Green energy solutions for urban poor

Eradicating energy poverty is the challenging task of a group of young eco warriors

grinding poverty, the importance of organisations like Pollinate Energy really hits home. The low would definitely have to be the realisation that many of the people in the communities have no legal rights and their fate and homes are under constant strain and uncertainty. The high was most certainly the people: the Pollinate Energy founders and their vast energy for this cause, the young professionals from India, Australia and New Zealand with their fresh ideas and enthusiasm, the Pollinators who welcomed us in and guided us through our community experiences, and the communities themselves with their warmth and kindness.

By USHA RAMANUJAM ARVIND

As global economies lobby to contain spiralling energy consumption, fringe communities in developing countries have quite literally been left in the dark. In today’s world of tablets, touch screens and texting, ironically, many still face acute energy poverty. According to estimates, 1.3 billion people worldwide have no direct access to electricity, of which 400 million live in India alone. As the sun sets, their lives come to a grinding halt.

There is a widening gulf between the haves and the havenots. Lack of proper infrastructure and poor awareness has forced those living below the poverty line in rural and semi-urban areas to rely heavily on age-old practices like kerosene lamps and coal-fired stoves that are not only harmful to the environment, but also pose a serious health hazard.

In a bid to improve the living conditions of such Indian families, a group of young eco warriors have been striving to create safer and more affordable lighting solutions. Known as Pollinate Energy, for this dedicated team, social impact outweighs profit.

Embracing sustainable production and consumption concepts, Pollinate’s Young Professionals Program has been regularly sending experienced volunteers to educate and train local communities in India and thereby empower them.

Pollinate Energy co-founder and director Emma Colenbrander said the program which has a far-reaching social vision, brings together Australian professionals with Indian micro-entrepreneurs to help promote the distribution of safer, more affordable clean energy solutions to urban poor communities. Besides removing the burden on unsustainable fuels, the programme also aims to increase overall productivity and foster economic independence.

Global technical management services provider AECOM is one of the Pollinate’s first corporate partners. AECOM employees, Sydney-based landscape architect Belinda Dods, environmental engineer Rosanna Sanderson (Brisbane) and engineering geologist Johannes Wilson (Christchurch), recently volunteered in Bangalore as part of Pollinate Energy’s Young Professionals Program. During their India stint, the trio worked closely with local entrepreneurs, or ‘Pollinators,’ mentoring them as they introduced solar lanterns and smokeless cookstoves in the local community.

“AECOM sees ‘social businesses’ like those championed by Pollinate Energy as a solution to environmental, energy and economic challenges,” AECOM Chief Executive, Australia New Zealand, Michael Batchelor stated.

“Our people are extremely passionate about improving liveability, sustainability and connectivity, in their own communities and around the world, and we are glad to support innovations and programs that do so,” he added.

What drew Dods to the project is Pollinate’s strong focus on innovation. The former international trade and business finance professional left behind a thriving career in the corporate sector to follow a passion in landscape design and architecture. Her interest in sustainable technologies also led her to compete in the International Solar Decathlon, where her team finished third. More importantly, the experience certainly triggered a passion for innovative and sustainable design as well as desire to use this to drive social change.

Indian Link caught up with Belinda Dods to find out more about her involvement with Pollinate Energy’s Young Professional Programme.

Indian Link (IL): What prompted you to volunteer for Pollinate programme? What was the experience like?

Belinda Dods (BD): I’ve always been interested in social businesses and was eager to find out more about how Pollinate Energy is achieving its goal to ‘eradicate energy poverty’. So when my manager approached me to apply, I was really excited.

The program totally exceeded my expectations. We had incredible speakers join us to discuss the finer points of social business, and this helped us gain a greater appreciation for the problems and the solutions out there.

As well as the work we completed in the communities, another facet of the program was to develop a part of Pollinate Energy’s business. Another Sydneysider, Lorenn Ruster and myself were tasked with promoting advocacy for Pollinate Energy’s cause in Australia. Pollinate Energy has teamed up with some very clever local talent; design firm Amigo & Amigo and public engagement firm Wildwon, to create the very first solar powered VIVID Festival lighting installation. We will be liaising as Pollinate Energy Ambassadors to see this exciting project come to fruition. Our roles as Ambassadors will also see us more broadly assisting with their operations in Australia.

Having travelled through India previously, I had an idea of what it would be like, but faced with such just a matter of time before they infiltrate the communities on a large scale. The initial solar light products are at the point now where they almost sell themselves. People can see the benefits for their own eyes and have come to trust the Pollinators and their products.

