird migration is currently going through a revolution, and these are certainly very exciting times for us."

The research was published recently online in the journal Biology Letters.

Five Sites You Probably Didn't Know Existed for Streaming Media

Are you really peeved that you don’t get to watch TV because your mom’s catching up with her soaps and/or your dad’s catching up with the news? Well it’s time to take these problems to your beloved PC, because you can watch your favourite TV series directly from the internet. What I have here is a list of sites from where you can always watch (not download) your favorite sitcoms. These sites act like aggregators which will link you to other sites like Megavideo or CBS, who actually stream these videos.

Talking about streaming, it’s quite essential that you have a fast enough internet connection. The simple reason being that a fast connection means fast buffer speeds, which in turn mean that you get you play your video while its loading. 

If you’re wondering why Online Streaming, then you should know that you won’t have to wait for the re-runs of your favourite TV show and you can watch them as and when you want to. The best part is that all these sites are free and a few moments and as many clicks later, you can sit back, relax and catch your favourite TV shows with some popcorn. 

TV Duck A good source for streaming videos online, TV Duck has a very simple layout which allows you to choose from different genres like Action, Comedy, Animation and so on. Another way of selecting your favourite TV show is for you to look it up from the alphabetical list. A genre which you just might be interested in is Bollywood, with movies of all categories. While you might not be impressed with most of them, there are some good ones like Dil Chahta Hai or even Rang De Basanti, a couple of my favorites. TV Duck is amongst the easiest to use sites but there’s a slight compromise in the quality they have to offer. Quack's the way to do it Project Free TV This one is not intuitive to begin with, but that being said, Free TV Video Online has a huge repository of TV series and sitcoms. There are the usual series like Six Feet Under, How I Met Your Mother and the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air plus some not so popular ones such as Coogan’s Run or Fonejacker. Project Free TV doesn’t have a genre-wise category listing but it retains the alphabetical list. Also, the movies section on this site has everything set both genre-wise and alphabetically. While there are plenty of links to choose from, it’s recommended that you don’t search too long for links on this site. Loads of stuff to watch Watch Series Online At first glance, Watch Series Online doesn’t really look like they have a lot to share. However, click on the Index link and you have quite a few options to choose from. Just like Project Free TV, this site doesn’t have any genre-wise category but it does have an alphabetical index. If you’re searching for movies then this is definitely not the site for you as you’ll only have access to TV series. There are quite a few sports based shows as well like UFC, WWE and Wipeout. You might have to go through quite a few of the links mentioned here, but you’ll eventually get a satisfactory link after a few minutes. All of your favorite TV series

iWatchNetwork There’s a lot of stuff to watch in the iWatchNetwork which has the regular TV series plus documentaries, Bollywood Movies and Asian Movies. This site is probably the most well-organized of the lot, with listings by Genre, Popular, Top Rated and more. There are forums as well where you can talk about your favourite Television series or movies, whatever suits you. There are quite a lot of options in the movie categories and you’ll get the latest ones, as well. This one has movies and documentaries as well SideReel Another one of the Project Free TV like site which can be easily said as the most intuitive of all streaming sites. SideReel has categories like Critically Acclaimed Comedies, Drama in the Workplace and Really, Really Ridiculously Good Looking People. There’s also a genre-wise categorizing and two other sections include Movies and Web TV. What we really liked about SideReel is that it has a lot of information on upcoming movies, trailers, and more. The best looking! We spoke about buffer speeds earlier so you know that you need an internet connection with decent enough speed. These sites don’t have a fixed resolution but here’s a tip to get a slight improvement in buffer speeds - The lower the resolution the faster your video buffers, but remember that you’ll have to compromise on video quality.  So these were five sites that you must not have really heard of but are responsible of rescuing many from boredom. One big issue has to be the amount of ads and pop-ups that come with almost every click. But many users do have the patience to quietly close each and every one of these links.  I finally also feel that YouTube is that one website where most users will always come to check out their plethora of videos and they also have a Movies section which again is free and although it doesn't have thes best ones out there, you can always catch up on a few good ones like Alice in Wonderland, Lycantropus: The Moonlight Murders and a lot more. It's quite likely that the number of movies will increase.

