Sustainability or holistic development - some thoughts for: Sustainable development

Sudhakar, 2nd April, 2011
It was a wonderful disussion yesterday at NRCVEE with the students and thanks are due to Professors Dhar, Ravi, Nomesh, Sangeeta and others.
I humbly submit the following as a summary of the various thoughts related to development issues that are necessarily related inextricably with values.
    1. Restricting Land Ownership:
Land to be owned (and ownership traded) only for Zero carbon foot print agriculture.
        For any other use, deemed necessary, land should be made available only for lease at the 'market rate'.
        In addition to the lease that keeps getting updated on yearly or quarterly basis, an additional cess as a certain % of the lease amount, may be deposited into 'Eco Restoration Fund'.
        A lion's part of the fund may be accessed only by future society if it decides to restore the land to zero carbon foot print agriculture or to natural greenery.

2. Distributed development: Relocating the prime institutions.
        A logical consequence for institutions like IITs would be to keep paying more and more lease amounts, for the now prime lands that are being used. And some body has to pay for it.
        So the free market economy may opt to shift the likes of IIT to clusters of rural villages, sufficiently far away, at least a couple of hundred km from the mega or not so mega needed cities.
        One thing for sure, the students would still join because of the brand names.
A cluster of different brand institutions in engg, medicine and schools (primary to high school levels) may prove to be an incentive to those truly interested in the ideals and mandate of the institutions.
        The barest mini neededmum support organizations as service providers also can only lease and not own the lands needed.
        The rural community can take care of all the lands without buildings and roads as they wish with in the constraints of zero carbon foot print agriculture.
        Even the wonderful green lawns can be maintained as part of contract zero carbon foot print farming by the natives.


Sudhakar 31st October 2013
3. A continuous indexing of public opinion on different issues to empower democratic processes

The above three steps would be three primarily new steps towards 'Sustainable Good Governance'.

Implementing the step 2: The best of the talent may be attracted by the good schooling and medical facilities together with the professional challenges it offers, particularly if the institutions are collectively given the mandate of making the host village/s or the cluster as a whole self sufficient in the four sectors "drinking water, food and housing" using the local renewable resources and the local talents by way of skills and knowledge to the extent possible. The government could subsidize the extra cost of the products and services produced in the process of achieving the mandate.
A tangible and continuous index of success on the part of the institutions would then be the extent of 'subsidy and/or the external inputs' that are done away with over time due to their innovations. It is presumed that the over a dozen different already established premier (branded) Institutions in any given area, would bring sufficient diversity in thoughts and actions preventing monopoly or mere copying. These may be given the freedom to collaborate with internally well proven institutions for the specific well defined mandates/purposes.
Reputed International faculty are to be invited with a special fund from the GOI. for the
The incubation facilities for technology and related businesses should be integral parts right from the beginning.

The entire relocation process should be taken up on a national Mission mode.

Sure there are going to be many basic issues legal or other wise. But to truly index public opinion on different issues and hence the following suggestion:

3. Empowering Democracy: Depositing taxes through 'Tagged Accounts'
People may route the depositing of all their taxes, direct /indirect, through 'tagged accounts', each tagged account representing one option to be chosen / changed.
        The issues are likely to be multiple and optimal solutions not necessarily singular and hence, depositing the taxes including those of the day to day sales tax through multiple tagged accounts may be far more appropriate to referendum.

DEC 14 Ramesh Hegde- Dear Prof. Sudhakar, it is not clear whether any revisions were made on 1st Dec?

Ramesh Hegde 18th Sept 2010

Pl see the revisions made in blue for easy understanding.

Sudhakar, 2nd May 2010

sQuba, world's first swimming car!!!

http//groups.yahoo.c om/group/new_fun_and_fun_only

(originally forwarded from Devineni Madhusudhana Rao)

A request specfically to

"Adithya Dahagama" <adithya.31@gmail.com>, s1threddy@gmail.com, <vivek.chn44@gmail.com>, <mdevineni@gmail.com>,

Pl collect the info on the capacity of the battery pack, efficiency of the motors, for use on land, over water and under water.

It is indeed a marvelous engineering feet... but

I want this to be compared professionally/academically with the innovation of the Bihar villager who converted an ordinary bullock driven cart into that which goes on land and over water- and used it to ship medical emergeny cases out of his village, marooned in flood waters.

Please look at, in particular, the zero emission claim.

I am aware that all the electric vehicles gloat over it, but ....

what about the emissions in charging the battery? and

the carbon foot print and ecological foot print - both non recurring and recurring types ?

Sudhakar

Three decades ago James Bond (then enacted by British star Roger Moore) wowed the world with a car that could 'fly' under water in the movie The Spy Who Loved Me. Only needed, it was animation and not an actual scene.
But Frank M Rinderknecht, the 52-year-old automobile visionary and boss of Swiss automaker Rinspeed, has turned a dream into reality with his 'sQuba.'
Rinspeed sQuba is the most exciting thing at this year's Geneva Motor Show and is creating many a ripple.

sQuba is the world's first real submersible car that can 'move like a fish underwater'.

