What a way to arrive
Propelled By P-Power
SOON , if you got to go, you can actually zoom! The mavens at Ohio University reportedly are on record that urine-powered cars, home appliances and personal electronic devices could all be available in a matter of months, with new technology now in the pipeline. The gameplan is to use nickel-based electrodes to make large amounts of cheap hydrogen when making water, which could be burned in specially designed fuel cells. But then, the idea of pee power is not particularly novel. Its really based on hydrogen , the most common element in the universe. However , its one that has hugely resisted efforts to produce, store and transport at a reasonable cost. Besides, keeping pure hydrogen gas tightly sealed calls for high pressure and low temperature. Now, theres talk of new nanomaterials which can absorb hydrogen, but the contraptions are yet to be produced on a commercial scale.
Purists would want to chemically bind hydrogen to an element like oxygen, to have water aqua pura. This way, it certainly makes it easier to store and transport the feedstock alright, but releasing the hydrogen when needed does require financially ruinous amounts of electricity. Hence the prime import of pee. For, by attaching hydrogen to another element, nitrogen readily present in uric acid the hydrogen can be stored sans artificial conditions, and then released very economically, using just a wee bit of power. Peeing can have other uses too, say in space. The new Water Recovery System aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour can apparently transform ordinary pee into water so pure that it is said to rival the cleanest on Earth. Nonetheless, the real potential for pee power would be closer home. People in the know say urine from just one cow would be enough to light up a dozen homes in our rural areas. Or, imagine being able to relieve, recharge ones batteries and be rearing to go. For the upwardly mobile, what a way to arrive!
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
SOLAR PASSIVE ARCHITECTURE
PERFECTLY GREEN
The ideal green office doesnt exist but heres one we built using eco-friendly features, like double glazed glass, terrace gardens, skylights etc from six buildings dotted around the country
Shobha John | TNN
First , it was outsourcing . Now, it is greening . The world can look at Indias green fingers with renewed respect after US secretary of state Hillary Clinton recently called the ITC Green Centre in Gurgaon a monument to the future. Clinton's comments came just weeks after a survey of 100 Indian companies found a marked increase in green consciousness.
The survey, by Johnson Controls, a consultant in energy efficiency management, found that 72% of Indian firms were green compared to just 39% in the US. So just how green is the Indian office And what makes a building green Energy saving, water conservation and reusing waste, says Zeenat Niazi, habitat programme director at Delhi NGO, Development Alternatives (DA). That's the theory, anyway. What of practice
WHO SAVES ENERGY LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW
Real estate company K Raheja Corp has designed its buildings to allow sunlight in and keep the heat out. This includes using glass of high ultraviolet value and having ACs with chillers, leading to high output, which in turn lowers costs.
Raheja vice-president Shabbir Kanchwala says these measures have reduced our monthly energy bill by anything between 20 and 30%. Thats a huge saving for a company that has built 50 lakh square feet of malls, hotels and homes.
Raheja is not the only one. Other Indian companies are now increasingly using lowe (low emission) coating, double-glazed windows in their offices. These allow sunlight in, while keeping heat out and can reduce energy consumptions by 8-10 %, says Pradeep Kumar, senior fellow at the Delhi-based Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI).
WHO HAS A LOW WATER FOOTPRINT
Cadbury India has constructed a check dam (this dams up a small river/nallah during monsoons) in its Bangalore factory to store rain water. It has resulted in a 20% reduction in water consumption and even attracted migratory birds, says the companys associate VP, corporate affairs, Ransom D - Souza. Use of low-flow toilet fixtures, which consume less water while maintaining pressure , tap sensors that automatically turn themselves off and waterless urinals are measures being implemented in ITC-Welcomgroup Hotels, says Alwyn Noronha, executive VP, Projects, ITC Ltd.
WHO KNOWS HOW TO DISPOSE OFF WASTE
The Delhi secretariat has linked itself to a paper recycling plant. Making offices paper-free and using certain plants like Canna which take up nutrients from sewage, leaving the water clear, says Niazi, are further options. This is done in Pondicherry, she adds.
WHO BUILDS WITH RECYCLED MATERIAL
DAs headquarters in Delhi. The office was built with compressed earth blocks that used mud salvaged from the NGO's old office. It has used industrial waste, such as fly ash, for the outer walls and ferro-cement channels with stone slabs instead of concrete blocks. These are extremely low energy materials . This reduced the cost of materials by almost 40%, says DAs Niazi.
