An employee walking along a thermal pipe at the Kamojang geothermal
power plant near Garut, West Java, on March 18. State utility provider
 Perusahaan Listrik Negara is targeting an additional 135 megawatts of
electricity from three new geothermal plants. (Reuters Photo/Beawiharta)
 

"Update on Current Events" – Jul 23, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: God, Gaia, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Benevolent Design, Financial Institutes (Recession, System to Change ...), Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Nuclear Power Revealed, Geothermal Power, Hydro Power, Drinking Water from Seawater, No need for Oil as Much, Middle East in Peace, Persia/Iran Uprising, Muhammad, Israel, DNA, Two Dictators to fall soon, Africa, China, (Old) Souls, Species to go, Whales to Humans, Global Unity,.. etc.)
"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“.. Nuclear Power Revealed

So let me tell you what else they did. They just showed you what's wrong with nuclear power. "Safe to the maximum," they said. "Our devices are strong and cannot fail." But they did. They are no match for Gaia.

It seems that for more than 20 years, every single time we sit in the chair and speak of electric power, we tell you that hundreds of thousands of tons of push/pull energy on a regular schedule is available to you. It is moon-driven, forever. It can make all of the electricity for all of the cities on your planet, no matter how much you use. There's no environmental impact at all. Use the power of the tides, the oceans, the waves in clever ways. Use them in a bigger way than any designer has ever put together yet, to power your cities. The largest cities on your planet are on the coasts, and that's where the power source is. Hydro is the answer. It's not dangerous. You've ignored it because it seems harder to engineer and it's not in a controlled environment. Yet, you've chosen to build one of the most complex and dangerous steam engines on Earth - nuclear power.

We also have indicated that all you have to do is dig down deep enough and the planet will give you heat. It's right below the surface, not too far away all the time. You'll have a Gaia steam engine that way, too. There's no danger at all and you don't have to dig that far. All you have to do is heat fluid, and there are some fluids that boil far faster than water. So we say it again and again. Maybe this will show you what's wrong with what you've been doing, and this will turn the attitudes of your science to create something so beautiful and so powerful for your grandchildren. Why do you think you were given the moon? Now you know.

This benevolent Universe gave you an astral body that allows the waters in your ocean to push and pull and push on the most regular schedule of anything you know of. Yet there you sit enjoying just looking at it instead of using it. It could be enormous, free energy forever, ready to be converted when you design the methods of capturing it. It's time. …”

Sunday, April 24, 2011

In the Country’s Water Wars, Nuclear Technology Is an Ally

Jakarta Globe, Ismira Lutfia | April 24, 2011

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The ongoing crisis at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has understandably made most people averse to the idea of anything nuclear.

So it might be surprising to learn that nuclear technology is already being used in Indonesia. Even more surprising, it is being used to maximize the use of water resources.

Wibagyo, from the Center for Isotope and Radiation Technology at the National Nuclear Energy Agency (Batan), said stable and safe nuclear isotopes were being used to determine the volume of available freshwater and groundwater in the country.

The isotopes, he said, are disseminated in the upstream areas of rivers, where there are ample ripples to ensure the perfect mix of isotopes and water.

After the isotopes are dispersed, the water downstream is tested to determine the river’s volume, said Wibagyo, who is the head of the Hydrology and Geothermal Nuclear group at the isotope center, which is also known as Pitir Batan.

“The isotopes are also used to map the flow of underground rivers in caves in areas where the surface is predominantly limestone, such as in Gunung Kidul,” he said, referring to a dry area in Wonosari district in the southern part of Yogyakarta.

This underground mapping is useful in preventing water from being pumped from the streams up on the surface, he added.

In a visit to Indonesia earlier this month, Kwako Aning, the deputy director general for technical cooperation at the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the global nuclear regulator was concentrating on raising awareness of how atomic technology could be useful for water, a resource that is becoming scarcer in many parts of the world.

