Auroville Sustainability

    The community of Auroville was created with a mission to create a community that would integrate social, spiritual and environmental concerns in its growth. Through this Auroville has become a community that is a great environment for innovation and design. This has been the pushing force behind many initiatives of Auroville such as the Solar Kitchen, the Verite green living community, and the Upasana Small Steps bag project. These are all sustainable living practices that Auroville is embracing as a whole throughout their many projects.
    The Solar Kitchen is a culmination of the desire for a sustainable eating facility which is also largely communal.  It was built in 1997 and now serves a total of about 1000 lunches a day in the dining hall as well as sending out lunches to schools and individuals. The Solar Kitchen power system is a hybrid system of diesel and solar with the diesel taking the place of the solar energy production when the generation is too low to support the kitchen operations. The solar component is a bowl which uses hundreds of mirrors to focus sunlight into the heat receiver. There are coils around the heat receiver that are filled with water and then heat up and produce steam which is ten pumped into the boiler room which is below. The menu of the Solar Kitchen is all vegetarian and made largely with organically grown fruits and vegetables that are farmed around Auroville. On top of the 300 meals that are eaten in the Dining Room the kitchen also feeds about 300 people in the outlying communities who provide their own tiffen which the Solar Kitchen then fills with food. The kitchen then also delivers about 540 meals to the various Auroville schools and service centers.

Verite is a small community in Auroville which has adopted the ideas of living simply in all aspects of life and work. The living quarters are made mainly of earth blocks and are small and close together with communal bathrooms and showers. Water is drawn from the ground using a wind-pump and rainwater is collected by the community for agricultural usage. There is also a large communal garden with herbs and vegetables and an orchard with both native and nonnative trees.  The wastewater then cleans both black and grey water and uses that for irrigation for the garden and orchard. The waste from the communal kitchen is composed and also used for fertilizing the orchard and garden.

Another facet of Auroville is the non-profit that works along side called Upasana which comes from a Sanskrit word meaning “sitting near”. It was started in 1997 as a design studio that would bring traditional India handicrafts to the world. Along with many projects that have been aimed at helping village communities such as the Varanasi Weavers project that hepled to being back the weaving craft from that region that was slowly disappearing, they also take part in a sustainability project called “Small-Steps”. The aim of Small-Steps is to help eliminate the use of plastic bags thoughout India and the world. Because of India’s other social problems, the importance of recycling plastic bags has not caught on. This is normally because people simply do not understand the harm that this plastic can cause and then if they do India lacks the recycling resources to deal with the sheer number of plastic bags and other plastic items that simply get discarded on the side of the road and in landfills. Because of this Small-Steps has become a program that produces a cloth alternative to the plastic bags that can be used over and over again.

Along with Small-Steps, the Tsunamika project that Upsasna also started has effects both socially and environmentally. The raw material used to make the dolls is from industrial waste and they are made by fisher women as a way of trauma counseling after the Tsunami in 2004 that hit South Eastern India. So through this project there are both a recycling and waste awareness aspect along with bringing in the social aspects of therapy and also employment for the fisher women who were effected by the Tsunami.

Auroville has made many steps in trying to create and foster within its community a sense of responsibility towards the environment and sustainability. This has paved the way for many projects that have been seen as examples for other communities as a way to integrate everyday life with sustainable living practices.

   