WHO ELSE IS THINKING ABOUT GREEN PROCESSES
Cement company ACC has disposed of waste (plastics, sewage, etc) and biomass in cement kilns to reduce CO2 emissions , introduced high efficiency burners and seals, used wind energy for cement manufacturing and solar energy for water heating. In 2008, it processed about 12,900 tonnes of industrial waste and 12,750 tonnes of biomass.We are also exploring if energy can be generated through waste heat from the kiln circuit, says K N Rao, head of the company's environment and energy conservation cell.
Kumar says green offices can save companies as much as 60% over time and halve water-use . He says Indian companies started thinking green four years ago when a draft Energy Conservation Building Code was published, specifying energy norms for commercial buildings. Today, a green building can be certified either by the globally recognised LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design) or GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment ), a voluntary rating appropriate for Indian conditions . India currently has 34 LEED-rated buildings and 26 awaiting a GRIHA rating.
A BLUEPRINT FOR OFFICES
A green office saves energy, re-uses water, disposes of waste and uses debris effectively
EXTERIORS
Use double glazed windows, which can reduce energy consumptions by 8-10 % Insulate roofs paint them white, make terrace gardens, use thermal barriers Benefits of retrofitting accrue in 6-10 years
LIGHTING
Replace T12 fluorescent lights with energy-efficient T5 ones Automate lighting controls, use occupancy sensors
FURNITURE
Have low partitions More open spaces Have skylights
OFFICE EQUIPMENT
Use computers with LCD monitors or laptops, which consume five times less electricity than desktop PCs
THERMAL COMFORT
Have a centralized AC system, automatically set to 26 degrees Clean AC condenser coils, which reduces energy bill by 20%
PLANK OF EXCELLENCE
Pradeep Sachdeva, a green architect who built ecofriendly buildings such as Dilli Haat cites Gandhi Ashram in Wardha as an example of a perfect building. Like the father of the nation, this building is minimalist and as natural as it can get, be it sunlight, ventilation or materials (bamboo, mud plaster, timber, mud floors), all of which have been procured from nearby places. Other buildings which he says deserve mention include ITCs Green Centre and the soon to be opened Royal Gardenia, Bengaluru
The ideal green office doesnt exist but heres one we built using eco-friendly features, like double glazed glass, terrace gardens, skylights etc from six buildings dotted around the country
Shobha John | TNN
First , it was outsourcing . Now, it is greening . The world can look at Indias green fingers with renewed respect after US secretary of state Hillary Clinton recently called the ITC Green Centre in Gurgaon a monument to the future. Clinton's comments came just weeks after a survey of 100 Indian companies found a marked increase in green consciousness.
The survey, by Johnson Controls, a consultant in energy efficiency management, found that 72% of Indian firms were green compared to just 39% in the US. So just how green is the Indian office And what makes a building green Energy saving, water conservation and reusing waste, says Zeenat Niazi, habitat programme director at Delhi NGO, Development Alternatives (DA). That's the theory, anyway. What of practice
WHO SAVES ENERGY LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW
Real estate company K Raheja Corp has designed its buildings to allow sunlight in and keep the heat out. This includes using glass of high ultraviolet value and having ACs with chillers, leading to high output, which in turn lowers costs.
Raheja vice-president Shabbir Kanchwala says these measures have reduced our monthly energy bill by anything between 20 and 30%. Thats a huge saving for a company that has built 50 lakh square feet of malls, hotels and homes.
Raheja is not the only one. Other Indian companies are now increasingly using lowe (low emission) coating, double-glazed windows in their offices. These allow sunlight in, while keeping heat out and can reduce energy consumptions by 8-10 %, says Pradeep Kumar, senior fellow at the Delhi-based Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI).
WHO HAS A LOW WATER FOOTPRINT
Cadbury India has constructed a check dam (this dams up a small river/nallah during monsoons) in its Bangalore factory to store rain water. It has resulted in a 20% reduction in water consumption and even attracted migratory birds, says the companys associate VP, corporate affairs, Ransom D - Souza. Use of low-flow toilet fixtures, which consume less water while maintaining pressure , tap sensors that automatically turn themselves off and waterless urinals are measures being implemented in ITC-Welcomgroup Hotels, says Alwyn Noronha, executive VP, Projects, ITC Ltd.
WHO KNOWS HOW TO DISPOSE OFF WASTE
The Delhi secretariat has linked itself to a paper recycling plant. Making offices paper-free and using certain plants like Canna which take up nutrients from sewage, leaving the water clear, says Niazi, are further options. This is done in Pondicherry, she adds.
WHO BUILDS WITH RECYCLED MATERIAL
DAs headquarters in Delhi. The office was built with compressed earth blocks that used mud salvaged from the NGO's old office. It has used industrial waste, such as fly ash, for the outer walls and ferro-cement channels with stone slabs instead of concrete blocks. These are extremely low energy materials . This reduced the cost of materials by almost 40%, says DAs Niazi.