It can dive up to 32.8 feet (10 mt) below the surface of the water and can move at a sedate 1.8 miles per hour.

The sQuba has an open cockpit for 'safety reasons' (so that people can get out easily anytime in case of an emergency). The occupants of the car have to breathe compressed air through built-in scuba masks.

sQuba is an electric car that uses rechargeable lithium-ion batteries and 3 electric motors for propulsion. It is a zero-emission car as documented by the rotating license plate in the rear. It produces no exhaust emissions.

The 'sQuba's' filling station is the water reservoir.? It is no surprise that the vehicle features powerful yet energy-saving LED lighting technology.

The first car that could drive underwater was Quandt's Amphibicar, built in 1968. Only 3,878 were produced but many are still being driven on roads.

Then Gibbs Technologies came up with Gibbs Aquada in 2004 which Virgin boss Richard Branson used to break the speed record for crossing the English Channel.
However, the sQuba seems to be the most exciting of them all.

To drive on the roads, the sQuba 'relies on a stainless coil-over suspension from KW automotive and large Pirelli tires mounted on custom-made forged light-weight wheels from AEZ with 17- and 18-inch diameters.'

Technical data

Measurements

Length ----- 3'785 mm
Width ----- 1''940 mm
Height ----- 1'117 mm
Wheelbase ----- 2?300 mm
Track front ----- 1?470 mm
Track rear ----- 1?520 mm
Ground clearance ----- 130 mm
Empty weight ----- approx. 920kg

Performances

Top speed ----- > 120 km/h
Acceleration 0-80 km/h ----- 7.1 sec
Water speed ----- > 6 km/h
Under water speed ----- > 3 km/h
Dive depth ----- 10 m

Engines

Street ----- Electric
Power output ----- max. 54 kW at 4'500 /min
Torque ----- 160 NM at 1'500 /min
Water - Stern propellers ----- Electric
Power output ----- 2 x 800 W
Diving - bow jet drives ----- Electric
Power output ----- 2 x 3.6 kW Rotinor
Batteries ----- Lithium-Ionen
Voltage ----- 6 x 48 Volt

Propulsion

Power train ----- Rear wheel drive
Gearbox ----- R - N - F
Suspension
Chassis ----- Steel
Body panels ----- Carbon Nano Tubes
Seating capacity ----- 2
Front suspension ----- Double wishbone
Rear suspension ----- Double wishbone
Dampers/springs ----- KW automotive
Steering ----- Rack & pinion

Tyres

Front tyres ----- Pirelli P Zero 205/40 R17
Front wheels ----- AEZ 7.5 x 17"
Rear tyres ----- Pirelli P Zero 225/40 R18
Rear wheels ----- AEZ 8 x 18"
Miscellaneous
Air supply ----- 1 x 15 liter + 1 x 18 liter ScubaPro
Laser scanner ----- Ibeo
Lubricants ----- Motorex

Sudhakar: 14th November 2009

Talk of Dr. Stevan Chu, the Nobel laureate and currently Secretary, US Dept of Energy, on 13th Nov 2009.

It was heartening to hear many points that we had discussed:

The efforts in batteries with personal transportation vehicles in view

and the ones of huge MWhr storage capacity

Distributed small power generation, including the ones like under 10 kW biomass gasifier IC engine based generator.

Our efforts in improving the economics by recovering the waste heat from even such low power ones is a step ahead in this direction in improving the market viability.

60 % efficiency for compressed air storage points to the potential of small bamboo composite based high pressure air tanks for on the move storage of

excess available cattle muscle energy that can be harnessed even while the cattle pull a sub-optimal load on a bullock cart,

to the extent of a couple of units of energy per day,

almost enough to cater to the energy part of the badly needed improvement in our abysmally low HDI(Human Development Index )

the 75% to 80% efficiency for using high hydel tank to be viewed in the context of the using mega power pumps to pump water into high level storage reservoirs

through an extensive canal network that can at least partially mitigate the growing intensity of misery in flash floods such as the recent AP/Karnataka one.

I think we need to rivisit the environmental concerns of possible river grid development, and evaluate the efforts in a holistic manner.

Sudhakar: 11th November 2009

Economic Times 11th Nov 2009 : Bajaj has decided(?) to develop their JV Ultra Low Cost (ULC) car using a substantial no of components from their own 2-3 wheelers.

This is a step towards my dream Universal Personal Transport Vehicle which would be an electric riksha that uses mostly the bicyle and riksha parts. Any takers for that?

Sudhakar: 26th October 2009
Dear Rupesh, and Vikram
Jaihind!