Auroville Earth Institute

On our trip to Auroville outside of Pondicherry we visited the Auroville Earth Institute. The institute was founded in 1989 by the Housing and Urban Development Corporation and Government of India and its main focus is in researching, developing, promoting and transferring soil based building technologies that are both cost and energy effective. The Earth Institute then uses these technologies and conducts seminars and workshops to educate the public along with creating manuals and documents for distribution. This is all to meet their goal of giving people the opportunity to create and build their own homes using earth techniques based mainly on Compressed Stabilized Earth Blocks. Because of all of that they have accomplished in promoting earthen building materials, the Auroville Earth Institute is currently the Asia representative of the UNESCO Chair Earthen Architecture Constructive Cultures and Sustainable Development. They are also a part of the world network of CRATerre (the International Centre for Earth Construction), a few NGO’s and the BASIN South Asia- Regional Knowledge Platform.
    The main building materials that the Auroville Earth Institute promotes are Compressed Stabilized Earth Blocks. These are blocks that are made with local soil to the area that they will be used in and are not fired, but compressed instead. Through the use of a press that was designed and are now being built at the Earth Institute, the blocks are pressed with a pressure of about 16 tons. Through this process about 1000 blocks can be produced per day, which makes it good for villages and small communities since they can all use the same one, even when building various structures. Because the materials used are local and very available, since it is just soil, this building material is both very cost effective as well as environmentally sustainable. Along with this, since the blocks are all made in a press, they are all the same size which is better for building and the press is mobile so can move throughout an area. The Earth Institute has also developed alternative stabilizers (a mix of milk of lime and alum) and water proofing (different soils, sands, lime, alum and local juices) to cement. Though this would be ideal, there are some cases when cement becomes necessary. In these instances the Earth Institute has developed a type of ferrocement which contains no more than 5% cement for things such as foundations and walls. On our tour of the facilities in Auroville we saw examples of all of the building materials as well as a wall of soils from all over the world. These were samples that had been sent to the Earth Institute by people who wanted them to be tested to see what kind of make up they had to find out what kind of blocks would be created from them if they were pressed into Compressed Stabilized Earth Blocks.
    The Auroville Earth Institute is involved with many projects, but I think one of the most interesting is the Disaster Resistant Constructions research. Since 1995 they have been developing a system based on the ferrocement blocks with the Compressed Stabilized Earth Blocks that are hollow interlocking. For the interlocking blocks two different types have been developed for the disaster resistant constructions, on that is square and hollow which allows for a building to become 2-3 floors high and rectangular hollow blocks to be used only for the ground floors. These blocks are then reinforced at critical points with the reinforced cement concrete.   
    All of these are new materials and technologies are Auroville’s attempt at sustainable development. Through their integration of alternative building processes, technologies and renewable energy sources they are hoping to promote green and sustainable living and construction. This fits in with the mission of Auroville as a whole to live in harmony with nature and in reaching human unity. Though researching these building materials further Auroville is hoping to further awareness throughout the world so as to increase the use of these techniques in the developing world.

Wind Power Potential in India: a Problem for Grid

The most important issue that is facing India today if they want to reach 20% wind energy usage by 2020 will be grid compatibility and stability for energy throughout the year.  There exist considerable variations in frequency and voltage that the grids generate which creates difficulties in wind farm operations and grid penetration. What is needed are grid codes that specify the wind farm and generator control actions so as to facilitate power production instead of the system that was proposed with the India grid code proposal in 2010 that had an emphasis on wind farms fitting into existing grids (Madsen P. H., and Natarajan, A., 2011).

            It is essential for the operation of the wind turbine that the frequency and voltage of the grid be stable. This shows the fact that the wind farm and the grid have a mutual reliance on each other which calls for sustainable wind farm controls and grid codes for high energy penetration into the grid. One of the technologies that has been developed to help support this is known as a low voltage ride though (LVRT) which is when even if the voltage of the grid dips, the turbine will continue normal operation which will supply power back to the grid after the voltage returns back to normal levels. This however cannot be used of there is not grid stability over a long duration of time (in minutes). But in India this LVRT can help in maintaining connection to the grid if long term stability is assured (Madsen P. H., and Natarajan, A., 2011).

            In India there also exists the problem that many in rural areas do not have any sort of grid connectivity or uncertain supply of power. This is due partly to the fact that hydroelectric power in India during the summer months becomes greatly reduced so there is then more reliance on thermal power plants which often results in unscheduled power shutdowns that effect rural areas the most. This makes it necessary for different and diverse renewable power sources which can all be interconnected through microgrids or virtual power plants to assist in rural electrification. Virtual power plants are systems that can supply energy to a larger rural grid through this system of connected renewable energies (Madsen P. H., and Natarajan, A., 2011).

           

This figure above shows an example of how a virtual grid system functions with the various sources of energy all adding to the energy of the grid (Madsen P. H., and Natarajan, A., 2011).

