Gas from Iran

The Dawn reports that India may opt out of the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipe line and instead opt for Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India as the prefered route. Clearly this is the 'quid-pro-quo' that is being spoken about by the US polititians. Appears that the great game and coercive energy politics is the way to go. I dont see the sense it makes from the Indian perspective, given the potential for nuclear generation.

D.E.S.I Power

Desipower is an innovative company focused on Alternative power generation in biomass rich rural areas across india.The brain child of Dr.H.N.Sharan the innovation is in the business model that involves local people in the process and thus provides employment and energy where it is most required. They already have aboue 30 plants across india including a 500 KW biomass based plant in Karnataka. More details are available here.

Shape of things to come - Dynamic pricing

Power companies in north america are now offering power at different rates based on load and peak demand. It is cheaper to consume power at off peak hours. This has led to gadgets that chanrge their internal batteries when the tarrif is lower and let you use it normally. The device, called GridPoint Protect, is the size of a small file cabinet and connects to the circuitbreaker panel. (The company also offers a lower-capacity version designed for homes, which costs $10,000.) A built-in computer powered by a Pentium chip will make intelligent purchase decisions, buying when prices are low, then storing the electricity for later use. That will make it possible to run your company during the workday with cheaper electricity that you purchased at 3 A.M.
Sounds familiar ? Every indian who can afford it has a UPS that does pretty much the same except that there is no diffrential tarrif and hence no intelligence required for the system.

sunlight concentrator from MIT

MIT reports that they have a new technique to concenterate sunlight using holograms. The main limitation of solar power right now is cost, because the crystalline silicon used to make most solar photovoltaic (PV) cells is very expensive. One approach to overcoming this cost factor is to concentrate light from the sun using mirrors or lenses, thereby reducing the total area of silicon needed to produce a given amount of electricity. But traditional light concentrators are bulky and unattractive -- less than ideal for use on suburban rooftops. Read more here.

The rise of the mutant radioactive wolves

An interesting fallout (no pun intended :) of the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown accident has been the return of abundant wild life to the area. The BBC reports that wolves and bears seem to have returned in large numbers. The article notes that The animals are radioactive but otherwise healthy !!! Life seems to have found a way.. though the idea of a mutant radioactive russian wolf may be too attractive for Hollywood to passover.