Sumba Renewable Energy: A Bright Future Where the Lights Don’t Go Out

Jakarta Globe, Basten Gokkon,  Apr 10, 2015

Photovoltaics on the eastern islands of Sumba are being used for electricity
generation. (Antara Photo/Hafidz Mubarak)

Waingapu, Sumba. Five years ago, Dorkas Manuhuluk, a Sumbanese headmistress, would ask her staff to ride a bike for 45 minutes to a neighboring village just to make copies of question sheets for her students.

“It’d be free if we used our own motorcycle, but we don’t own one. We’d call an ojek [motorcycle taxi] which costs Rp 50,000 ($3.80) for one trip,” said Dorkas, who currently heads Praimarada Elementary School in Umamanu village, one-and -a-half hours’ drive southwest of Waingapu — the biggest city in East Sumba district, East Nusa Tenggara.

Markus Karepi Muama, a teacher at Praimarada, said sixth graders would light kerosene lamps as they stayed overnight at the school, studying for an upcoming national examination.

“For a whole month ahead of national exam, we teach and repeat as much material as possible with the students every evening,” said Markus.

Meanwhile, farmers in East Sumba  district’s two neighboring villages — Rakawatu and Kondamara, located some 70 kilometers west of Waingapu — would often stop growing and harvesting paddies during an unusually long dry season on the island.

“During the dry season, we would pump the water from a nearby spring,” said Made Raspita, one of the farmers.

“For a long while, we would use diesel as fuel for the water pump generator, regardless its skyhigh price,” he added.

Affected by the hot, dry air from the deserts of Northern Australia, Sumba — one of the southernmost islands in the archipelago — does not receive nearly as much rainfall as the islands to the north.

November to March is the rainy season for Sumba, while the sun shines on the island during the rest of the year. This means farmers consume massive amount of diesel to run the water pump generator to help the irrigation system.

Electricity shortage

In 2010, researchers from two international nongovernmental organizations, Hivos and Winrock, released a study that found less than 25 percent of Sumba’s 686,000 residents have access to electricity at home.

Researchers also discovered the electricity used by the locals in Sumba was heavily sourced from non-renewable energy, such as diesel and kerosene, which is shipped in from outside the island, resulting in higher operational costs.

State electric utility PLN has cited Sumba’s relatively sparse population as the reason the firm remains reluctant to install a more robust electrical grid to electrify the island’s remote villages.

“It costs about Rp 300 million per kilometer of electrical extension grid.”

“It’s too costly for us considering the small amount of people that will use the electricity,” Khairullah, area manager of PLN in Sumba, told The Jakarta Globe on Tuesday.

When the Jakarta Globe visited Praimarada Elementary School on Monday, the nearest electricity pole to the school was some five kilometers away — one that also looked questionably functional.

Meanwhile, the last standing electricity pole on the road leading to Rakawatu and Kondamara was about 40 minutes away from the two villages.

Since March 2011, PLN has instead provided remote villages across the archipelago with energy-saving lamps, known locally as Sehen, which are sources of artificial light that reduce the amount of electricity drawn from the local grid, since they are connected to a solar panel.

These lamps can stay lit for about six hours.

The light at the end of the tunnel

Joint research from the two NGOs found that Sumba is rich in renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, water and biomass.

Hivos and Winrock then chose Sumba as the island to launch it’s ambitious project — for the island’s entire population to gain access to electricity generated from renewable energy by 2025.

The project called “Sumba Iconic Island” was launched in 2010 with the full support of Indonesia’s Energy Ministry and the PLN in Sumba.

Drawing global attention. In May 2013, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) committed $1 million to support the technical side of the project.

The Norwegian Embassy in Indonesia then joined in October 2013, funding 600,000 euros ($644,000) for the program.

“This program strives for humanity sovereignty. And energy is important for people,” Stig Traavik, Norway’s ambassador to Indonesia, told the Jakarta Globe when asked why the embassy decided to partake in the project.

“Norway as a nation that cares about the environment, clean energy and resources of the future, this is a program where it all comes together — including poverty reduction. This is an illustration of what we would like to continue doing,” he added.

Fruitful and promising result

Four years after the program was launched, some areas of Sumba have experienced the same, abundant benefits from power plants that operate on renewable energy.

In April last year, a 1.5 kilowatt-hour (kWh)  solar panel was installed at Praimarada Elementary School, providing full electricity for the school’s administrative and teaching activities.

“If we want to make copies of something, we can just print it out now with our own printer. We’re spending much less money this way,” said Dorkas.

“If we receive study books late from the distributor, we can ask for the softcopy and print them out.”