USB Flash Drive or USB Web Key

Almost everyone knows what a USB flash drive, and most people will use one on a regular basis. USB flash drives are brilliant for storing and large amounts of data around, they are small, portable, attractive and easy to use and it is this reason that they have become a very "hot" promotional item. 

Companies love them because they know when their brand or logo printed on them almost always not once, but repeatedly used. By pre-loading files in them as sales brochures, presentations, media files, price lists, etc., they are able to deliver significant quantities of useful information to potential customers to deliver in a very cost effective way - and of course the continued use of the flash drive gives them long-term brand exposure. 

While the price of USB flash drives continues to fall, with some now costing less than £ 2 each (printed and stored data), it is still too expensive for some companies. A cheaper alternative and a solution, some companies opt for a USB Web Key. 

USB Keys Web looks like an ordinary USB flash drives - they have a USB connector at the end, and they come at the same level of body styles and shapes USB flash drives are available in. The main difference between them is a USB flash drive has an internal flash memory, which you can read / write data to and from the Web, while a USB stick has no memory, so you can not transfer files / data to store. 

While Web Keys has no available memory, they can save a website address. So when you connect to the Internet key to your PC or Mac, it will automatically begin the default browser on the PC and load the Web page stored on the network again. The web page can start a home business website, a contest page, a Facebook page, or you could deep link to a specific product page on a website. 

For example, if a company was launching a new product, so they could distribute Keys USB web in the form of the product or printed with details about the product and embed a link to a landing page on the product - this landing page providing information on product links to media files, links to pricing and technology magazines, links to MySpace and Facebook let customers track further updates on the product and so on. 

While a USB key Internet does not have a compelling reason to keep it and reuse it on a regular basis is a good way for prospective customers to visit your website where you can then get them to register and sign up through of (time) information about your company and its products and services. 

They are also relatively cheap, and if you choose a small, thin design so they can be sent by standard letter post "rates rather than very expensive" Packet Mail "rates. 

If you have an Internet central curiosity will probably mean that you will use and visit preinstalled. With web tracking and analysis rather than its quite easy to click-thru's track and from the work of the effectiveness of a campaign that a USB key using the Internet.

Soon, solar sheets that turn 95% of sunlight into electricity

An engineer at the Missouri University chemical engineering department is in the process of developing a flexible solar sheet that captures more than 90 pc of available sunlight.

Patrick Pinhero and his team have developed a thin, moldable sheet of small antennas called nantenna, which can harvest the heat from industrial processes and convert it into usable electricity.

Their ambition is to extend this concept to a direct solar facing nantenna device capable of collecting solar irradiation in the near infrared and optical regions of the solar spectrum.

According to Pinhero, energy generated using traditional photovoltaic (PV) methods of solar collection is inefficient and neglects much of the available solar electromagnetic (sunlight) spectrum.

Today's solar panels only collect about 20% of available light, he reveals.

"Our overall goal is to collect and utilise as much solar energy as is theoretically possible and bring it to the commercial market in an inexpensive package that is accessible to everyone," said Pinhero.

"If successful, this product will put us orders of magnitudes ahead of the current solar energy technologies we have available to us today," he added.

Pinhero plans to make prototypes available to consumers within the next five years

Huge asteroid to fly close to earth on November 8

Mark your calendars for November 8, because that’s when a massive asteroid will sweep past the Earth.

The asteroid called 2005 YU55 has a diameter of 1,300 feet and will approach the planet at 0.85 lunar distances.

Due the object’s size and whisking by so close to Earth, an extensive campaign of radar, visual and infrared observations is being planned.