            Though we are discussing India, a good way to conclude is through an example of the use of micro-grids for rural electrification and development exists in rural Kenya. The increase in access to electricity though this system resulted in a 100%-200% increase in worker productivity as well as a growth in income levels from 20%-70%. This also enables and improves the delivery of social and business services along with improved agriculture. There also exists the increased income that results from when local electricity users have an ability to charge and enforce tariffs and when the consumption is linked to the production of the energy. This relates to the idea that if micro and virtual grids are present, the rural people can also become workers at the plant that would help raise the income level of their village and community (Kirubi, C. et al, 2009)

References

Madsen P. H., and Natarajan, A., (2011). Challenges and Prospects for Wind Energy to Attain 20% Grid Penetration by 2020 in India. Current Science, 101(1):35-42.

Kirubi, C. et al., Community-Based Electric Micro-Grids Can Contribute to Rural Development: Evidence from Kenya World Development (2009), doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2008.11.005

Renewable Energy for India’s Rural Population

             Renewable energy systems are ideally suited to be decentralized stations; each in its own area where it is best produced, and connected through a sort of virtual or smart grid for equitable power distribution. This also makes renewable sources the best idea to help with electrifying the almost 50% of Indians living in rural areas who still live without electricity. Because some of these rural populations live in very remote locations, it can be very hard for a normal grid system to reach them and provide adequate electricity. This is where the renewable energy sources come in and offers an economically viable means of connecting these people to energy. The Government of India has undertaken several initiatives’ to help provide the rural population meet their full energy needs including motive and cooking power. There have now been over 90,000 villages electrified using renewable sources along with free electricity being provided to about 12 million households that are living below the poverty line (Arora, D. S., et al., 2010).

Up until 2003 rural electrification was the job of the various state governments and the state electricity boards. But the Electricity Act of 2003 allowed for a term that authorized national policies on “non-conventional” energy systems in the rural areas of India with electrification from local distribution to rural areas. Because of this the pace of development of renewable energy sources has seen a great from that time forward. This was further solidified with the National Electricity Policy of 2005 that recognized electricity as essential in all aspects of life as a basic human need and that electricity supply to those in rural India is crucial to the development of the country as a whole (Arora, D. S., et al., 2010).

            One interesting program that is mentioned in the Indian Renewable Energy Status Report with regards to rural electrification is the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s “Biomass gasifier-based/ off-grid power programme for rural areas”. This program is meant to fulfill the unmet electrification needs in many of India’s rural villages through the work of state agencies that are supposed to initiate, promote, support and coordinate the programs for new and renewable energies in each state, but also with the assistance of energy service companies, NGOs, cooperatives and manufacturers, forming a public-private partnership. Central financial assistance in India funds an element of this as well by concentrating on the human resource development and training for the support of the manufacturers and suppliers of the gasifiers to help to set up service centers in the surrounding areas of where the gasifiers are installed. The initial installation of the gasifier is funded by grants from the Government of India so this becomes a completely self-sufficient renewable energy source for those villages that a part of this program. The graphic below shows the closed system that is created with the implementation of the biomass gasifiers in villages. (Arora, D. S., et al., 2010).

            When discussing these policies it is also important to address why it is important for rural areas to have electricity, especially with regards to health. In a study done by The World Bank they did research based on how electricity can effect many different aspects of health in rural communities. One of the studies that I found the most interesting was how access to information from both TV and radio can influence the individual’s health knowledge and so health behaviors and outcomes. The World Bank was hoping to see a correlation between TV or Radio access in the home and how that would affect their knowledge of contraceptives and would, in turn, bring down the fertility rate. From the study The World Bank was able to ascertain that, taken as a whole, access to a TV increases health and family planning knowledge and also increases the chances for the children of that family to be fully immunized. There was also a lower fertility rate recorded in 5 of the 9 areas studied. Though this is not related specifically to health clinics or better health care, knowledge of contraceptives and immunizations is very important for preventative health care, which is especially important in rural areas where access to any sort of formal health facility is either very limited or nonexistent (The World Bank, 2008).

