Solar Power Investment — Followup

In the earlier post on Public Investment for Solar Power I had advocated that the government of India should spend a huge deal of money in research and development of the technology for using solar power.

This is a brief response to a couple of comments to that post. First, let’s recognize that the current state of the art does not allow the harnessing of solar energy on a scale that will make conventional fuels obsolete or even make a significant dent in their demand. That is precisely why more research and development is required. If doing the R&D were cheap and easy, we would not be having this discussion because it would have been done by some enterprising corporation already. The reason I put the figure around US$100 billion is because it is going to be a hard problem — you have to solve all sorts of related issues, from storage technology to fabrication of photo-voltaic devices to the mass manufacture of associated equipment.

Second, public investment does not mean that a bunch of government entities will be doing the R&D. Funding is public but the actual work can be entirely in the private sector. The hard problem is to create the mechanism which would allocate the funds to the most productive teams. One way would be to create an independent authority or an institution along the lines of the National Science Foundation or NASA of the US.

Technology does not spontaneously arise out of thin air. Someone somewhere at some time has to have the will to make the effort to develop it. So far for all practical purposes all the modern technologies are developed in the West, particularly in the US. It is time for us to pause and wonder why it never happens in India. Are Indians incapable of developing technology? Surely they are not dumber than any other large aggregate of people. Are they lacking resources? Not really, because India is a large country, even though it is poor in per capita income and wealth. So what is the missing ingredient? I think it is a lack of vision, a lack of national pride. Sometimes in a dark mood I think that Indians are a nation of followers, not leaders.

Malaysia Revisited

The details are fuzzy as I had read this story long time ago but the lesson is clearly imprinted on my mind. Once upon a time, in land far away, some company — let’s call it ACME Corporation — put up a huge billboard advertising their ketchup. The billboard was an eyesore and the local people complained to the authorities to have the company take it down. Fact was that ACME was not breaking any city ordinances and so they refused to remove the billboard. One enterprising woman in the community had an idea on how to deal with ACME. She started a campaign telling others not to buy ACME ketchup and explained why. ACME’s ketchup sales plunged and it got the message. The billboard was history.

Consumer boycott is a very powerful weapon. It can be wielded with devastation force. Refusing to do trade with another sends a powerful message.

[Previous post: Malaysian Repression.]

When I first heard of the institutionalized discrimination of the Malaysian government against their citizens of Indian origin, my first impulse was to make a mental note that I will not fly Malaysian Airlines. If all Indians who sympathize with the discriminated group in Malaysia refuse to buy Malaysian — whether airline tickets, holidays, or furniture imported from Malaysia — it would send a clear signal of disapproval of the people of India. The Indian government has to do nothing. And besides, India has no standing when it comes to Malaysia’s internal affairs. The Indian government cannot and should not do anything, but Indians can and must do something.

The fact is that it is an integrated world — and no nation is an island. We are linked to each other through common humanity for millions of years but now we are also linked through trade and travel. We are all dependent on each other, and if someone tends to forget common humanity, we can use the trade link to remind them of our shared existence and destiny.

The Web 2.0 Bubble Song

This just cracked me up. (Hat tip: Anup Nair).

It is a brilliantly composed song and the video is packed full of very clever references. Here are a few lines that matter here:

blog blog blog it all
blog it if it’s big or small
blog at the cineplex
blog while you’re having sex
blog in the locker room
babies blogging in the womb
blog even if you’re wrong
won’t you blog about this song . . .

19.20.21

19 cities of the world with
20 million people in the
21st century

See 19.20.21 for a quick overview of the defining megatrend of the 21st century: the rise of supercities.

In the year 1800, less than 3% of the world lived in cities. Most people lived their entire lives without ever seeing one.

In 1900, 150 million people live in the world’s cities. That number has now surged past 3 billion and last year crossed another tipping point: more than half the people on earth now live in cities. By 2050 – it will be more than 2/3 of us. Humans are now an urban species, cramming into vast urban agglomerations.

Also from the presentation at the site, I note that in the year 1900, the world’s 10 largest cities were (in descending order of population) London, New York City, Paris, Berlin, Chicago, Vienna, Tokyo, St Petersburg, Manchester, and Philadelphia. The combined population of those 10 cities was approximately 26 million. By 2005, just Tokyo — the largest city then — itself had 35 million people, followed by Mexico City with 19.4 million. Mumbai with 18.2 million is listed 5th.

There is a definite trend and a correlation between the growth of cities and the progress of human civilization. India needs to figure out how to manage the transition of its rural population into livable cities. Without the urbanization of India’s rural population it is not even remotely possible for India to work its way out of poverty.

[For more on this topic, see the posts on Cities and Urbanization.]

Charlie the Coyote

The most famous coyote (I like the “kai-o-tee” pronunciation) in the whole world is Wile E. Coyote and his supplies from the ACME corporation, but I am sure that Charlie is going to be pretty famous on the internet.

From “The Daily Coyote“:

Charlie came into my life when he was just ten days old, orphaned after both his parents were killed. He lives with me and a tomcat in a one-room log cabin in Wyoming.

Definitely not work-safe as it will distract you no end. But it is food for the soul. All creatures great and small. Go marvel at the cute little critter.

Public Investment in Solar Power

All processes in our universe, from the sub-atomic to the super-galactic, involve the use of energy. The fundamental laws of thermodynamics attest to that. So it should come as no surprise that energy rests at the core of all human advancement and economic growth. The story of human civilization is principally that of an increasing ability to find and exploit energy sources. Until relatively recently in human history, animals and humans were the principle sources of energy. Slavery was an unfortunate consequence of that need for energy. Coal later powered the industrial revolution. The discovery of petroleum oil about 150 years ago literally fueled such phenomenal growth that it increased human population six-fold to its present over 6 billion.
Continue reading “Public Investment in Solar Power”

Pragati — Private Property, Right!

The Dec 2007 issue of Pragati is out. Click on the image below for a pdf copy of the magazine.

I have a piece on why India should invest in solar power R&D (which is posted here on this blog.) Quick look at the content below the fold. Continue reading “Pragati — Private Property, Right!”

On the Road towards Sudan

Republic of the Sudan is a pretty large country with a total area of 2.5 million square kms and 40 million people. The United States is about four times larger in land area and over seven times larger in terms of population. The US is also about 70 times richer per capita (official exchange rate) compared to Sudan. There are other stark differences between the US and Sudan, of course, some of which are causes and others the consequence of the immense income disparity. Here are some (Sudan, US):
Continue reading “On the Road towards Sudan”

Malaysian repression

Over in Malaysia, Malaysian Hindus (naturally therefore of Indian ancestry) are being repressed systematically. That is pity but no more than the systematic repression of anyone anywhere. I agree with The Acorn that Malaysian Hindus are Malaysians. It is their internal affair. It is their land, their laws, their government and their policies. Others should just butt out.

Recycling

Woman 1: “What is that little trash can on the screen?”

Woman 2: “My son says that is called the ‘recycle bin’. He tells me when I don’t want a Word document anymore and I delete it, it really goes in there.”

Woman 1: “Why in the recycle thingy? Can’t you just erase it?”

Woman 2: “Oh no, Word wouldn’t work for very long if I did that, I would run out of blank pages.”

Woman 1: “Why?”

Woman 2: “Because it cleans the words off the pages, then sends the blank sheets back to Word so they can be used again. That’s why it’s called the recycle bin.”