“The close Earth approach of 2005 YU55 on Nov. 8, is unusual since it is close and big. On average, one wouldn’t expect an object this big to pass this close but every 30 years,” Live Science quoted Don Yeomans, manager of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Office and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, as saying.

Because of its size and proximity to Earth, the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Mass., has designated the space rock as a “potentially hazardous asteroid.” “This flyby will be the closest by any near-Earth asteroid with an absolute magnitude this bright since 1976 and until 2028,” said Lance Benner, a research scientist at JPL and a specialist on radar imaging of near-Earth objects.

Initially, the object will be too close to the sun and too faint for optical observers.

But late in the day (Universal Time) on Nov. 8, the solar elongation will grow sufficiently to see it. Early on Nov. 9, the asteroid could reach about 11th magnitude for several hours before it fades as its distance rapidly increases, Benner added.

Sakshi cheers for Dhoni

PSLV launch countdown progresses smoothly

CHENNAI: The 54.5-hour countdown for the April 20 launch of the PSLV rocket, which will put India's Resourcesat-2 and two other satellites into orbit, is progressing smoothly in Sriharikota, the rocket port in Andhra Pradesh. 

"The countdown that started at 3.42 a.m. Monday is progressing smoothly," S. Satish, director for publications and public relations at Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), told IANS. 

Sriharikota is around 80 km from here. 

According to Satish, the fuelling process of the rocket's fourth stage was completed and the filling up of the propellant for the second stage is in progress. 

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is expected to blast off Wednesday at 10.12 a.m. and will carry a total payload of 1,404 kg. 

This comprises three satellites - the 1,206 kg Resourcesat-2, the 92 kg joint Indo-Russian nano-satellite Youthsat for stellar and atmospheric studies, and a 106 kg microsatellite X-sat for imaging applications, built by the Singapore-based Nanyang Technological University. 

The 44-metre tall PSLV is a four-stage rocket powered by solid and liquid propellants alternatively. 

The first and third stage engines are fired by solid propellant while the second and fourth stages are fired by liquid propellant. 

The Indian remote sensing satellite Resourcesat-2 was originally scheduled for launch in January this year but got postponed to February and later to April. 

India has the largest constellation of remote sensing satellites in the world providing imagery in a variety of spatial resolutions, from better than a metre ranging up to 500 metres, and is a major player in vending such data in the global market.

Is a floating solar energy plant a smart idea?

A floating solar plant sounds too good to be true. Granted, these kind of wacky ideas pop up from time-to-time. This one caught my eye. Given all the environmental concerns of building solar plants on land, this particular design of a floating solar plant has some potential to bring power to people living in India.

The Australian solar power company Sunengy Pty Limited is working with the power utility, Tata Power, on a floating solar plant. But the plant isn’t exactly going to be randomly floating around in the ocean. It works best behind hydro-electric dams because it can increase the capacity of the plant without taking up extra land.

The technology behind the plant is called Liquid Solar Array, which uses photovoltaic technology and plastic lenses to concentrate the light onto the solar cells. The lenses are computer-controlled, so they can track the sunlight for full efficiency. The whole system is basically a big raft that floats on the water.

Nearly 40 percent of the Indian population doesn’t have access to electricity. The inventor of the system, Phil Connor, said in a statement:

“If India uses just one percent of its 30,000 square kilometres of captured water with our system, we can generate power equivalent to 15 large coal-fired power stations.”

Just as long as it’s made to resist major storms, the million dollar idea should work. The floating system turns a dam into a large battery and it is apparently cyclone proof, according to the inventor.

However,  projects like this one will likely serve a niche market. Wind farms are noisy, so the off-shore location is preferred. Solar farms don’t make noise like wind farms do, so does designing a solar plant to withstand the rough conditions of the water really make sense?

Because of continuous cooling of the cells and the landless requirement, the company claims its off-shore solar plant does make financial sense.

We won’t have to wait long to find out. Construction will begin in August.