“When we’re doing the preparation activity ahead of the national exam, students can now learn under sufficient lighting and we’ve stopped using kerosene lamps,” Markus added.

Across the island

Residents at other villages also said they have had a great results since power plants run with renewable energy sources were built and began operating at their villages a couple of years ago.

“The power generator can provide electricity for the whole village,” said Umbu Tamu, leader of a small management team for a biomass power plant at Rakawatu, which has capacity of 50 kilovolt-amperes.

“We’ve stopped using diesel since the water pump generator is now running on solar energy.”

“The generator can water our paddy and vegetable field,” Made said, referring to a solar panel installation set up two years ago for supplement the village’s water pump generator. It can supply up to 80,000 liters of water.

During a visit to several project sites in East Sumba district earlier this week, Energy Minister Sudirman Said and Norwegian Ambassador Stig praised the successes of the villages.

“One of Jokowi’s management programs is how to reach energy sovereignty. I think this is one of the ways that can and will expedite energy sovereignty in the country,” Sudirman told the Jakarta Globe.

“I see a great potential in Sumba. I think it would be inspiring, not only for the population here but also for Indonesia if Sumba is able to reach this goal of becoming 100 percent on renewable energy,” said Stig.

Whose responsibility?

Modern technology needs proper and periodical maintenance, which can require a massive amount of budget.

These power plants, however, are considered an off-grid electricity system, meaning it is not part of any electrical grids that are operated and monitored by the PLN.

“The PLN can only do maintenance for the on-grid system. But, we would be more than happy if there’s a regulation that lets us do maintenance for the off-grid as well,” said Khairullah.

As of now, the villages and school appoint one person from a small committee to do regular monitoring of the power plants.

The electricity has become a source of income for the villages as it is sold off to the public.

For instance, Praimarada Elementary School charges anyone from neighboring villages who wishes to use electricity for personal purposes, Rp 1,000 per use.

“People mostly come to charge their mobile phone,” Markus said.

“The money that we collect is entered into a book, and when the equipment needs service, we can use the bulk that we have.”

Praimarada’s solar panel operates on six batteries that can last for up to five years at a cost of Rp 2 million each, according to Sandra

Winarsa, program officer for sustainable energy at Hivos Regional Office Southeast Asia.

A similar fee-collecting system has also been adopted in the village of Rakawatu, where households that own television sets are charged Rp 50,000 per month and those who only use the electricity for lighting pay Rp 35,000 monthly, Tamu said.

“The monthly fee is not that much. But, that’s how much we can contribute from our income,” Tamu added.

“We don’t receive any funding from outside to help operational expenses. If the government could help us with the maintenance cost, then that would be great.”

Sudirman said the people could request funds from the regional government should they need to fix or replace parts of the power plants.

“If the residents need a huge amount of funds for maintenance, they can ask the regional government through the DAK [specific allocation fund] program.”

“It is permitted by the ministry to use the funds to substitute old units,” the energy minister told the Jakarta Globe.

Sudirman added that he would evaluate the energy subsidy in the state budget to also help people who generate electricity from renewable-energy based power plants.

“It is our homework and this is something that needs to be reviewed so that energy subsidy can be fair and even for everyone,” he said.

“The subsidy could be also by providing seed funds to help set up the power plants.”

Where’s next after Sumba?

Sudirman said he would form a special committee to help the ministry frame a nationwide blueprint for power plants that operate on renewable energy.

“The committee will also help push [Sumba] to expedite its target — if possible by 2020 — in becoming an example of an island in Indonesia that completely uses renewable energy,” Sudirman said.

“There is not yet a developed industry [in Indonesia] for renewable energy.”

“It will be soon enough we require more equipment [to support renewable energy].”

“It is then important to educate the people that renewable energy is our future,” he added.

Sudirman also believed Sumba could be a living example for other areas across the country, saying that the next government must put forward the interest of renewable energy in the country above all else.

“Do not mix politics with energy development. Political interests do not last forever, but energy development does and it takes a long time. It also requires a technical approach,” he said.

“There are many other areas in the country similar to Sumba. Should the renewable energy goal be achieved, it will be an easy example to duplicate in other areas.”

Related Article:

Sumba powers up with renewables

Billionaire Sy to Build Micro Cities Around His Philippine Malls

Jakarta Globe, Ian Sayson, Apr 01, 2015

Filipino residents paint homes as an AirAsia plane flies over at a housing project
in Paranaque city, south of Manila, Philippines, on March 25, 2015. Growth in the
 Philippine economy is set to pick up in 2015 as government expenditure
expands and both private consumption and investment remain strong, says a
new Asian Development Bank report. (EPA Photo/Francis R. Malasig)

Billionaire Henry Sy, the richest person in the Philippines, will start to develop apartments, offices and hotels around his shopping malls to maximize the value of property holdings in the face of similar moves by competitors.