Thanks for your interest in taking up a term paper in the topics that I discussed.
Since I shall be out of station from this evening and is expected to be back only on the morning of 5th November, I strongly suggest that you choose a suitable set of questions or back ground info from any of the three broad topics which I shared with you in google doc.
I can be contacted by email though or by phone: 093123 23702.
Wish you the best for your term paper on 14th November.

Regards and best wishes
Sudhakar
Only as a suggestion:
See if you can expand the adage "one man's meat is another man's poison" or "the question of a different way of presenting the facts of housing in the school text books"
or

"the possibility of electric bamboo riksha as a personal transport vehicle" with the batteries getting charged from green sources of energy - biomass/biogas/solar or a hybrid of the same or cattle muscle power."
Try to discuss what could be possible if the state of the art technology is used.
For example the Delft Univ student team made waves in the solar challenge of Australia in which their 'Nuon' three wheeler uses electric motor of 95% to 99% efficiency!!
Look for contests that spur the creativity to meet the ecological challenges.

16th Oct 2009: Sudhakar
Sorry folks - I have not visited this for some days now. I am pleasantly surprised and a bit worried for a short while: over helmed with so many collaborators wishing to edit(?) and worried that the content may mislead by showing only the latest version containing some ideas or data that may be far from those intended or fact. But it was only momentary because I have immense faith in the collective wisdom of my young friends. I am reminded of what is quoted from, if I remember well, Dharam Pal's ''Beautiful Tree" an observation by an English officer some 200 years ago when he saw for the first time, what popularly came to be known as 'monitorial method' , a group of young children practicing writing on sand and reciting some lessons from mathematics to languages, led by one among them - with no elder let alone any person looking like a teacher: amazed by the method, his immediate concern took the form of a question to the kids which ran some thing like, 'But how do you know if the lead kid says some thing wrong?'.
His sense of surprise only increased with the immediate reply from one of the kids in the group: which was like, "At least some of us would correct - all of us couldn't just get it wrong.' [Haritha's publication, 'Bharatiya Vidya - Aa Rojullo' meaning 'Indian Education in Those Days' , a part of 'Samagra Vidya' meaning 'Holistic Education' - one among the series of Haritha's extensively researched (primarily by my esteemed colleague, Sri Satya Teertha) publications, that describes the foundation of Haritha's concept of achieving 'Holistic Education' towards which I have devoted the prime of my youth after voluntarily quitting IITD's secure permanent faculty positiion in CARE plunging myself in to an unfamiliar domain, finacially risky business of setting up a school, Haritha Ecological Institute under the guidance of 'Haritha Association for Learning from Environment'', that we fondly call , 'HALE' ]

--------------------------------

Debate / Discussion for better Understanding

P. Sudhakar

The following questions make up three sections:

a) climate concerns,

b) bamboo in housing

c) cattle muscle power - energy – transportation

The questions are marked with # or with **

In general, one is expected to collect the information from the media / web. In particular, the ones with ** need to be answered from literature search and the source must be cited.

Most numbers are picked up from literature, academic or other wise, and only a few of them are verified in our own lab / experiments. Those given in bold and italics are by and large ball park figures only for illustration, though my efforts are to keep them realistic to with in 10% to 20%. Feel free to replace these with other numbers that are considered more appropriate, duly mentioning the reason/source. These are most likely to change with more accurate information.

This is a hurriedly put up document and there are bound to be errors, small and big. Bringing the same to my notice by high lighting in a different font colour, say in red, would be greatly appreciated.

For those with the talent and the inclination, any cartoons, jokes (no obscenity / hurt / derogation / names / … please ) to illustrate any of the concepts in the back ground info or the questions would be greatly appreciated. And please let me know where any changes one suggested/made right at the top in a different font with your name. Also kindly use the strike through feature

a) Climate Concerns

# Discuss the relations between Life styles - Carbon foot print - Climate change and Intervention with Mother Nature.

# What is IPCC? Explain the essential out come of its recent report(2007). What is the major change compared to its previous one?

# What are the high lights of the interim reports since IPCC 2007: global warming, rising sea levels, sinking deltas, recent natural calamities ascribable to global warming along with reasons mentioned.

# Explain the terms: carbon foot print, embodied energy, green house effect, green house gases, carbon credits and carbon trading.

# Grade the major sectors – housing, energy, transportation etc on the basis of their impact on climate change

# A famous adage from the school of Hippocrates (ancient Greek and considered father of medicine) is

‘ One man’s meat is another man’s poison’.

If one’s meat is considered as one’s efforts to be happy in choosing a life style or doing just about any thing, when could it become another’s poison? Discuss it at individual, community and national levels with examples. Would there be any difference if the ‘another man’ also includes life other than human.

Discuss, in particular, how the societies in general reacted to smoking in public over the past four or five decades (in the light of the adage).