References:

Arora, D. S., et al., (2010). Indian Renewable Energy Status Report, National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

The World Bank, (2008.). The Welfare Impact of Rural Electrification: A Reassessment of the Cost and Benefits. http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTRURELECT/Resources/appG.pdf

How to make the Green Revolution Sustainable

During the middle of the 1960’s in India there was a massive food shortage with predictions of mass deaths due to starvation throughout the country. Western countries tried to help by sending in wheat and other crops and they thought that India would never be able to become self-sufficient. There were several options that could have been undertaken at that point which included a dependency on imports, a focus on traditional agricultural and farming social systems but the plan that the government decided to go with was what became known as the Green Revolution. As was stated in the Swaminathan article “The new agricultural strategy of the 1960s and 1970s focused on regions well-endowed in terms of irrigation, on a few crops (particularly wheat and rice) and on farmers who could mobilize the investment necessary for new farming practices”. This caused a doubling in wheat production in five years and by 1972 had gone from being an importer of 10.3 million tons of grain to being a strong exporter. But what is especially important was that the rate of food grain production exceeded the rate of population growth (Swaminathan, Population and Food Security, 2010).

But these great achievements in food production that were made in the 1960s and 1970s have somewhat plateaued in recent years, party due to the liberalizing of the economy in India that began in 1991 and production rates have dipped back down below population growth rates (which are less than in the 1960s and 1970s). The new trade rules that were put in place with many of the new deregulations that were implemented with the liberalizing of the Indian economy including the removal of restrictions on imports and reductions in tariffs, has lead to major price changes for both the purchaser and the supplier related for domestically produced products (Swaminathan, Population and Food Security, 2010). If this continues to be the case and food production rates do not again lead ahead of population growth there is a sting possibility that India could lapse back into the food shortage patterns of their past (Swaminathan, Beyond the Green Revolution: Food for All for For Ever, 2010).

Yet in the last few years many measures have been initiated to attempt to reverse this trend. There has been an increase in the development of rural infrastructure, plans such as the National Food Security and Horticulture Missions to promote and spur on food production and the enablement of rural farmers to go back to a formal credit system through loan waivers. But if this is to be a sustainable venture, it needs to become what the authors we have been reading from have called an “Evergreen Revolution” which is when farm productivity is improved permanently without environmental degradation and harm (Swaminathan, Beyond the Green Revolution: Food for All for For Ever, 2010).

            In an article published in the Sociologia Ruralis  journal by Sally Brooks titled “Biotechnology and the Politics of Truth: From the Green Revolution to an Evergreen Revolution” it is discussed that biotechnology, if properly implemented and understood, could be a great way of making the Green Revolution sustainable and become “Evergreen”. But the main problems that exist with that are that many developing countries are reluctant to grow any GMOs because of the growing opposition among consumers in many European countries to genetically modified agricultural products. This means that India has to make sure that they have a large enough base to invest in and buy their test products without risking the need to export them to create a profit. So the acceptance of GMOs by the populace of India is very important for the global biotech industry as a whole when related to agriculture. The use of biotechnology would also be a very capitalistic driven venture towards sustaining the Green Revolution while the movement in the first place was pushed by and implemented by the government of India which could cause problems with corporations wanting to make a profit more than wanting to feed the hungry in India (Brooks, 2005).

This table from the article is very helpful in showing how the introduction of biotechnology will continue some of the same trends that were introduced with the onset of the Green Revolution but there would also be many changes. The changes, as mentioned earlier would revolve around the movement to the private sector, which changes both ownership and the range of people who will be influencing policy and implementation practices (Brooks, 2005). Though I do not believe that the only way to sustain India’s Green Revolution is through biotechnology, it seems like further research in the field, especially in modifying grains to carry more nutrients and require fewer pesticides is a good starting point.

Bibliography

Brooks, S. (2005). Biotechnology and te Politics of Truth: From the Green Revolution to an Evergreen Revolution. Sociologia Ruralis , 45 (4), 360-379.

Swaminathan, M. S. (2010). Beyond the Green Revolution: Food for All for For Ever. In From Green to Evergreen Revolution: Indian Agriculture: Performance and Emerging Challenges. New Delhi.

Swaminathan, M. S. (2010). Population and Food Security. In Handbook of Population and Development in India (pp. 50-56). Oxford University Press.