IL: Who were some of the other participants and what did they bring on board to the project?

IL: Tell us more about your specific role with this project? What did it involve?

BD: We were partnered with a ‘Pollinator,’ and accompanied them to communities, helping develop sales strategies to improve and grow their respective businesses. The current program sees us introducing fuel-efficient cook stoves into the community. The cookstoves burn at least 50% less wood and emit at least 50% less smoke, so are better for peoples’ health (people mostly cook inside within the midst of clouds of smoke) and economically better, saving them money on fuel. Having discussed our approach for the day, we head out as a team to a slum community to do demonstrations, making chai and explaining the benefits of the product. As a group we assess our strategy and propose changes for the next day. The second part of our role sees us involved in working bees. The three groups look to bring in a source of income that can subsidise the social part of the business by creating pictorial guides for the products to be used by the predominately illiterate users and advocating Pollinate Energy’s work.

IL: How did the team work to educate people on urban fringes about cost effective renewable energy resources? What was the reception to this novel idea?

BD: It is difficult with any new product to convince the community that it does all it is said to do, but it only takes one person to give it a go to gain the trust of a community. One woman cooking chapati tested the cooking time on both their traditional fires and the new fuel-efficient cookstoves; the benefits where obvious with the cookstove taking far less time and using far less wood. So it’s

BD: From India, Neelima Jain, Keshav Lakshman and Sneha Kariyappa were part of our team; and from Australia there was Holly Hyder, Lorenn Ruster and Rosie Sanderson. Johannes Wilson, one of my AECOM colleagues alongside Rosie, is from New Zealand. I can honestly say that everyone had a unique talent that came to light during the program, from Sneha’s ability to befriend everyone in the communities and make them feel comfortable, to Rosie’s unique insight into the area having previously worked for Engineers without Borders in Chennai. We had strategic consultants, engineers, and landscape architect. It was refreshing to hear all the different points of view and to learn from each another. We were all there for the right reasons and had so much to learn from each other.

IL: What images of India did you come away with, what were your personal experiences?

BD: Colour, noise and spices! Everywhere you go, India surrounds you with activity, be it the noise of the horns on the street, the brightly coloured saris everywhere, or the smells of so many different spices mingling in the air, which themselves act as a welcome respite from the pollution, rubbish and dust. At first it all hits you and feels overwhelming, but as you adjust you see more of what is the same and less of what is different.

For example, we made tea one evening, and as the ladies in the community laid out a mat for us to sit on, I cuddled one of their babies. Asking the few questions of Kannada I have picked up along the way, we drank tea and laughed with them, recognising a common joke made about wanting us to adopt their children. They have come to Bangalore to make a better life for their families, and it’s a wonderfully humbling experience to sit and share tea and try to begin to understand the daily pressures they face.

Details: www.pollinateenergy.org

Kudankulam, defence, energy top Manmohan-Putin talks

India and Russia recently marked a very special phase in their close ties as the first Russian-built reactor in Tamil Nadu’s Kudankulam was connected to the electricity grid in south India, and is poised to produce electricity while a commercial deal for the third and fourth reactors are near complete.

As Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in the Russian capital of Moscow where the temperatures are near freezing, both stressed on the closeness of their ties in all spheres, including cooperation in economic, energy, defence, counter-terrorism and people-to-people contact.

Manmohan Singh and Putin held restricted level talks for over four hours in the Green Drawing Room of the Grand Kremlin Palace, with their close aides, who included from the Indian side Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh, National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon, Indian Ambassador Ajai Malhotra and senior officials of the Prime Minister’s Office.

Putin, addressing reporters after the delegation level talks and inking of five agreements later, said he was happy that the first reactor had gone critical and was poised to be connected to the electricity grid “in a few hours”, while the second one if to go critical in early 2014.

On the third and fourth reactors, on which a commercial deal has got stuck due to concerns over India’s civil liability laws, Putin said both sides “have plans to construct the third and fourth units”.

Manmohan Singh said that “we have directed our officials to resolve all outstanding issues at the earliest”.

Sujatha Singh, addressing newspersons later, said the first unit is to produce 300 MW of electricity from the night of October 21. She said there were “legal issues” concerning the third and fourth units which were being sorted out.

The joint statement mentions that besides units three and four, both sides have agreed to cooperate “in the construction of additional nuclear power plant units at Kudankulam site as well as in the construction of Russian designed Nuclear

Power Plants at new sites in the Republic of India”.

Taking major steps to enhance energy cooperation, both sides have decided to set up a joint study group to examine the possibility of directly transporting hydrocarbons to India through the land route.