Fifteen of 50 shopping malls now owned by Sy’s SM Prime Holdings are on land large enough for high-density, mixed-used development, executive vice president Jeffrey Lim, 53, said in an interview in Manila on Monday. Depending on demand, five so-called townships will be built in two years and about 10 more over five years, he said.

The townships will be part SM Prime’s 500-billion-peso ($11 billion) expansion from now through 2019, Lim said. They will pit the largest Philippine mall developer against Ayala Land and Megaworld, the biggest builders of mixed-used projects. Ayala and Megaworld have been building townships for several years, capitalizing on the rising office-space needs of outsourcing companies, while higher remittances from Filipinos abroad have fueled home purchases.

“SM Prime has plenty of resources around its malls, and these will become expensive parking lots if they don’t do this,” said Richard Laneda, an analyst at COL Financial Group, who has a buy rating on the company’s stock. “If they don’t do this, the market will go to the other developers.”

Publicly-held Philippine builders’ push for townships in and out of Manila boosted their capital spending to a record 331 billion pesos, according to broker Savills. Congestion in Metro Manila is driving demand in these micro-districts, it said.

‘On their toes’

Remittances climbed 5.8 percent to a record $24.3 billion last year. Money transfers from Filipinos living and working overseas account for about 10 percent of the nation’s economy, the World Bank estimates.

“The live-work-play lifestyle in these townships have resulted into a lot of success for some major developers,” Michael McCullough, Manila-based managing director at KMC MAG Group, the local associate of Savills, said in mid-March.

SM Prime “has to be on their toes to continue to have the upper hand,” said Allan Yu, first vice president at Manila- based Metropolitan Bank & Trust. He helps manage  about $7.5 billion, including SM Prime shares. “They have to upgrade their existing assets, not just expand their portfolio.”

Growing landbank

SM Prime has gained 37 percent over the last year, exceeding the 30 percent gain in Megaworld and the 29 percent advance in Ayala Land. The Philippine Stock Exchange Index has added 24 percent in that period and the Bloomberg Asia Pacific Real Estate Index 24 percent.

Net income will climb 19 percent this year to 21.87 billion pesos, according to median of 13 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

The company’s landbank stands at 900 hectares, Lim said. Before Sy pooled his property assets into SM Prime in 2013, the mall builder’s landbank was about 120 hectares, Lim said.

Sy, who is 90, has an estimated net worth of $13.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He migrated to the Philippines from China in 1936 and started selling rice, sardines and soap in his father’s Manila store. He opened a shoe store in 1948 and eventually built his business empire in the 1980s by opening malls.

Manila reclamation

SM Prime plans to spend 70 billion pesos this year to build malls and homes. After constructing three to four malls a year, SM Prime has said it plans to open as many as five in 2015. It plans to start five new residential projects this year and expand existing developments if there is demand.

As part of its strategy for 2015, SM Prime aims to sell as many as 14,000 homes valued at about about 3 million pesos each, Lim said. There is not a supply glut in that portion of the market, he said. The company gets about a third of revenue from home sales.

For the longer term, the company has applied to reclaim 600 hectares of land along Manila Bay and spend about 100 billion pesos to turn the property into a master planned integrated and mixed-use community. The development is adjacent to the group’s Mall of Asia complex and the strip of four integrated casino resorts that will make up Pagcor Entertainment City.

That plan, which has won permission from the city governments of Pasay and Paranaque, will be among the single biggest contiguous developments in Manila if approved by the nation’s economic planning agency.

“A number of our malls have excess land, and these are just there untouched,” Lim said. “Our thrust is to maximize the synergies of integrated development. Building lifestyle cities will maximize the potential of our properties.”

Bloomberg

Indonesia to Build Ten New Cities on Outer Islands

Jakarta Globe, Mar 24, 2015

Development Planning Minister Andrinof Chaniago, left, wants to develop new
urban areas across Indonesia to deal with poverty and unemployment. (Antara
Foto/Vitalis Yogi Trisna)

Jakarta. The government intends to build ten new cities in remote parts of Indonesia, Andrinof Chaniago, head of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), announced on Tuesday.

The first new city will be Tanjung Selor in North Kalimantan, the new province founded in 2012 on land that used to be part of East Kalimantan province. Tanjung Selor is the capital of North Kalimantan, but currently only has 42,000 inhabitants. The administration of President Joko Widodo now wants to turn the town into a true city.