In the light of another of the famous Hippocratic adages,

'Desperate diseases require desperate remedies'

examine the following:

# If climate change concern were to be the supreme concern that mankind has to address, grade the hither to ‘universally hailed’ mile stone innovations of man based on the now recognized relative quantum of their effects on climate change from prehistoric times down to the current times through the modern preindustrial revolution led by the west.

Discuss which of these could be considered as progress in civilization. Any comments on the eastern thoughts and practice, in general and Indian in particular?

# Another famous advice from the Hippocratic school, "Physician should interfere as little as possible with the healing process of nature" is religiously followed by every physician/surgeon with any ethics, even to this day, after nearly two and half thousand years. Medical or surgical intervention is considered/implemented, that too as a last resort, only to avoid the likely hood of an impending disaster by those who follow medical ethics. Discuss, if this should not be adopted as our guiding principle of conduct when it comes to intervention with our own body or with Mother Nature.

More specifically discuss on our interference with Mother Nature with respect to

a) the efforts of the likes of Michael Jackson to change his appearance and his sad demise

b) taming a river and developing a canal and a system of reservoirs

c) mega open cast mining, super high ways, super cars/bikes, modern villas and high rise residences that accommodate just a few which make the old grand palaces look like humble dwellings and finally, the private flying palaces.

#In the light of the above, is there a need to reexamine the very basis of our concepts of ‘aesthetics, beauty, ugly, clean, dirty’?

# Do you agree that we, the humans, should be good ‘tenants’ on this earth? Why or why not? For example, how and on what basis would you classify the long lasting palatial houses of the old and new kinds - as objects of civilization or other wise?

# Discuss if there are any major differences between the indulgences in the life styles of the old Indian Maharajas and the modern Maharajas, the over lords of the modern business / technology empires with reference to the net carbon emissions particularly in food, clothing and housing (roti, kapada and makan).

# Primary school education seems to have lessons that state some thing like

‘poor live in houses of mud walls and thatched roofs;

some what better off ones live in houses of burnt brick walls and roofs of burnt clay tiles and

the rich live in bungalows of RCC buildings”.

Discuss if the same ‘facts’ can be stated in relation to the carbon foot print and climate change concerns so that at least the future generations become more sensitive to climate concerns and hence would devote matching efforts and resources in addressing the same.

Housing

Role of Bamboo

in addressing the dire needs and emerging concerns climate

Back ground:

Bamboo - a tall woody grass that yields structural timber.

Unique in many ways – some of them:

Grows to its full physical size both in girth and height in just under 3 to 4 months (after the shoot emerges from the ground during the monsoon)

and in this initial growth stage is amenable to shaping

Skin matures in its tensile strength in just under one year : the tensile strength matches that of steel and actually surpasses it on a specific strength basis

It takes only 3 to 5 years for the interior to mature as timber.

(Most Hard wood trees take over 30 years to yield mature timber)

Continuously renewable building material almost -on a monthly basis - with a negative carbon foot print.

During the dry season of every year, 10 to 15 bamboo culms of mature timber can be harvested from each bamboo bush, i.e., almost 1 or 2 can be harvested in every month of the dry season from each bush; it works out to about 250 to 500 mature culms per month per acre of a healthy bamboo plantation. This supports decentrallised production systems supporting even nano level house hold enterprises in transforming round harvested bamboo into ready to install load bearing structural elements for housing, such as beams, coluns, wall/roof panels.

Structure - a functionally graded composite of high specific strength, the likes of which are only recently being experimented with. (you know that Mother Nature had done it millions of years ago)

Can be slived into mm thin strips with no loss of strength with under 20% loss of material (nearly impossible with any hard wood)

A great eco healer in all aspects - soil, water, air and environmental aesthetics

Quick to establish: just one or at the most two seasons even in adversity (like any grass)

Bamboo and steel: a comparison of cost for a given performance in compression and tension

# Density and 'cost per unit mass' of bamboo are both about a tenth of those for steel and what are those for steel?

(It follows that

bamboo of a cross section that is ten times that of steel would weigh same as that of steel, lengths being equal and

about ten kg of bamboo can be obtained for the same money that gets us only one kg of steel.)

# Units of mechanical strength(Maximum stress) [Stress = Force/Area]

MPa = 10⁶ N/m² = ? N/mm = ? kg.wt/cm²

(kg.wt = force equal to that of gravity on a mass of 1 kg and is nearly 9.8N or about 10N; most of the time it is also simply referred to as kg or some times as kgf)

# Estimate the cross sectional area and mass per m length of bamboo of 50mm and 20mm as OD and ID respectively. (Assume uniform cross section; density 750 kg/m³) Calculate its cost per m length at Rs. 5/kg.

# What are the reported ranges of working tensile stresses for bamboo used in structural load bearing applications? Compare these with its respective ultimate tensile strengths. How does the latter typically vary in a given bamboo culm, say for dendrocalamus strictus say from bottom to top and from inside to out side?.