Nitrate Accumulation in Green Leafy Vegetables

             Green leafy vegetables are the source of the highest amount of nitrates that humans take in daily, constituting about 17-94%. Though nitrate is necessary for many human processes, part of the nitrate that we ingest becomes nitrite and N-nitroso compounds which have adverse effects on health (Gupta et. al., 2008). There are also many conflicting acceptable daily intake (ADI) amounts of nitrate from various organizations. The Joint Expert Committee on Food and Agriculture in the World Health Organization claims that the acceptable daily intake is 0- 3.7 mg/ kg^-1 body weight. The US Environmental Protection Agency’s limit for daily ingestion is 7.0 mg/ kg^-1 body weight. In 1995 the European Commissions Scientific Committee for Food designated that the limit for nitrate injection per day is 3.65 mg/ kg^-1 body weight. The article titled that we read titled “Health Issues Related to N Pollution in Water and Air” (Gupta et. al., 2008) cited an example that if we assume a body weight of at least 60 kg, the ingestion of just 100 g of fresh green leafy vegetables with a nitrate concentration 2500 mg/ kg^-1 weight exceeds the acceptable daily intake of nitrates by about 13% and this does not take into account any other nitrate rich sources such as water or meat that one takes in, in one day (Gupta et. al., 2008).

            The nitrate content of samples of both spinach and other similar green leafy vegetables being sold in the Indian market have been found with up to 4451 and 4293 mg/ kg^-1 weight. There also exists a large intraspecific variation of nitrate concentration based on genotype studies that have been done (Gupta et. al., 2008). Through these studies it was found that the nitrate concentration was very different based on genotype and then that dictates at which stage in growth the plat has the highest level of nitrates. For example one genotype studied exceeded the acceptable daily intake limit at three weeks growth, while six other genotypes did not exceed that limit until six weeks into growth. It was also observed that the leafstalk contains more nitrates than the leaves of the plant (Gupta et. al., 2008). But one constant in all of the genotypes studied was that they were all on a diurnal cycle on nitrate accumulation, with all having the least amount of accumulation at noon. This is because there is a direct relationship between high irradiance and nitrate accumulation which creates the diurnal pattern (Cárdenas-Navarro, Adamowicz, & Robin, 1999).

            Nitrate levels in green leafy vegetables has a inverse relationship with the enzyme nitrate reductace, which is largely responsible for the different nitrate concentrations that exist in different genotypes in one species.

Nitrate reductace

Source: Wikimedia Commons

So by over expressing nitrate reductace genes in genotypes with high nitrate accumulation we would see a greater reduction in nitrate accumulation throughout that genome as a whole (Gupta et. al., 2008). Along with that it is also important to enhance the expression of nitrate reductace so that the nitrate does not accumulate after converting to nitrite. This all would make the green leafy vegetables safer for consumption for both humans and animals but on top of that we also need to carefully select the vegetables genotypes based on their studied nitrate levels and nitrate reductace activity, harvest the plants during the lowest accumulation in their diurnal nitrate cycle (at noon) and remove the leafstalk before putting on the market so that the ingestion level of nitrates could be significantly lowered (Gupta et. al., 2008).

            In another article I read titled “Nitrate Accumulation in Plants: A Role for Water” it was discussed different outside sources that can have an effect on nitrate accumulation in plants (Cárdenas-Navarro, Adamowicz, & Robin, 1999). It is noted that there is a correlation between plant water and nitrate contents per g^-1 of dry weight in that “plant nitrate (mol g^-1 dry wt.) mimics water content (m³ g^-1 dry wt.) changes and therefore varies highly with the… endogenous and exogenous parameters: genotype, distribution in plant, short and long term dynamics, light irradiance, environmental conditions and N nutrition (Cárdenas-Navarro, Adamowicz, & Robin, 1999).

This graph shows the whole plant nitrate-water per g^-1 of dry weight relationship in lettuce. The top graph shows data for both day and night showing that the water-nitrate relationship exists in both plant cycles for a fully-grown lettuce plant. The graph on the bottom shows the overall relationship between nitrate level and water level per g^-1 of dry weight over the lettuce’s life span (Cárdenas-Navarro, Adamowicz, & Robin, 1999). So these findings, along with what was mentioned earlier about harvesting the plants by noon and selecting genotypes with the most expressed nitrate reductace and other methods, we can reduce the nitrate accumulation and help to make plants safer to eat, especially in developing regions where more nitrate has been present in their water and vegetables.

           

Bibliography

Cárdenas-Navarro, R., Adamowicz, S., & Robin, P. (1999). Nitrate Accumulation in Plants: A Role for Water. Journal of Experimental Botany , 50 (334), 316-324.