“We will start the [development of] ten cities during the term of this administration,” Andrinof said on Tuesday, as quoted by state-owned news agency Antara.

The Bappenas head explained that the purpose of  developing new urban areas throughout Indonesia was to boost equitable economic growth in the regions outside Java to decrease poverty and unemployment.

Andrinof declined to provide additional details about the plan.

Bill Gates drinks cup of water that used to be human poop (VIDEO)

RT.com, January 07, 2015

Screenshot from YouTube user thegatesnotes

Billionaire activist Bill Gates is backing an innovation in water filtration that turns human poop into drinking water. The OmniProcessor could bring clean water to millions of people and help solve the problem of debilitating diseases.

The OmniProcessor, designed and built by Seattle engineering firm Janicki Bioenergy, burns human waste to produce electricity and water. The processor powers itself through the use of a steam engine and does not emit an odor. The machine could handle 14 tons of waste from 100,000 people, producing up to 86,000 liters of drinkable water a day, and net 250 kw of electricity.

At a demonstration of the OmniProcessor shown on GatesNotes, a smiling Bill Gates drank water from the machine, which was previously untreated sewage.

“It’s water,” said Gates in the video.

He wrote on his blog: "The water tasted as good as any I’ve had out of a bottle. And having studied the engineering behind it, I would happily drink it every day. It’s that safe."

Gates said that 2.5 billion people – or 40 percent of the global population – have no access to safe sanitation, and many people use facilities that do not safely dispose of human waste. About 1.5 million children die every year from contaminated food and water, and half of all patients in hospitals are there because of problems with water and sanitation. It is extremely costly to try and create sewage infrastructure in cities and towns that already exist, so Gates thinks the low cost water treatment machine could be revolutionary.

Screenshot from YouTube user thegatesnotes

“If you can get thousands of these things out there, then you’ve ensured the people really will grow up in a healthy way,” Gates told Wired. “They’ll live much higher quality lives. You will save a lot of lives. And you’ll have local entrepreneurs who are maintaining these things.”

The OmniProcessor, which costs $1.5 million, will undergo a pilot launch in Dakar, Senegal later this year.

Related Articles:

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Indian villages lit up by off-grid power

Rural India's low-cost sanitary pad revolution


"2013 - What Now ?" – Jan 6, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Text version)

“… New ideas are things you never thought of. These ideas will be given to you so you will have answers to the most profound questions that your societies have had since you were born. Inventions will bring clean water to every Human on the planet, cheaply and everywhere. Inventions will give you power, cheaply and everywhere. These ideas will wipe out all of the reasons you now have for pollution, and when you look back on it, you'll go, "This solution was always there. Why didn't we think of that? Why didn't we do this sooner?" Because it wasn't time and you were not ready. You hadn't planted the seeds and you were still battling the old energy, deciding whether you were going to terminate yourselves before 2012. Now you didn't…. and now you didn't.

It's funny, what you ponder about, and what your sociologists consider the "great current problems of mankind", for your new ideas will simply eliminate the very concepts of the questions just as they did in the past. Do you remember? Two hundred years ago, the predictions of sociologists said that you would run out of food, since there wasn't enough land to sustain a greater population. Then you discovered crop rotation and fertilizer. Suddenly, each plot of land could produce many times what it could before. Do you remember the predictions that you would run out of wood to heat your homes? Probably not. That was before electricity. It goes on and on.

So today's puzzles are just as quaint, as you will see. (1)How do you strengthen the power grids of your great nations so that they are not vulnerable to failure or don't require massive infrastructure improvement expenditures? Because cold is coming, and you are going to need more power. (2) What can you do about pollution? (3) What about world overpopulation? Some experts will tell you that a pandemic will be the answer; nature [Gaia] will kill off about one-third of the earth's population. The best minds of the century ponder these puzzles and tell you that you are headed for real problems. You have heard these things all your life.

Let me ask you this. (1) What if you could eliminate the power grid altogether? You can and will. (2) What if pollution-creating sources simply go away, due to new ideas and invention, and the environment starts to self-correct? (3) Overpopulation? You assume that humanity will continue to have children at an exponential rate since they are stupid and can't help themselves. This, dear ones, is a consciousness and education issue, and that is going to change. Imagine a zero growth attribute of many countries - something that will be common. Did you notice that some of your children today are actually starting to ponder if they should have any children at all? What a concept! ….”

Sumba powers up with renewables

Indonesian island hopes to spark green power revolution.

The Star – AFP, Angela Dewan, May 26, 2014

Catch the wind: Villagers erect a windmill on a field of small wind turbines
in Kamanggih, Sumba island, East Nusa Tenggara. — AFP

AN Indonesian family of farmers eat cobs of corn outside their hut under the glow of a light bulb, as the women weave and young men play with mobile phones.