# Assume that the working compressive stresses in bamboo and steel are 10 MPa and 70 MPa respectively.

Compare the performance of the two materials in terms of per kg and per Rs. spent on material with respect to taking on a given compressive load for a given span. Assume that the space for cross section is not a constraint.

# If a compressive load of 20 kN is to be handled, suggest the working cross section of bamboo needed and compare it with that for mild steel. For a given height of the column, find the ratio of the self weights of the bamboo and mild steel columns and costs. (Neglect the additional weight due to the joinery say ferro-cement bands in bamboo column.) Assume reasonable prices for bamboo and steel. Assume a permissible working compressive stress of 12MPa for bamboo.

# Assume that the working tensile stresses in bamboo and steel are 70MPa (range 20MPa to 150 MPa) and 200 MPa respectively. Compare the performance of the two materials in terms of per kg and per Rs. spent on materials alone for taking on a given tensile load through an element of a given length. Assume that the space for the cross section is not a constraint.

# If a compressive load of 15 kN is to be handled by a column in a single level house, suggest the working cross section of bamboo needed and compare it with that for mild steel. Assume a conservative permissible compressive stress of 8MPa

Find the ratio of the self weights of the bamboo and mild steel columns and material costs. (Neglect the additional weight due to the joinery say nut/bolts, ferro-cement bands etc., in bamboo column.) Assume reasonable prices for bamboo and steel. (neglect buckling).

If buckling is a constraint, which is likely to be better and why?

The enormous scope of bamboo and the road blocks in realizing it:

The sheer quantum:

# The waste/degraded lands in India are estimated to be about 120 milllion hectares. If one third of these waste lands in India are greened with plantation of bamboo of over 100 species, estimate the quantity of bamboo that can be annually harvested. Assume a dry bamboo pole productivity of 2.5 tons/hectare-year in rain fed and unmanaged forest conditions.

# It seems reasonable to expect over 5 ton/hectare of dry bamboo pole productivity under rain fed but appropriately managed conditions from the waste/degraded lands and a bit higher in farm lands of marginal soils. Estimate the annual gross income from a hectare of rain fed but managed bamboo plantation in the farm lands with marginal soils.

Guess how much of the gross income would be available for annual management of the plantation and give an estimate of the livelihoods supported assuming that most of the management expenses would be in the form of 'unskilled' or 'semi skilled' farm labour with man power costs of about Rs.100/man-day. (The central Govt of India is committed to support at least 100 days per year at this rate for every adult from the BPL families in the backward or draught / flood ravaged districts)

# In any of the specific questions on the relative load bearing capacities of steel and bamboo in compression and tension, estimate the quantity of steel that can potentially be replaced in structurals by the bamboo poles from a hectare of managed but rain fed bamboo plantation in farm lands with marginal soils and the resulting savings, if any, as per current market economics on material costs alone.

**What is the projected demand of steel for India by 2020? (to be supported by proper references)

Assume that two tons of bamboo structural can replace one ton of steel structural and the projected Indian demand for steel structurals alone is about 50 million tons/year by 2020.

Find the area of bamboo plantations needed to meet the entire structural demand in the two cases: rain fed unmanaged waste lands and rain fed managed marginal lands.

**What is the extent of farm lands that have partial irrigation support either by canals or by ground water in India? (to be supported by proper references)

# One can reasonably assume that productivity of managed bamboo plantations in such farm lands can be over 40 ton/hectare. Estimate the extent of such farm lands needed if the bamboo from it were to replace the entire structural steel demand?

The investments:

# Assume that a typical steel plant currently needs an investment of over Rs. 4000 Crore /million ton of annual capacity. Calculate the investment per ton of annual steel production facility

# There are two national missions of Indian government, the NMBA of DST and NBM of agricultural ministry. Both roughly estimate the investment needed to raise a bamboo plantation to be about Rs. 20000/hectare which would be spread over the four years that the bamboo bushes take to start yielding economically significant returns. With the bamboo productivity to be as assumed earlier find the investment needed per ton of annual bamboo production facility in different types of soils and management practices. Compare it with that of steel.

The impact on environment:

# Using the total possible bamboo production estimated as earlier, try and guess the potential eco healing impact with reference to

reduced CO₂ from the air,
reduced soil erosion
improved in the moisture and quality of top soil
improved sub soil moisture and ground water
arresting the sinking of important deltas

Let us call all the above together as ecology energy costs; at least three more important issues are not yet included:

a) Improved environmental aesthetics from the magnificent greenery of the massive bamboo plantations and

b) O₂ that the bamboo plantations release into the air

c) Enhanced support to a host of life forms – from the numerable cattle and big animals to the innumerable birds, insects, and microbes- their holistic role in human well being is some thing that is only beginning to be appreciated: very limited understanding and is yet to be explored in the modern scientific era.