Aning said that apart from being useful in determining the availability of underground water reserves, stable isotopes could also determine how much reserves had been used.

These isotopes, he added, can also determine the nutrients contained in the water, so that when the water is used for irrigation, the farmers “will not overfertilize their farms.”

A joint study conducted by Batan and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources in the 1990s showed that the common perception that groundwater in Jakarta originated in the Puncak area was incorrect.

“We found out that the water in Jakarta actually comes from the Depok and Cibinong areas,” Wibagyo said.

Nuclear technology opponents have advocated the use of other energy resources such as geothermal instead of the establishment of nuclear power plants. But Wibagyo said that nuclear technology would still have a role to play.

“We’ve used nuclear technology to monitor available water reserves surrounding geothermal vents to determine if there would be a generous supply of water before exploiting the geothermal vents,” Wibagyo said. He added that large water reserves were essential to a geothermal plant’s steam-generating process.

“Geothermal vents would not be exploitable without enough water supplies surrounding them,” he said.

Although nuclear technology is used in almost all aspects of life, the IAEA’s Aning said it had still not gained acceptance with many people because of what he called a “misunderstanding.”

He said the idea of nuclear power being only a destructive force had carried over from the devastating atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II.

“So it is imprinted in our genes that this technology is wrong,” he said, adding that the key to making the best of nuclear technology was to use it securely and safely.

“There should be no problem with it if it is used properly,” he said. “Without safety, this technology is useless, so the key is to use it safely.”

Aning lauded Indonesia for being a pioneer in nuclear technology. The country has used the technology to enhance various sectors such as food, health and water management.

“Indonesia has been ready since decades ago to apply nuclear technology in many fields,” he said.

But he added that in response to the ongoing nuclear crisis in Japan, IAEA member countries were scheduled to convene a ministerial meeting in June to review the standard safety procedures surrounding nuclear technology in their respective countries.

Indonesia’s science and technology attache in Switzerland, Syahril, who was in Indonesia to accompany Aning, said the IAEA hoped Indonesia could take the lead in the region for the innovative and safe application of nuclear technology.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Using Well Water, 4 Factories Raided in East Jakarta

BERITAJAKARTA.COM — 4/20/2011 

To minimize excessive illegal ground water usage, Jakarta Environmental Management Agency (BPLHD) raided four factories which suspected having illegal wells. They are PT. Lion Metal Work, PT. Duta Mega Matra Keramik and PT. Indonesia Acid which located in Jl. Raya Bekasi, Cakung, and PT. Wasa Mitra Engineering in Jl. Raya Cacing, Cakung, East Jakarta.

According to Ridwan Panjaitan, Head of Law Enforcement for BPLHD who is also the raid leader, the factories raided because they still not use piped water (PAM) even though its pipelines already exist in the area. From the investigation conducted, PT. Lion Metal Work was found only have one well with the capacity of 386 cubic. In the permit, the ground water should be used only as water reserve, but based on investigation result on the field it is used as the main source. "This investigation usually takes one week,” he said, Wednesday (4/20).

Other companies also have wells. PT. Duta Mega Matra Keramik has two wells with each capacity 381 cubic and 23 cubic, PT. Wasa Mitra Engineering has one well with capacity 386 cubic, and PT. Indonesia Acid has three wells with each capacity 392 cubic, 338 cubic and 260 cubic. "Ideally, they should’ve use PAM water, because continues using of ground water will cause negative impact," he said.

Cheating that usually happens on the field is a company made well but without BPLHD permission. Sometimes, the water meter PAM installed is tricked with certain objects so the meter does not run as it should be but the water still flows normally. Moreover, the meter seal is also destructed. "This control is to optimize water PAM usage and suppress ground water (ABT) abuse that is not in accordance with the regulation exists," he stated.