Until two years ago, most people in Kamanggih village on the island of Sumba had no power at all. Now 300 homes have access to 24-hour electricity produced by a small hydroelectric generator in the river nearby.

“We have been using the river for water our whole lives, but we never knew it could give us electricity,” Adriana Lawa Djati said, as 1980s American pop songs drifted from a cassette player inside.

While Indonesia struggles to fuel its fast-growing economy, Sumba is harnessing power from the sun, wind, rivers and even pig dung in a bid to go 100% renewable by 2025.

The ambitious project, called the “Iconic Island“, was started by Dutch development organisation Hivos and is now part of the national government’s strategy to almost double renewables in its energy mix over the next 10 years.

Sumba, in central Indonesia, is an impoverished island of mostly subsistence farmers and fishermen. Access to power has made a huge difference to people like Djati.

“Since we started using electricity, so much has changed. The kids can study at night, I can weave baskets and mats for longer, and sell more at the market” she said.

While only around 30% of Sumba’s 650,000 people have been hooked up to the power grid, more than 50% of electricity used now on the island comes from renewable sources, government data show.

Hivos field co-ordinator Adrianus Lagur hoped the project would be replicated by other islands in the same province of East Nusa Tenggara, one of the country’s poorest.

Indonesia is one of the region’s most poorly electrified nation, partly because it sprawls over 17,000 islands of which more than 6,000 are inhabited.

Despite enjoying economic growth of around 6% annually in recent years, Indonesia is so short of energy that it rolls out scheduled power cuts that cripple entire cities and sometimes parts of the capital.

To keep up with growth, Indonesia is planning to boost its electricity capacity by 60 gigawatts over a 10-year period to 2022. Twenty percent of that is to come from renewable sources.

“Indonesia has been a net importer of oil for years, and our oil reserves are limited, so renewables are an important part of our energy security,” said Mochamad Sofyan, renewable energy chief of state electricity company PLN.

Hefty electricity and fuel subsidies have been a serious burden on the state budget.

But small-scale infrastructure, like mini hydroelectric generators and small wind turbines that power Sumba are not enough to close the national energy gap, even if they were built on all Indonesia’s islands.

Massive hydropower and geothermal projects, which use renewable energy extracted from underground pockets of heat, are needed to really tackle the nationwide problem, said Sofyan.

Indonesia, one of the world’s most seismically active countries, also has the biggest reserves of geothermal, often near its many volcanoes and tectonic plate boundaries. It is considered one of the cleanest forms of energy available.

But geothermal is largely untapped as legislation to open up exploration moves slowly and the industry is bound in red tape.

Sofyan said there is also concern that Sumba’s target to be powered 100% by renewable energy is unrealistic.

“In the long term, we see Sumba still relying somewhat on diesel generators. It will be powered predominantly by renewables, but I don’t think it will be able to switch off the grid,” Sofyan said.

Hivos admits its goal is ambitious, saying it is “inspirational and political” rather than technical but the NGO believes the target may be achievable even in the long term.

Nonetheless the Sumbanese are reaping the benefits of the green energy sources already available, which have lifted a considerable financial burden for many due to reduced costs for wood and oil.

Elisabeth Hadi Rendi, 60, in the town of Waingapu, has been farming pigs since 1975, but it was only two years ago when Hivos visited her home that she came to understand the power of porcine poo. Pigs are commonly kept in Sumba, a predominantly Christian island in Muslim-majority Indonesia.

Each day Rendi shovels dung from the pig pens and churns it in a well, after which it is funnelled to a tank and converted into methane gas. It has saved her household around six million rupiah (RM1,680) in two years, a significant sum for a typical Sumbanese family.

“We also make fertiliser from the waste to use in our garden, where we grow vegetables,” said Rendi. “We eat the vegetables and feed some to the pigs too, which will become biogas again, so the energy literally goes round and round.” — AFP

New technology for uninterrupted power supply in India could end rolling blackouts

Deutsche Welle, 18 March 2014

They call it the Uninterrupted Direct Current and it could be the solution to India's crippling, rolling power cuts. The UDC guarantees continuous power from the grid even during outages.

A new collaboration between the Indian government and the Indian Institute of Technology in Chennai promises to be a "game changer" in power starved India. It could spell the end for the country's chronic power outages.

In the southern state of Tamil Nadu, for instance, long, daily power cuts are common. They have been crippling for industry and agriculture, disrupting thousands of micro, small and medium sized enterprises.