While India already has stakes in the Sakhalin and Tomsk fields for hydrocarbons, India and Russia have also decided to jointly explore for oil and gas in the Arctic region.

In defence, where both sides are close partners with India sourcing a major chunk of its hardware from Russia, both Putin and Manmohan Singh mentioned the completion of the refitting of the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, rechristened Vikramaditya, which is to be handed over to India in mid November.

Their defence cooperation has transformed from buyer-seller to co-design and co-production, especially in the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft and the Multi Transport Aircraft.

Both sides are to collaborate in manufacture of Russian built Mi-17V-5 helicopter, which was extensively used during rescue operations in the Uttarakhand flood tragedy earlier this year, said the foreign secretary.

Manmohan Singh and Putin discussed Afghanistan, and how to “prevent the effects of terrorism from spilling over”. India has made sizeable contribution to infrastructure development in violence-hit Afghanistan.

During their discussions on regional issues, Iran and Pakistan figured. Both sides discussed Syria and India commended Russia’s move to defuse the crisis when the US was planning military strikes over alleged use of chemical weapons by President Bashar al Assad.

Punjab probing ‘goonda’ tax, illegal mining: Badal

The Punjab government is investigating allegations of “goonda” tax being levied by certain vested interests in illegal mining in the state, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said in Chandigarh recently.

He said illegal mining was being tackled expeditiously in the state and strict instructions had been issued to register cases in this regard in case of any complaint.

Badal told media here that he was “personally keeping a tab” on illegal mining, besides issuing strict directions not to spare anyone indulging in this.

“An investigation is on to probe the allegations of goonda tax,” he said.

Referring to cases of illegal mining, allegedly at the behest of senior ruling Akali Dal leaders, Badal said that though the illegal mining was happening across the country, the maximum number of cases had been registered against illegal miners in Punjab.

The goonda tax is being allegedly levied by a mafia on people engaged in illegal mining in Punjab and runs into several lakhs of rupees daily, sources in the trade said.

Indian-American proposes Silicon Valley approach to governing

In the aftermath of the US government shutdown, a former Indian-American Obama administration official has proposed “bold” reforms to make government more efficient, transparent and responsive with a Silicon Valley approach to governing.

“We need bold government reform right away,” declared Rohit ‘Ro’ Khanna, a lawyer and former commerce department official, who is making a bid to oust fellow Democrat Mike Honda, seven-term incumbent House member from California’s 17th District.

“I am pushing a reform agenda against special interests to hopefully change Congress,” he said addressing a gathering in his constituency which is home to a range of technology companies, a day after the US government reopened after a 16-day standoff between Democrats and Republicans over budget and raising the US debt limit.

“Relieved that the shutdown is over after 16 long days,” he tweeted. “Let’s hope Congress never repeats this again,” he said proposing what he called “five steps” to change Congress.

The steps included refusing donations from political action committees (PACs) and federally registered lobbyists, refusing Congressional pay raises, end of Congressional pension system, banning legislators from lobbying for five years after leaving office and taking special interestfunded trips.

“These proposals will help turn our members of Congress back into the representatives of the people that they’re supposed to be,” Khanna said.

“As a son of immigrants, I would certainly fight for immigration reform,” said Khanna.

President Barack Obama has made fixing the “broken” immigration system a key priority of his administration this year.

To make the government more efficient and transparent, Khanna suggested “a Silicon Valley approach to governing, leveraging innovative technology wherever possible”.

The proposals encompassed; post government spending online, make government data machine-readable, consolidate duplicative federal agencies and programmes, cut government energy expenses and improve cyber security.

Khanna has received the endorsements of several high-profile Silicon Valley figures, such as Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg and Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer in his bid to oust Honda.

The two face off in a Democratic party primary in June 2014 before the November 2014 election.

Khanna also again outraised Honda in the third quarter with $504,450 against Honda’s $385,000. He finished the quarter with $1.9 million on hand, according to his campaign.

Khanna had made a $1 million-plus haul last quarter, which he ended with $1.7 million in the bank.

Jhumpa Lahiri among US National Book Awards finalists

After losing out on the Man Booker Prize, Indian-American author Jhumpa Lahiri has made it to the finals of the 2013 US National Book Award in fiction for her new novel, The Lowland

Pulitzer Prize winning Lahiri’s tale of two brothers set in Kolkata of the 1960s figures in the finals with four other works in the fiction category.

These are: The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner (Scribner); The Good Lord Bird by James McBride (Riverhead); Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon (Penguin) and Tenth