Based on Jakarta BPLHD 2009-2010 data, there were 122 business activity locations given a warning, 44 sealed, and 72 concreted. There were also Rp 4.9 billion civil sanctions for 12 business activity locations because they use water ground without any permission and did not pay the tax. Even, four laundry companies were sanctioned by West Jakarta District Court and fined Rp 15 million each with subsidiary four months confinement.

While in 2011, BPLHD has conducted supervision on 117 locations until March. From that amount, 28 of them sealed and 9 concreted.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Award-Winning Indonesian Conservationist Says Children Victims of Pollution

Jakarta Globe, April 13, 2011


Prigi Arisandi, 35, examining polluted water from the Brantas river in Surabaya,
East Java. The biologist who enlisted schoolchildren in his fight to clean up
an Indonesian river and received an international prize for his efforts says he hopes
young people will do more for the environment. (Reuters Phoito/Sigit Pamungkas)

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Surabaya. A biologist who enlisted schoolchildren in his fight to clean up an Indonesian river that led to an international prize said he hoped young people will do more for the environment.

Student research into a 41 kilometer stretch of the Surabaya river that flows through Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city, prompted 35-year-old Prigi Arisandi into discoveries that helped him become one of six winners of this year’s Goldman Environmental Prize, the world’s largest award for grassroots environmentalists.

Arisandi found that the river, which provides water for 3 million and is also used for bathing by people living along its banks, was contaminated with high levels of toxic effluent.

Recently, mercury levels were found to be 100 times the limit set by the World Health Organization.

He and other activists created the first environmental education programme in the region in 2000 to educate local communities about biodiversity and water pollution, teaching students about the dangers and using them to spread the word.

“These students are the victims of pollution,” Arisandi told Reuters at his Surabaya office last week, in an embargoed interview.

“We place these children as agents of change ... We bring them to the river and there are already thousands of children that we have trained.” Arisandi and other activists have also taken legal action to stop companies from polluting the river and won a case against East Java’s governor, who was ordered to reduce pollution.

The $150,000 prize, named after husband and wife philanthropists from San Francisco, honours individuals for sustained efforts to protect the natural environment, “often at great personal risk,” according to the prize’s Web site.

The other 2011 winners are from the United States, Zimbabwe, Germany, Russia and El Salvador.

Reuters

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Regional governments should ban shallow groundwater use

Antara News, Tue, April 12 2011

Related News


Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Regional governments should have the gut to ban the usage of shallow groundwater use by industries in areas that have been served by the Regional Drinking Water Supply Companies (PDAMs), an official said.

(ANTARA Photo/Lucky.R)
"The regional governments must be firmed, otherwise the environment will be damaged because the overuse of shallow groundwater," Director General of the public works ministry`s Construction Company Budi Yuwono said here Tuesday.

The uncontrolled use of shallow groundwater in Jakarta has caused the ground level to go lower and seawater intrusion, he said.

The ground`s aquifer ability, especially at a depth of less than 30 meters needed hundreds of years to recover, he said.

The overuse of shallow groundwater by industries is dangerous because it could cause floods, he said.

Editor: Priyambodo RH

South Korea's Daewoo, Hyundai win 2 hydro power plant projects

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 04/12/2011

South Korea's Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co. won a bid for a 60-megawatt hydro power plant construction project worth Rp 2.5 trillion (US$290 million).

“The hydro power plant will be built in North Sumatra,” Dahlan Iskan, president director of state electricity company PT PLN, which held the bid, said Tuesday.

Dahlan said another Korean company, Hyundai Engineering, along with Indonesia's state construction firm PT Pembangunan Perumahan, won another bid for a hydro power plant project in Aceh, with a planned production capacity of 89 megawatts.

The two power plants are expected to be completed in 2013, kontan.co.id reported.

President orders evaluation of oil plants safety

Antara News, Tue, April 12 2011


"The president has also asked that evaluation should be carried out at all oil refineries, particularly in term of safety operation standards."

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Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered the evaluation of safety measures at all oil refinery plants throughout Indonesia following the outbreak of fire at Pertamina oil tanks in Cilacap, Central Java.