Even if the floating solar energy plant fails to be an efficient way of generating electricity, one of the many micro-grid ideas will likely play an important role in developing countries.

Recently, when I visited Stanford University, I spoke to Michael McGeheeabout the implementation of solar technology in developing countries. He made the case for micro-grids taking off, especially in areas where the infrastructure for the power grid is non-existent. I’ll post the video this week, so stay tuned.

A new initiative for the tiger

India, with more than half of the world’s wild tigers, has a key role to play to save this iconic species from extinction. At India’s invitation, representatives of the 13 tiger range countries and their partners in the Global Tiger Initiative (GTI) met in New Delhi this week to help jump-start the implementation of a Global Tiger Recovery Program (GTRP) which was approved at the historic Tiger Summit held in St Petersburg in November, and which drew heavily from India’s experience. With its growing network of tiger reserves, science-based methodology for monitoring tiger numbers, a dedicated forest cadre and a committed and vibrant civil society, India’s experience and expertise is invaluable in facilitating the range-wide implementation of this global programme.
Knowledge sharing among the tiger range countries is the cornerstone of GTI. Led by the tiger range countries, GTI has forged a unity of purpose among governments and non-government conservation organizations alike, and has generated a diversity of views about how to achieve the goal of doubling the number of wild tigers by 2022. Implementation of our global resolution must now begin in earnest on the ground. For this is where the battle to save wild tigers and their important ecosystems will be fought.
GTRP is built on the foundation of the countries’ respective priorities and the international community must respond urgently. This is a shared responsibility of the founders of GTI, including the World Bank, and of the many other partners who have pledged their technical and financial support. I will cite a few key examples.
First and foremost, the men and women who work on the frontlines of tiger conservation, like the forest service officers who protect India’s 39 tiger reserves, must begin to feel the beneficial impact of our efforts. GTRP commits the international community to build capacity and infrastructure for training, technology and modern equipment to defend tigers and their habitats from poachers and encroachers. In partnership with the Smithsonian Institution and other agencies—including the Wildlife Institute of India, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and the World Wildlife Fund—the World Bank is now offering a capacity-building programme for area leaders and managers of tiger range countries.
In addition, the World Bank stands ready to provide much required financial resources to other conservation-oriented institutions, such as the Global Tiger Forum and the recently created South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network as well as the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime, and to finance regional efforts to build institutions and capacity to combat transboundary illegal trade in wildlife products. Over the next several years, a proposed regional project will put real financial resources on the ground in tiger range countries, to enhance shared capacity, institutions, knowledge and incentives, which are required to tackle illegal wildlife trade and conservation threats. This project will complement other credible efforts by non-governmental organizations, including TRAFFIC (the wildlife trade monitoring network) and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), which are developing a large-scale awareness programme to eliminate the senseless demand for tiger parts that drives poaching and trafficking.
With the support of the international community, national governments are leading the way to conduct economic evaluations of biodiversity-rich ecosystems, including tiger conservation landscapes. While we all intuitively know that we must preserve our rich biodiversity, expressing the true value of ecosystems, including the iconic tiger, in dollar and rupees terms, gives an additional sense of urgency to the need for concerted action. India, with its great natural wealth and growing economic prosperity, could set the example in this area as it has in so many others.
However, efforts of the conservation community alone may not be sufficient to meet these shared objectives; it is crucial to engage a multitude of stakeholders in this dialogue. To this effect, the International Tiger Conference in Delhi opened a conversation with the infrastructure and industry sectors which leave a critical footprint on biodiversity. In the face of unprecedented species loss over the past decade, more efforts are required to ensure that economic development takes into account the conservation of biodiversity, as well as the numerous environmental services and products which natural habitats provide to human society. We at the World Bank are exploring those very issues in the development of our environmental strategy.
The country-led GTI process has proven highly successful in developing political will and creating a comprehensive, cooperative global tiger recovery programme. With this foundation, the next step is to identify and finance the building blocks that will ensure successful implementation of national priorities. For the sake of wild tigers, other species and their habitats, and for our own sakes, we must succeed. As Indira Gandhi once said, “A world that is not safe for tigers is not safe for people either.”
Isabel Guerrero is vice-president, South Asia, at the World Bank

On World Water Day, a look at water-energy tech

competition held by nonprofit ImagineH2O highlights the close connection between water and energy.