WHO ELSE IS THINKING ABOUT GREEN PROCESSES
Cement company ACC has disposed of waste (plastics, sewage, etc) and biomass in cement kilns to reduce CO2 emissions , introduced high efficiency burners and seals, used wind energy for cement manufacturing and solar energy for water heating. In 2008, it processed about 12,900 tonnes of industrial waste and 12,750 tonnes of biomass.We are also exploring if energy can be generated through waste heat from the kiln circuit, says K N Rao, head of the company's environment and energy conservation cell.
Kumar says green offices can save companies as much as 60% over time and halve water-use . He says Indian companies started thinking green four years ago when a draft Energy Conservation Building Code was published, specifying energy norms for commercial buildings. Today, a green building can be certified either by the globally recognised LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design) or GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment ), a voluntary rating appropriate for Indian conditions . India currently has 34 LEED-rated buildings and 26 awaiting a GRIHA rating.
A BLUEPRINT FOR OFFICES
A green office saves energy, re-uses water, disposes of waste and uses debris effectively
EXTERIORS
Use double glazed windows, which can reduce energy consumptions by 8-10 % Insulate roofs paint them white, make terrace gardens, use thermal barriers Benefits of retrofitting accrue in 6-10 years
LIGHTING
Replace T12 fluorescent lights with energy-efficient T5 ones Automate lighting controls, use occupancy sensors
FURNITURE
Have low partitions More open spaces Have skylights
OFFICE EQUIPMENT
Use computers with LCD monitors or laptops, which consume five times less electricity than desktop PCs
THERMAL COMFORT
Have a centralized AC system, automatically set to 26 degrees Clean AC condenser coils, which reduces energy bill by 20%
PLANK OF EXCELLENCE
Pradeep Sachdeva, a green architect who built ecofriendly buildings such as Dilli Haat cites Gandhi Ashram in Wardha as an example of a perfect building. Like the father of the nation, this building is minimalist and as natural as it can get, be it sunlight, ventilation or materials (bamboo, mud plaster, timber, mud floors), all of which have been procured from nearby places. Other buildings which he says deserve mention include ITCs Green Centre and the soon to be opened Royal Gardenia, Bengaluru
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Ureka! Now, dial pee for power
Ureka! Now, dial pee for power
Ruhi Bhasin | TNN
New Delhi: Heres one way in which you can contribute to the city by not peeing in the open. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is planning to convert urine collected in its public urinals into power. The civic agency has roped in engineers from a USbased company to study the feasibility of producing power from urine released from its waterless urinals, which are ceramic bowls containing negligible water and bio-degradable chemicals in a cartridge (see graphic).
Having already set up two waterless urinals at Town Hall and ISBT, MCD wants to develop 1,000 such kiosks, each comprising four urinals, in the city before Commonwealth Games 2010. According to estimates made by Karan Aneja and Siddhartha Saha, who are engineering graduates from University of California, Berkeley, over 20,000 KW power can be generated from these 1,000 kiosks from 20,000 litres of urine.
Aneja, who is a bio-engineer , claims that they have already generated electricity from urine and their company , SIDKAR, has set up a plant at Okhla as a pilot project. Said Aneja: From one litre of urine, we will be able to produce 1 KW of power. Using a bacterial process in a power plant, urine is converted into hydrogen gas and water. While water is cleaned by reverse osmosis and can be used for industrial purpose, hydrogen is used to produce electricity.
Though this is the first time something like this is being attempted in India, MCDs dismal track record in implementing such innovative projects raises many questions about the viability of the plan. Experts say that the projection of 1 KW of power from one litre of urine is way too extreme. Moreover, the process of breaking down the waste is very time-consuming , they contend. However , Aneja said it takes only 19 seconds. While such projects will indeed raise doubts, there have been attempts round the world to breake urine into hydrogen for producing energy (see graphic).
The civic body has been working on this project for the past nine months. Said Saha, who is a chemical engineer: We started work on this concept two years ago. Billboards installed around these toilets will be lit up from the power produced through this process. The cost of setting up the power plant is Rs 1.5 lakh. They hope to start the project by August-end . At present, safety issues are being looked into as a combustible gas is produced at the end of the process.
Saha said they are not looking at profits. MCD is not investing anything in the project except for providing the land. Once the project takes off, we would like to extend it to other parts of the country too. We wanted to start from Delhi as the city was already working on waterless toilets. Moreover , it is also the venue of Commonwealth Games 2010.