Fire at Pertamina oil tanks
in Cilacap, Central Java.
(ANTARA Photo/Idhad Zakaria)
Chief Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa, at the presidential office, said on Tuesday that the president had asked that the procedures and operation safety standards at all oil refinery pants in Indonesia be fulfilled.

Apart from that each of the country`s refinery plant should have procedures and operation standards in the handling of fire and other accidents with a fast fire extinguishing system.

"Now the state-owned oil firm Pertamina is conducting a thorough evaluation because the president has also asked that evaluation should be carried out at all oil refineries, particularly in term of safety operation standards," the minister said.

Minister Hatta Rajasa said that he had not yet received any report on the result of the investigation into the outbreak of fire at Pertamina`s oil tanks in Cilacap, Central Java.

Thus, the amount of losses has yet to be known, he added.

A fire broke out in state oil company Pertamina Refinery Unit (RU) complex IV in Cilacap, Central Java, late last month.

The fire gutting the oil tank 31 T-02 of Pertamina refinery unit complex IV spread to another tank. The fire had gutted the second tank in the eastern part of 31 T-02 tank.

Spokesman of Pertamina`s Cilacap refinery, Kurdi Susanto, said the burned 31 T-02 tank contained the high Octane Motor Gasoline Component.

"Other tanks near tank 31 T-02 contain kerosene but they have been emptied and cooled down," he said.

The fire itself did not disrupt Pertamina`s fuel production in its Cilacap refinery, he said.

Editor: Priyambodo RH

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PLN objects to World Bank`s review

Antara News, Tue, April 12 2011

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Surabaya, E Java (ANTARA News) - The state-run power company PT PLN objected to the World Bank`s review and assessment on its low reliability of power distribution in East Java which forced many companies to use diesel generators.

"We object to the assessment and recommendations because today`s PLN is better than two years ago," said a spokesperson for East Java PLN distribution, M Tabrani Mahmudsyah here Monday,

Data on power blackouts are mentioned in the World Bank`s research on "East Java Economic Growth Diagnose" conveyed by panelist Gregorius DV Pattinasarani at East Java Development Planning Board Monday.

The research showed that the power disruption occurs 3.34 times per customer with up to 174.38 minutes per customer in 2008.

Based on facts, the World Banks concludes that East Java`s energy availability is not enough to meet prime services.

Tabrani confirmed the data but he said that the World Bank must also expose their latest data which mentioned that in 2010, electrical blackouts occurred up to 2.8 times per customer with 100.91 minutes per customer.

"Therefore our company experience a major service quality improvement and the World Bank must be fair in its assessment," he said.

Tabrani said that the World Bank review is not only to affect the company`s name but also neglecting the PLN East Java`s hard work.

East Java`s economic growth in 2010 reached 6.7 percent, and PLN performance growth is always higher than economic growth, he said.

The recent installed energy capacity at the East Java distribution area reaches 7.000 megawatts with a maximum peak load of 3.916 megawatts.

Editor: B Kunto Wibisono

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Friday, April 8, 2011

An illiterate Farmer designs a Water Mill to generate Electricity

The Better India, By NK Suprabha



Siddappa, an illiterate farmer from Somapur village in Gadag district of Karnataka, has designed a water mill to generate electricity. Right from conceptualizing to materialisation, the farmer has done everything on his own. He operates the water mill in the canal near his house.

Using timbers, Siddappa prepared a giant wheel that joined at a central hub. There are eight arms, five feet each, extending from the central hub. A plastic bucket is dangled at the tip of each arm. When the water from two pipes gushes into one of the buckets, it generates the pressure that turns the 10-feet wheel in an anti-clockwise motion. The bucket could also be spun in the horizontal plane using a central steering wheel, similar to a teacup ride. As one after another bucket is driven by the flowing water, the first arm declines back to the ground while the other rises in the air. This process spins the black wheel attached to this giant wheel. The spinning black wheel rotates another wheel connected to a dynamo.