ImagineH2O, a not-for-profit company formed to foster innovation around water, last week announced that the three winners to its Water-Energy Nexus Prize, a competition for the best business ideas to reduce the energy needed to move and treat fresh water and wastewater. Winners out of the more than 50 participants were awarded $100,000 in cash and in-kind services.

Hydrovolts CEO Burt Hammer shows off the company's turbine designed specifically for manmade canals. The company plans to build these turbines in three sizes, with the largest able to fit into a shipping container.

(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET)

The top prize went to Hydrovolts, a Seattle-based company that makes a hydrokinetic turbine designed specifically for manmade canals. Flowing water turns adjustable wings to generate electricity.

The company's plan is to sell the turbine to landowners and facility operators that have a steady-flowing canal. One advantage of this approach is that there shouldn't be a need for environmental reviews because it's an artificial environment, according to the company.

The runners-up were Philadelphia-based Blackgold Biofuels, which has a process for converting fat, oil, and grease from wastewater treatment facilities into biodiesel fuel; and Oakland, Calif.-based Fogbuster, which is also separating fat, oil, and grease (FOG) from wastewater without using chemical plants.

Other companies in the competition focused on different areas, such as membranes that improve the efficiency of desalination plants or drawing usable energy from water distribution systems.

ImagineH2O, which was started by people from Harvard Business School, organized the competition to bring attention to energy in water distribution and treatment. California, which has to pump much of its water long distances, uses 19 percent of the state's energy on water.

Different forms of power generation have wildly different water requirements as well. Nuclear power uses 720 gallons of water per megawatt-hour of energy produced, compared to 140 gallons for natural gas, 30 for solar photovoltaics, and 1,060 for concentrating solar power plants, according to Dow Water and Process Solutions.

Supplying fresh water to people around the world, the focus of today's World Water Day, is obviously vital. But water technologies tend not to attract entrepreneurs and investment in part because in industrialized countries water is relatively inexpensive as a resource and facilities are run by cash-strapped municipalities.

'Artificial leaf' makes hydrogen from solar cell

Drawing from nature, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Daniel Nocera thinks he can draw cheap and clean energy from water.

At the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Nocera yesterday presented results from research on making an "artificial leaf" to split water to get hydrogen fuel and oxygen. The goal is to use the solar cell to make hydrogen, which would be stored and then used in a fuel cell to make electricity.

"The artificial leaf shows particular promise as an inexpensive source of electricity for homes of the poor in developing countries. Our goal is to make each home its own power station," Nocera said in a statement.

In 2009, Nocera and others created Sun Catalytix to commercialize his work on relatively cheap catalysts made from nickel and cobalt for a device called an electrolyzer that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. The company in the fall raised more money from Indian industrial giant Tata.

Using a $4 million grant from the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), researchers at Sun Catalytix began work on their second-generation product. Rather than use an electrolyzer to make hydrogen, this product would make hydrogen directly from a solar cell. That would mean a renewable source for the hydrogen fuel and electricity.

Until now, research yielded very low efficiencies in converting sunlight to hydrogen using a solar cell. Nocera yesterday said that researchers are optimistic they can boost the efficiency rate and the durability of the material. In the lab, he said that an artificial leaf prototype operated for 45 hours without a degradation in performance.

At the ARPA-E Summit earlier this month where Sun Catalytix showed a prototype of its second-generation product, company executives said the research will take a few years to complete and about three to five years to create a commercial product.