The market costs and livelihood issues:

Assume the following:

About 20% of the market rate of steel structurals is from man power costs.

The average man power cost in steel industry is about Rs. 400/man-day (all the way from digging ore to conversion to steel and transforming it in to the structural element)

Current manpower costs of a rural artisan is about Rs. 250/man-day

Art of making bamboo structurals currently requires almost 5 times that of the raw bamboo material costs

eg: Man power costs in making a structural element:

WithSteel :

To make a 100 kg steel structural element at Rs. 50/kg it costs about Rs. 5000/- . The man power component (all the way from digging ore to conversion to steel and transforming it in to the structural element) would be about Rs. 1000/-. At an assumed average of Rs.400/ man-day in the steel sector, it would just take 2.5 man- days for the structure. At 250 man-days per year, per livelihood, about 100 of the 100 kg steel structurals can be made. This would require about 10000kg or 10 tons of steel.

In other words, each ton of steel structural would support about 0.1 livelihood

With Bamboo: Assume the same structural element would be feasible with the same mass of 100kg. With the raw bamboo at Rs. 5/kg, the manpower costs at five times the former, would be about Rs. 25/kg. The bamboo structural element if feasible would thus cost about Rs. 30/kg. The total cost of the 100kg bamboo structural (that matches in performance to the 100 kg steel element) it would be about Rs.3000.

@ about Rs. 250/man-day of the artisanal cost assumed, the structural element would need 16 man- days of work.

Assuming 320 working days per year per livelihood for the rural artisans for the sake of simpler calculation(and may be with the family help included), the number of structural elements that could be made per head would be about 20. About 2000kg or 2 tons of bamboo would be needed for these structural elements.

Equivalently each ton of bamboo structural would support about 0.5 livelihood.

Thus for structurals, the raw material requirements and the livelihoods generated are :

for steel 10 ton/livelihood

for bamboo 2 ton/livelihood

# Estimate the quantum of the livelihoods that can possibly be supported if the bamboo that can potentially be produced from even from just 20 million hectares of the available waste lands if the bamboo produced were used for structurals.

If the man power requirement is reduced to a more modest level that is equal to that of the material cost, estimate the rural livelihoods that can be supported.

# Discuss the major obstacles(social and technical) in popularizing bamboo housing in India.

** What is the targeted urban greenery in hectares by 2020? (to be supported by proper references)

** What is the total length of

the roads and rail tracks of various categories in India as of now and by 2020?
The canals and rivers

(to be supported by proper references)

# It may be recognized that the bamboo bushes could be along the boundaries of the farm lands or on the road side or become part of the urban greenery so very essential for close to half a billion people expected to be in urban areas in the next decade.

Assume about 100 bushes of bamboo per km length on ordinary roads; about three times this figure along major national high ways; over five and ten times on the banks of canals and rivers respectively.

Assuming that about 400 bamboo bushes along a line or other wise make up approximately one hectare of bamboo plantation, estimate the effective area of bamboo plantation that could be supported along roads, canals, rivers and urban greenery. To protect bio diversity assume that the bamboo of all species would cover no more than some 25% of the above greenery.

# Discuss the relative advantages of bamboo amongst the greenery with reference' to soil erosion control on embankments along high ways, rail tracks and canals & rivers. (Try and find out which features of greenery such as root systems and their spread, leaf size and litter quantity covering the soil etc that can possibly impact the erosion resistance.)

The issues of carbon foot print and scope for carbon credits/trading: Back ground

The recent report of IPCC emphasizes that the global warming is primarily due to human activities and a large part of it is due to emission of carbon dioxide(the major green house gas).

To reduce the CO₂in the atmosphere, we may consider two strategies (many others are being discussed):

i) growing a woody material like bamboo which absorbs CO₂ and

ii) using it as a structural member in place of steel, there by reducing CO₂emissions

# Growing bamboo:

A simplified photo synthetic reaction can be represented as below:

6 CO₂ + 6 H₂O $\rightarrow$ C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂

Assuming that the glucose constitutes most of the woody biomass in bamboo, estimate the amount of carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere for every tonne of bamboo produced. Where else (and how much) of the CO₂could possibly go to making the bamboo biomass and for how long would it stay as biomass before returning to the atmosphere. Compare it with the time that the CO₂ in the timber of the bamboo poles remains if used in houses as structural elements.

# Assuming a productivity of 10 tonnes of bamboo per hectare per year, estimate the carbon dioxide that can be removed from atmosphere per year by 20 million hectares of land under bamboo plantation .

Replacing steel by bamboo: Likely impact on climate:

Back ground

The embodied energy of a material is the energy consumed during the manufacture of the material and its transport to the site. For steel it is estimated to be about 32 MJ/kg.