A converter converts the Direct Current from the dynamo into Alternating Current. Siddappa claims to have spent a mere Rs 5000 on building the entire apparatus. This is his second attempt to show the villagers that anybody can produce electricity for self-consumption using the resources at hand. “Many people who have canals flowing near their villages don’t know how to use that natural gift. I want to show them all practically that electricity problems can be solved by being creative. There is no need to beg to the government for everything,” he says.

He gets 150 watts of power from this water mill when water flows in the canal. Siddappa claims he can create electricity for the entire village through his machine. But the problem is that the canal in his village flows only for three months a year!


This article originally appeared in The Sunday Indian (TSI) magazine and has been reproduced here as part of an arrangement between The Better India and TSI. The author, Suprabha Naik is a correspondent with the Kannada Bureau of TSI. Read previous article of this author here.

Readers: If you know of any such ideas/people that you believe we should feature here, please mail to contact [at] thebetterindia.com.

PLN to install solar panels for 340,000 customers

Rangga D. Fadillah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 04/08/2011

State electricity utility PT PLN has targeted to install solar panels for 340,000 new customers in eastern Indonesia this year with a total investment of around Rp 1.2 trillion (US$138.76 million), a senior official reveals.

PLN operational director for eastern Indonesia Vickner Sinaga said Friday that using solar panels was the best solution to provide electricity to people living in less developed areas in the eastern part of the country.

“By using solar panels, customers only need to pay Rp 35,000 per month to PLN. The price is cheaper compared to Rp 90,000 each family has to spend per month to buy kerosene for petromax lamps,” he told reporters at a media briefing at his office in Jakarta.

Currently, 1,234 customers in eastern Indonesia use solar panels in their houses, Vickner said. New customers should not worry about funds to buy the solar panels because PLN would provide them free of charge, he added.

“The price of a solar panel package is Rp 3.5 million comprising the panel, pipes, cables and three lamps. PLN will provide customers with the package,” he explained.


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Monday, April 4, 2011

River dike collapses inundating hundreds of houses

Antara News, Sun, April 3 2011

Related News

Langkat, N Sumatra (ANTARA News) - A river bank in Padang Tualang sub-district, Langkat regency, North Sumatra, collapsed causing inundation of hundreds of houses and hundreds of others facing potential flooding.

"The dike in Cucukan river, Tanjung Putus village, Padang Tualang sub-district, collapsed last night," Erdiyanto, Tanjung Putus village head said Sunday.

He said the damage on the river dike became worse in the morning hours due to the strong Cucukan river flow as the result of constant hard rain in the last couple of days.

Cucukan is an estuary of Batang Serangan, having its upper reaches in the Gunung Lauser National Park, he said.

Erdiyanto also said that hundreds of houses of villagers had been inundated, so were many of their farmland and plantations.

Editor: Jafar M Sidik

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Explosion at Pertamina refinery heard 8 kilometers away

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sat, 04/02/2011


Great balls of fire: State oil firm PT Pertamina’s refinery in Central Java town
of Cilacap exploded on Saturday. Pertamina is still investigating the cause|
but said there were no fatalities.
(Antara/Idhad Zakaria)

The sound of an explosion at the Pertamina Refinery Unit IV in Cilacap, Central Java was heard up to 8 kilometers from the incident.

Fire engulfed an oil refinery owned by state oil firm PT Pertamina on Saturday morning

A resident, whose house is located around 8 kilometers from the refinery, said she heard an explosion at around 4:30 a.m.

“I heard a sound like thunder that startled me,” Martinie Susanty said.

However, most residents did not panic because they slept through it. “We only learned of the explosion at Pertamina at 5 a.m. The place was lit up,” Martinie added as reported by tribunnews.com.

The refinery was still belching plumes of smoke at the time of writing.

“There is a large amount of black smoke protruding from the refinery. Flames can be seen also,” Martinie said.


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