"For the last year or more, because of the power cuts, many of us have suffered, especially our businesses. Some had to shut shop," says Uday Kumar, a small businessman from Madurai. "But if the government manages to power up our lives and give us minimum energy, we will greatly welcome it."

Uday Kumar is excited about the new technology, which is being tested in homes in four southern Indian states.

The added supply will maintain power for essentials, such fans and
mobile phone chargers

The 'uninterrupted direct current' (UDC) promises to provide electricity from the grid to power basic appliances such as fans, TVs, lights and mobile phone chargers, despite an outage and when demand is high.

Basic electricity

It's the brainchild of Indian Institute of Technology director Bhaskar Ramamurti and electrical engineering professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala, a member of the prime minister's Science Advisory Council.

Ramamurti says the UDC aims to provide a minimum of 100 watts of power per day to households, with the addition of a simple piece of equipment at substations.

"In the home, you add another small device before the electric meter. So on top of AC power, we can supply a second output of power at 48 volts DC. This only gives you 48 volts DC and 100 watts [from the grid], but you get it 24 hours a day," says Ramamurti.

And in the event of a power outage, the new system will maintain a minimal supply of power.

The UDC: turning a blackout into a "brown out"

"So you will have a 'brown out' rather than a blackout," adds Ramamurti.

LED future

The current flows through a separate meter to power three lights, two fans and a mobile charger. Consumers who opt for the scheme will have to spend around 1,000 Indian rupees (12 euros) for the device at home, and buy LED (light emitting diode) bulbs and fans that run on DC (direct current) power.

Krishna Vasudevan, an electrical engineer and member of the UDC development team, says the system will guarantee a constant power supply to millions of homes even when the grid is overstretched.

"Brushless fans and LED lights that work on direct current will be powered using this DC power," says Vasudevan. "It will go a long way to alleviate the starved situation in India."

And there is room for expansion.

Private users can increase their power consumption by connecting a solar panel to the UDC unit.

But more than this, the engineers say their system is so strong that large complexes should consider enhancing basic DC with solar power to reduce dependence on expensive diesel generators.

Users are warned when they exceed 100 watts - a bell rings, telling them
to turn off a fan or a light

It could even run alongside smart meters.

Testing, testing

All eyes are on the results of a proof-of-concept demonstration in the four southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.

Ashok Jhunjhunwala says the UDC will be a "game changer" for India.

"I think it's a very simple idea but real huge gains are possible. So I think if we do it right, India has a game changer technology," says Jhunjhunwala. "It has to take it all the way."

When the pilot project ends in the next few months, work will begin on securing regulatory approval and developing safety standards.

Then, it is hoped, the UDC will be rolled out across the country.

Advert turns air into drinking water

BBC News, Aida Parados, BBC Mundo, 22 March 2013

The billboard serves a dual purpose, acting to draw students to the newly
established engineering university UTEC

Related Stories

• Bug inspires self-filling bottle

Just outside Lima, Peru, a billboard provides drinking water to whomever needs it - mainly, its neighbours.

The panel produces clean water from the humidity in the air, through filters.

Researchers at the University of Engineering and Technology (UTEC) in Lima and advertising agency Mayo Peru DraftFCB joined forces to launch it.

UTEC says it wanted to put "imagination into action" and show that it is possible to solve people's problems through engineering and technology.

"A billboard that produces drinking water from air," says the billboard up high. And it does what it says on the tin: so far, the billboard has produced over 9,000 litres of drinking water - 96 litres a day.

The panel is strategically located in the village of Bujama, an area south of the capital city that is almost a desert, where some people have no access to clean water.

Access to all

Despite tough conditions with little rain, air humidity reaches 98%, says UTEC.

"The panel traps humidity in the air and transforms it into water. It's that simple," said Jessica Ruas, a spokesperson from the university.

"There is a lot of water. It is right there in the sea, but it is not suitable for drinking purposes, and costs a lot of money to process it."

Ruas says the system might become a wider solution for the problem.

The billboard has become something of
 a local attraction as well as a local
resource

"It Doesn't have to come in the shape of a billboard, but ingenuity is keyto development"

Internally, the panel consists of five devices that extract water vapour from the air using a condenser and filters.

Water is stored in tanks at the top of the structure. Once filtered, it flows down a pipe connected to a tap, accessible to everybody.

The internal system costs some US$1,200 (£790) to set up.

On the publicity side, the panel itself seeks to attract the "creative minds that Peru needs" to the young UTEC, which was founded only a year ago.

"We want to change the minds of future engineers and inspire them," said Ms Ruas.

The neighbours have given the billboard a warm welcome. It has become a local attraction for and motorists and an indispensable part of life in the local village.