Gupta, S. K., Gupta, R. C., Chhabra, S. K., Eskiocak, S., Gupta, A. B., & Gupta, R. (2008). Health Issues Related to N Pollution in Water and Air. Current Science , 94 (11), 1470.

Fluoride in India: A Complicated Problem

One of the more interesting things that I have learned in my classes so far this semester is about the field of medical geology. While climate and environmental hazards are what most consider when discussing the livable environment of an area, the geosphere plays a large part in the lives of many in rural India who lead lives in close contact with their natural surroundings. One of the reasons that the effect on those in India is so strong is that the majority of the population gets their water and irrigates their crops with groundwater sources which is what becomes contaminated (Dissanayake, Rao, & Chandrajith, 2010). The limited access to health care and low level of awareness of toxic chemicals in their areas are also reasons that the effect on India is great. Many of these areas also experience monsoons, which cause intense chemical weathering and erosion that often wash away important nutrients (Dissanayake, Rao, & Chandrajith, 2010).

            One of the main minerals discussed in class and in the article by Dissanayake, Rao and Chandrajith was fluoride which causes fluorosis. Fluoride is commonly found in hornblende, mica, topaz and fluorite salt. In India it is found in many thermal springs, but also in numerous rivers, ground water sources and in the soil (Dissanayake, Rao, & Chandrajith, 2010). Fluoride is so interesting because it is something that is needed in moderation. In India we do not want to completely remove it from all sources since without it people are more prone to dental cavities, brittle bones, bone fractures and osteoporosis. But too much of it, such as what is being seen in India, causes dental fluorosis, skeletal fluorosis and genu valgum. Dental fluorosis causes mottled enamel and teeth corrosion while skeletal fluorosis causes limitation of movement in joints due to new bones forming and calcification of others. Genu valgum has also recently been found to be a characteristic of a new type of fluorosis (Dissanayake, Rao, & Chandrajith, 2010). This is very prevalent in Western India and in a recent An ITP census “of 25 villages in Patan and Mehsana districts showed the prevalence rates of dental fluorosis to be 50-60 per cent and of skeletal fluorosis to be 25-30 per cent in men and women in the 45-60 year age group. In a similar census in Dungarpur and Banswara districts of southern Rajasthan, prevalence rates were found to be higher even among younger age groups” (Shah, 2004). There also appears to be a correlation between fluoride in the water and vitamin D deficiencies in India that need to be addressed further. It is also interesting to note that people in the Western developed world are able to withstand more fluoride in our water without suffering the effects, while those in poverty stricken areas are much more susceptible to lower amounts of fluoride since they do not often receive enough of other important minerals such as calcium which combat the ill effects of fluoride (Dissanayake, Rao, & Chandrajith, 2010).

            Though fluorosis is difficult to treat there have been many attempts to combat it. One of these was a study by Rao and Murthy, cited in the article, that used serpentine which is very good at taking up a lot of fluoride in aqueous solutions within humans. It can be administered either through an IV or orally and though the reasoning is not completely known it has led researchers to believe that aluminum hydroxide and ferric hydroxide could also be utilized (Dissanayake, Rao, & Chandrajith, 2010). Fluorosis is also seen to be reversible in children with a proper pill regiment of calcium, vitamin A and vitamin C. There are also other methods that have been researched such as deflourination the water by adding activated alumina, using nano filtration or using what is called the Nalgonda technique. Though all of these have very good success rates and are very effective, they all take a lot of time and money (Dissanayake, Rao, & Chandrajith, 2010). They also require strong community and local government support which currently does not exist.

Thus the main step that needs to be taken next is in educating the public about fluorosis and steps that can be taken in preventing themselves from drinking contaminated water in the first place by digging deeper bore wells or finding other alternatives to ground water for drinking (Shah, 2004). This again requires time, money and the help of local and state governments in the areas that are most effected by the problem, but in the long run this is the best solution.

Bibliography

Dissanayake, C. B., Rao, C., & Chandrajith, R. (2010). Some Aspects of the Medical Geology of the Indian Subcontinent and Neighbouring Regions. Medical Geology: a Regional Synthesis, 175-198.

Shah, T. (2004). Water and Welfare: Critical Issues in India's Water Future. Economic &

Political Weekly, 39 (12), 1211-1213.