# If the energy consumed in producing and transporting the steel is obtained by burning coal of calorific value about 16 MJ/kg, estimate the coal burnt for every tonne of steel used.

Assuming coal to be basically carbon (?) and using

C + O₂ $\rightarrow$ CO₂

estimate the carbon dioxide emitted per every tonne of steel used.

# If only half of the required energy in making steel is from direct burning of coal and the rest through use of electricity or internal combustion engines where efficiency of using the thermal energy from coal is 30%, how would the above answer change?

c) Energy - cattle muscle power - Transportation

Back ground:

Many S&T stalwarts and administrators think that any thought of relying on cattle muscle power can only take us back in civilization. With due regards and great reverence to their academic excellence and with all humbleness and humility, I beg to differ.

A couple of years ago, I was challenged into thinking of these issues, in particular the quantitative ones, by some searching questions from my mentor, Prof. PV Indiresan (the founder head of the School of Radar Studies, present CARE of IITD and later retired as director of IIT Madras) when I advocated the case of cattle muscle power. He suggested that I should dispassionately compare it with the traditional technological route of harvesting solar thermal energy. I am convinced that both the routes are complementary and form a holistic solution to the climate concerns. I am grateful to him for the same. I gratefully acknowledge the inspiring Ph.D work of Mr. Ajit Kumar under the guidance of Prof. RR Gaur and Prof. PL Dhar (Mech engg , IITD) for their work on harvesting cattle muscle power in the 1980’s.

By 2002, having stayed in the Haritha residences with bamboo arch supported roofs for over 8 years, I considered my forays into bamboo housing as successful. I wanted to explore the harvesting of solar energy through the thermal route, but the greenery in Hariha proved to be a hindrance and getting rid of it was not an option. But then we were finding it difficult to maintain the cattle for there was productive work for them on our small farm for less than about 100 days per year. Then fodder scam of Bihar hit the head lines and it was then that I wondered why not harvest the cattle muscle power.

We began our experiments in harvesting the human muscle power through the bicycle operated wet grinder.

I could do in 45 minutes what a 0.5 HP electric motor driven wet grinder does in half an hour in preparing the material for idlis as break fast for about fifty persons.

These more than convinced me that I should pursue the harvesting of cattle muscle power.

A pair of cattle that is more than ten times my weight, can certainly generate more than ten times my muscle energy in stretches of 2 to 3 hours and for a total of about six to eight hours a day averaging the replacement of an electric motor of 2-3 HP(1.5 to 2 kWe) at least for similar mechanical work!

(Incidentally, I found the bicycle grinder to be a great exercise for legs and the hands- I used to turn the pedals by left hand,

and then the right hand by suitably squatting on the sides and then the normal way by the legs. When turning the pedals by hand, in each turn, the hands go through a fairly cyclic and smoothly varying push and pull, exercising virtually all the parts of the hand – all the muscles and the joints: wrists, elbows and shoulders included.)

I was then (2002) referred to the 1980’s work at IITD, got hold of the Ph.D thesis and by late 2003 we operated the mobile bullock cart power generator that charged the batteries in the day time and the inverter lighted up the tubes and operated a PC in the night for a couple of hours for several days as demonstrated in local fair in Bhadrachalam in the sands of river Godavari.

Some basic numbers:

Solar energy that falls per m² in a sunny region of our country is about 1200 kW.hr per year.

Fodder grasses convert this into energy of the fodder at a photosynthetic efficiency of about 1%

Feeding on this fodder, cattle can convert about 12% of the energy in the fodder into mechanical energy through their muscles.

There are about 40 million pairs of draught animals and about 220 millions of other cattle (about a total of 150 million pairs) in India.

The total peak demand of electric power in India has touched about 1 Lakh MW in the September 2009.

The enormous quantum of available cattle muscle power

# Estimate the mechanical energy that the cattle can generate by feeding on the fodder grass from 1 m² of land over 1 year.

# If cattle generate the above mechanical energy in about the 2000 hours that there is sun shine over one year, estimate the average mechanical power (over the 2000 hours) that the cattle can develop from feeding on the fodder raised over one hectare of land.

(1 hectare = 10⁴ m²)

^{Also e}^{stimate the extent of land needed to produce}^say¹⁰^{0 000}^MW⁽^{1 Lakh MW}⁾^{of mechanical power through the fodder grasses and the cattle muscle power route.}

^#^{Assume that a}⁴⁰⁰^{kg bullock or ox can pull at about}¹^2.5^{% of its body weight while walking at close to 1.5m/s. Estimate the mechanical power that the cattle can generate.}

^#^{If the above power is available as rotary mechanical power at about}^{100 rpm}^{in the rural area, estimate the electrical power that needs to be generated at the central thermal power station to provide the same}^{through a}¹²⁰⁰^{rpm electric motor, making reasonable assumptions on the transmission losses (30% to 40% including theft); efficiency of electric motor(80% to 85%) and that of down gearing through a V belt drive(75% to 85%). (Many of the applications for electricity in rural areas require conversion of electricity into mechanical power at 100 rpm to 200 rpm such as thrashing, grain grinding, oil extraction etc.,)}