"We hadn't realised how big the impact would be," said Ms Ruas.

Related Articles:

In Peru, a Highway Billboard That Turns Wind into Water

Taiwan unveils 'green' water bottle

"2013 - What Now ?" – Jan 6, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Text version)

“… New ideas are things you never thought of. These ideas will be given to you so you will have answers to the most profound questions that your societies have had since you were born. Inventions will bring clean water to every Human on the planet, cheaply and everywhere. Inventions will give you power, cheaply and everywhere. These ideas will wipe out all of the reasons you now have for pollution, and when you look back on it, you'll go, "This solution was always there. Why didn't we think of that? Why didn't we do this sooner?" Because it wasn't time and you were not ready. You hadn't planted the seeds and you were still battling the old energy, deciding whether you were going to terminate yourselves before 2012. Now you didn't…. and now you didn't.

It's funny, what you ponder about, and what your sociologists consider the "great current problems of mankind", for your new ideas will simply eliminate the very concepts of the questions just as they did in the past. Do you remember? Two hundred years ago, the predictions of sociologists said that you would run out of food, since there wasn't enough land to sustain a greater population. Then you discovered crop rotation and fertilizer. Suddenly, each plot of land could produce many times what it could before. Do you remember the predictions that you would run out of wood to heat your homes? Probably not. That was before electricity. It goes on and on.

So today's puzzles are just as quaint, as you will see. (1)How do you strengthen the power grids of your great nations so that they are not vulnerable to failure or don't require massive infrastructure improvement expenditures? Because cold is coming, and you are going to need more power. (2) What can you do about pollution? (3) What about world overpopulation? Some experts will tell you that a pandemic will be the answer; nature [Gaia] will kill off about one-third of the earth's population. The best minds of the century ponder these puzzles and tell you that you are headed for real problems. You have heard these things all your life.

Let me ask you this. (1) What if you could eliminate the power grid altogether? You can and will. (2) What if pollution-creating sources simply go away, due to new ideas and invention, and the environment starts to self-correct? (3) Overpopulation? You assume that humanity will continue to have children at an exponential rate since they are stupid and can't help themselves. This, dear ones, is a consciousness and education issue, and that is going to change. Imagine a zero growth attribute of many countries - something that will be common. Did you notice that some of your children today are actually starting to ponder if they should have any children at all? What a concept! ….”

China's geothermal energy could run the country for 260,000 years

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2012-10-07

A geothermal energy project in Tibet. (Photo/Xinhua)

China holds potential geothermal energy between 3,000 and 10,000 meters below the surface of the earth equal to 860 trillion tons of standard coal, a storage which is estimated to have a lifespan of 260,000 years using current figures for energy consumption.

The Ministry of Land and Resources underwent a national survey on the distribution of geothermal energy over the country between 2009 and 2011, re-evaluating the storage of shallow geothermal energy in 287 cities, geothermal energy in 12 sedimentary basins and 2562 hot springs regions, as well as the potential hot-dry-rock geothermal power at between 3,000 and 10,000 meters below the surface of the earth, reports our sister newspaper the China Times.

The results showed that the total shallow geothermal energy storage is commensurate with 9.5 billion tons of standard coal. The usable part is about 350 million a year, which can save 250 million tons of standard coal and reduce 500 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions in a year if the energy is fully exploited and used.

The geothermal power in sedimentary basins is commensurate with 853 billion tons of coal, while the usable part for a year is equal to 640 tons of standard coal, which can reduce 1.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide emission a year.

The survey found the total geothermal energy stored between 3,000 and 10,000 meters below the surface of the earth is about equal to 860 trillion tons of standard coal, which is 260,000 times China's total energy consumption a year.

Geothermal energy is a kind of renewable energy, originating from the original formation of the earth and radioactive decay of minerals. The ministry said the country is moving slowly to exploit the rich energy and need to push the reusable project soon.

A report by Massachusetts Institute of Technology said the United States only has to exploit 2% of its geothermal energy between 3,000 and 10,000 meters below the surface of the earth, which is able to offer electricity equal to 2,500 times the country's total electricity consumption a year.

Related Article:

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much….”

A New Home for Rp 70m? It Might Be Within Reach for Indonesia's Poor

Jakarta Globe, Anita Rachman, March 19, 2012

Model units of the prefab homes that the Ministry of Public Housing
 envisions as an affordable plan to homeownership. Accounting for all
the costs  associated with them, setting up the houses would cost at least
Rp 70 million, with mortgage plans available. (JG Photo/ Afriadi Hikmal)  

       

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Shortly after he was appointed public housing minister in October, Djan Faridz was given a daunting challenge: build Rp 25 million ($2,750) houses for low-ranking civil servants on land provided by the local government.