Confirming that the project is on track, an MCD official said that this would ensure well-maintained urinals in the city. He said: The waterless toilets help save water besides taking care of the problem of foul smell. The area around it will also be wellmaintained after the power plants come up.
ruhi.bhasin2@timesgroup .com
Ruhi Bhasin | TNN
New Delhi: Heres one way in which you can contribute to the city by not peeing in the open. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is planning to convert urine collected in its public urinals into power. The civic agency has roped in engineers from a USbased company to study the feasibility of producing power from urine released from its waterless urinals, which are ceramic bowls containing negligible water and bio-degradable chemicals in a cartridge (see graphic).
Having already set up two waterless urinals at Town Hall and ISBT, MCD wants to develop 1,000 such kiosks, each comprising four urinals, in the city before Commonwealth Games 2010. According to estimates made by Karan Aneja and Siddhartha Saha, who are engineering graduates from University of California, Berkeley, over 20,000 KW power can be generated from these 1,000 kiosks from 20,000 litres of urine.
Aneja, who is a bio-engineer , claims that they have already generated electricity from urine and their company , SIDKAR, has set up a plant at Okhla as a pilot project. Said Aneja: From one litre of urine, we will be able to produce 1 KW of power. Using a bacterial process in a power plant, urine is converted into hydrogen gas and water. While water is cleaned by reverse osmosis and can be used for industrial purpose, hydrogen is used to produce electricity.
Though this is the first time something like this is being attempted in India, MCDs dismal track record in implementing such innovative projects raises many questions about the viability of the plan. Experts say that the projection of 1 KW of power from one litre of urine is way too extreme. Moreover, the process of breaking down the waste is very time-consuming , they contend. However , Aneja said it takes only 19 seconds. While such projects will indeed raise doubts, there have been attempts round the world to breake urine into hydrogen for producing energy (see graphic).
The civic body has been working on this project for the past nine months. Said Saha, who is a chemical engineer: We started work on this concept two years ago. Billboards installed around these toilets will be lit up from the power produced through this process. The cost of setting up the power plant is Rs 1.5 lakh. They hope to start the project by August-end . At present, safety issues are being looked into as a combustible gas is produced at the end of the process.
Saha said they are not looking at profits. MCD is not investing anything in the project except for providing the land. Once the project takes off, we would like to extend it to other parts of the country too. We wanted to start from Delhi as the city was already working on waterless toilets. Moreover , it is also the venue of Commonwealth Games 2010.
Confirming that the project is on track, an MCD official said that this would ensure well-maintained urinals in the city. He said: The waterless toilets help save water besides taking care of the problem of foul smell. The area around it will also be wellmaintained after the power plants come up.
ruhi.bhasin2@timesgroup .com
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Hydrogen from urine to fuel cars
Pee power: Hydrogen from urine to fuel cars
Scientists have combined refuelling your car and relieving yourself by creating a new catalyst that can extract hydrogen from urine.
The catalyst could not only fuel the hydrogen-powered cars of the future, but could also help clean up municipal wastewater, physorg.com reported on Monday. Gerardine Botte of Ohio University uses an electrolytic approach to produce hydrogen from urine the most abundant waste on earth at a fraction of the cost of producing hydrogen from water.
Urines major constituent is urea, which incorporates four hydrogen atoms per molecule importantly, less tightly bonded than the hydrogen atoms in water molecules. Botte uses electrolysis to break the molecule apart, developing an inexpensive nickel-based electrode to efficiently oxidise the urea.
To break the molecule down, a voltage of 0.37V needs to be applied across the cell, which is much less than the 1.23V needed to split water.
During the electrochemical process the urea gets adsorbed on to the nickel electrode surface, which passes the electrons needed to break up the molecule, Botte told Chemistry World journal. AGENCIES
Scientists have combined refuelling your car and relieving yourself by creating a new catalyst that can extract hydrogen from urine.
The catalyst could not only fuel the hydrogen-powered cars of the future, but could also help clean up municipal wastewater, physorg.com reported on Monday. Gerardine Botte of Ohio University uses an electrolytic approach to produce hydrogen from urine the most abundant waste on earth at a fraction of the cost of producing hydrogen from water.
Urines major constituent is urea, which incorporates four hydrogen atoms per molecule importantly, less tightly bonded than the hydrogen atoms in water molecules. Botte uses electrolysis to break the molecule apart, developing an inexpensive nickel-based electrode to efficiently oxidise the urea.
To break the molecule down, a voltage of 0.37V needs to be applied across the cell, which is much less than the 1.23V needed to split water.
During the electrochemical process the urea gets adsorbed on to the nickel electrode surface, which passes the electrons needed to break up the molecule, Botte told Chemistry World journal. AGENCIES
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