^{# Assume that}^{the muscle power of all the cattle population is harvested at the average rate of}^{6 hours /day}^{for the draught animals and}^{2 to}³^hours^{/day for the other cattle}^{. Other assumptions are the same as in above.}

^E^{stimate the total}^mechanical^energy^{available at the field level}^{through the cattle muscle energy and the corresponding}^{electrical energy}^{that needs to be generated in the central thermal power stations}^{. If this}^{cattle muscle}^{energy is}^spread^{over an average of}^{4 hours/day}^{, calculate the average mechanical power over the same}^{4 hours}^.^{It would be interesting to examine if this could be used to meet the peak load demand of electricity.}

^{Transportation}

^{Back ground:}

^{A state of the art electric auto mobile}^{, Audi’s}^{R8 e-tron in Frankfurt 2009 auto show is reported to have the following features:}

^Mass:^{1600 kg}

^Speed:^{100 km/hr}

^Approximate^{driving distance per charge:}^{250 km}^*

^{Max power of the 4 electric motors}^{(for the four wheels): 240 kW}

^Approximate^{Battery capacity}^:^{40 kW.hr *}

^{* The actual figures in the report were 248 Km and 42.4 kW.hr}

^{Average cruise speed in good high ways can be taken as about}^{100 km/hr}^.^{In a typical Indian high way the average speed is around}⁵⁰^{km/hr but is rising fast.}

^{The average power for cruise on horizontal level road can be assumed to be}^{required to over come}^:

^{a. F}^riction^,^{which at}^these^{speeds is proportional only to the mass}

^{b. viscous air drag which is proportional to the square of the speed.}

^{In the absence strong winds, it is fairly reasonable to assume that air drag can be ignored for speeds less than}^{25 km/hr}^{while at about}^{50 km/hr,}^{it is roughly equal to that of friction.}

^{Power needed vs speed and mass}

^{# Estimate t}^{he cruise time}^{that the battery would allow for one charge}^{in a good high way for the Audi’s R8 e-tron}^{. In a typical Indian scenario, how much would it be?}

^{# Assuming that the total average power needed for the motors would be proportional to average speed}^{if viscous air drag is ignored (why)}^{, estimate the average power consumed by the}^vehicle^{for cruise in an international standard high way}^.

^{How much would it be in a typical Indian scenario?}^{Would it be different if air drag is considered? Is so, would it decrease or increase?}

^{# If we also assume that the similar motors are fitted on to Tata’s ‘Nano’ that has a mass of about}^{600 kg}^{, estimate the following}^needs^{in Indian scenario mentioned above:}

^{a. the}^average^power^and

^{b. battery capacity needed if the driving distance per charge is only}^{60 km}

^The^required^{average power}^changes^{more than linearly with speed,}^{particularly when ones considers that the effect of viscous air drag is proportional to the square of speed}

^{# A typical farmer in rural India wishes to have an electric riksha with a capacity to carry}^{1+ 2}^{or about}^{200 kg}^{load at about 20 kmph. Repeat the estimates of the above for the said electric riksha.}^{(Assume that the mass of the riksha body along with frame and the motor, the gear & battery needed would be around}^60kg^{(approximately 40 kg +20 kg each (?))}

^{Possible r}^{ole of bamboo and the cattle muscle power}^{in the rural India’s scenario}^:

^{Mass of bamboo based vehicle}^:^{50 kg}^.

^A^{n all}^bamboo^{- wood}^frame^{can typically take a load that is about}¹⁰⁰^{times that of its self weight.}^{(The 3m span twin bamboo arch, vertically separated by ‘V’ block wooden spacers in the maiden effort at Haritha, AP has a mass of under 20 kg and took a load of about 2000 kg.)}

^{Even allowing for impacts and}^a^{safety factor, a}^{30 kg}^{mass seems possible for the frame and the body. The total mass of the riksha would then be about}^{50 kg}^.

^{Average driving distance per charge:}^{25 km}

^{Local market to sell the produce such as vegetables or buy the necessities would be less than about}^{10 km}^{and hence the daily average commute would be under about}^{25 km}^.

^{An average driving speed:}^{20 km (?)}

^{Even in urban scenario, an electric riksha could have substantial cumulative reduction of carbon foot print per passenger.km}^{travel on account of energy consumed directly and the reduced embodied energy in the road}^{s, tyres and vehicles.}

^O^{ne requires roads of lesser}^{width and much lesser}^{load bearing capacity}^&^{wear resistance}^.

Sustainability or holistic development - some thoughts for

Monday, 4 April 2011

Sustainability - some thoughts