“I was shocked,” he told the Jakarta Globe in a recent interview. “How can I build a house with only Rp 25 million? And I wanted it to have at least a 36-square-meter [floor area].”

But he soon found an answer in Palembang, South Sumatra. In a trip to the province, he met representatives of Grand Wijaya Persada, a construction company that has been building houses for even less than that amount.

A model cheap house

Inside the ministry compound in South Jakarta, a fully furnished, two-bedroom 45-square-meter model unit now stands.

The basic structure of the prefab house costs Rp 35 million, sans flooring, ceiling and paint, which runs an additional Rp 5 million.

Beside it, a model unit of the Rp 25 million, 36-square-meter version is being built. Visible for now is the steel mold where concrete would be poured into to create the basic structure. But it won’t remain like that for long, because the house can be finished in as little as seven days.

Anyone interested in looking at the model units is welcome at the ministry. Both units have a defined two-bedroom floor plan according to the prefab mold patented by Umar Sumadi, the production head at Grand Wijaya. A single mold can be used to construct as many as 200 houses.

The ministry has already signed a memorandum of understanding with several other ministries committing to help provide civil servants with these cheap houses.

Djan said the project would be done in 60 districts and municipalities across the country, starting off with East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) and North Maluku.

The ministry is aiming to build around 7,900 cheap houses in NTT and 2,000 in North Maluku this year, among others.

Rp 70 million dream

The minister, however, is keen on finding a way to make the same cheap houses available to all Indonesians.

“Housing is a serious matter, after food and clothing. But many cannot afford it because it’s remarkably expensive,” Djan said.

According to his ministry’s data, as many as 4.8 million Indonesians today live in dilapidated houses, and more than 11 million people do not have their own homes. And with real estate prices expected to keep rising, chances are these figures will only climb higher.

That’s why the minister’s goal is to give Indonesians a chance to own a home for an affordable Rp 70 million.

Here’s how he sees it: in certain parts of Jakarta’s satellite cities, say Depok, people can still get a 60-square-meter plot of land for less than Rp 20 million.

If the Rp 25 million, 36-square-meter prefab model is built on that land, then for as little as Rp 70 million — including flooring, ceiling, paint, electricity and water installations and other fixtures — an Indonesian family can have a home it can call its own.

“Of course you can also get it elsewhere, anywhere you want,” the minister said. “So if you are outside Java, you can get a house for even less than Rp 70 million.”

Bringing it to the people

The idea is that the ministry will work with developers who can build subdivisions full of these prefab units.

For a housing project to be economically feasible, at least 200 units must be constructed to maximize the use of the mold. Grand Wijaya would earn a 5 percent licensing fee for each socialized housing project.

Indonesians can then buy the houses from these developers at prices determined together with the ministry. Of course, certain conditions, such as that the potential buyer does not own a house yet, have to be met.

The ministry will then help get bank housing loans. For a Rp 70 million house, Djan said the current computation would see a buyer pay Rp 575,000 a month for 15 years.

But it might still be a while before these become a reality, as the ministry hasn’t begun discussions with developers yet.

Real Estate Indonesia chair Setyo Maharso said delivering low-cost homes was not a problem, and the ministry’s plan could be executed in the same way as previous programs.

Doing it in Jakarta, though, would not be easy, he said.

“It’s even quite difficult to build it in Depok. Bogor or Bekasi are still possible, but not here in Jakarta,” he said.

Although he completely supports the policy, he said prefab units were not always ideal.

“Low-income families usually buy a small house, but when they have money, they will build more rooms. But prefab houses are not really flexible for modifications,” he said.

Priyo Suprobo, a structural engineer with the Sepuluh November Institute of Technology (ITS), agreed. He said modifying a prefab structure would be difficult, and that the lack of flexibility was a major weakness.

Another is that people could not embed electrical wiring into the walls.

But Priyo still believes this kind of model can help low-income families solve their housing problems, “especially if the ministry provides a subsidy,” he said.

Will people buy?

Ridwan, a security guard in an office building in Kuningan, currently rents a house in Kedoya in Kebun Jeruk, West Jakarta, with his wife and child for Rp 350,000.

Hearing about the Rp 70 million house made him happy and hopeful. “I think it’s affordable, and 36 square meters looks decent enough,” he said.

On the other hand, Afrizal, a single 24-year-old noddle seller in Lenteng Agung, felt the Rp 575,000 amortization per month was still out of reach.

“It’s already hard to make ends meet,” he said.

Related Article:

Indonesian Dangdut King to Promote Cheap Government Housing