PEOPLE AND THEIR PROBLEMS

New Delhi, 7 October, 2005

Hydrogen Energy Source

TOWARDS CLEAN & GREEN ENERGY FUTURE

By Radhakrishna Rao

The skyrocketing price of the crude oil in the international market continues to impose a heavy strain on the economy of several third world countries, including India, which are fully dependent on petrol and diesel to meet the energy needs of their transport and industrial sector.  Apart from their high cost, the fossil fuels also play a key role in befouling the atmosphere in the urban areas through the release of many harmful pollutants that are a source of health hazards.

Indeed, a study carried out in the United States says that if the transport sector in the country goes in for environmental-friendly energy sources in lieu of the currently used fossil fuels, there could be a drastic decline in the incidence of asthma, respiratory disorders and other potentially life-threatening afflictions.

The study carried out by Mark Jacobson and his colleagues at Stanford University pleaded for the speedy introduction of hydrogen fuel as a replacement to oil.  It pointed out that such a step could reduce death by over 6,000 a year in the country.  Of course, Jacobson and his colleagues envision an era where all the vehicles in the US will be powered by hydrogen fuel to herald a clean and green energy future. 

As it is for the last four decades, spaceships and launch vehicles have been routinely employing the high performance cryogenic engine propelled by the energy released from the burning of hydrogen.  But the costly and complicated cryogenic engine technology used for space propulsion cannot be adopted easily for driving vehicles or running computers.

However, by combing hydrogen fuel with oxygen it is possible to generate a large quantity of electricity along with pure water as an exhaust.  The water so produced is in such a state of purity that astronauts onboard the US space shuttle used to drink the water so produced without hesitation.

Thanks to a project funded by the USAID (United States Agency for International Development), the Pune-based Bajaj Auto Ltd. joined hands with the Energy Conversion Device of Troy in Michigin to develop a fully hydrogen fuel powered autorikshaw concerns the conversion of its conventional combustion engine into the one capable of using hydrogen as an alternate fuel.

Indeed, this new avatar of the three wheeler has been projected as a major initiative towards minimizing the rigours of climatic changes brought about by an increased emission of green house gases.  For many years now, burning of fossil fuels has been considered a major contributor to the increasing volume of green house gases circulating in the global atmosphere.

Despite many constrains, the hydrogen fuel cell technology envisioned by Geoffrey Ballad is slowly gaining in popularity with many of the automobile giants taking up high profile projects to develop a commercially viable and functionally efficient hydrogen fuel cell system.  As it is, fuel cell is just like any other battery to the extent it generates electricity to propel a vehicle in the desired direction.  However, technological constraints and cost factors are impeding the popularization of hydrogen fuel cell as a source of clean energy to drive an increasing number of vehicles on the roads of the world.

Though a variety of fuel cell types are in vogue, all of them function on somewhat similar principle.  To begin with, the hydrogen is fed into the anode where a catalyst separates hydrogen’s negatively charged electrons from positively charges ions.  Thereafter, electrons are made to move through the electrolyte to cathode to combine with oxygen to produce electricity and water.  A hydrogen fuel cell can be kept operational without let or hindrance by refueling it with hydrogen obtained from a convenient source.

Obviously, hydrogen is considered both renewable and eco-friendly.  However, the biggest hindrance in the mass use of hydrogen fuel cell is the lack of practical storage methods.  For the fuel cells to be functionally efficient need to be maintained either at an extremely low temperature or at a high pressure.  Right at the moment, some of the major thrust areas of research aimed at turning hydrogen fuel cell into a popular energy source include increasing the power to weight density, zeroing in low cost and high performance material, reducing the complexity and streamlining manufacturing process for an economically viable production of hydrogen fuel cells. 

Use of Nano technology and smart materials are expected to lead to the development of fuel cells whose energy generation “Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe” says David Mao, a visiting scientist in Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago.  He along with the graduate student Wendy Mao has developed an icy material made of molecular hydrogen that requires less stringent temperature and pressure storage condition for operation.  “The new class of compounds, offer a possible alternate route for technologically useful hydrogen storage” says Russel Hemley, a senior scientist at the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institute in Washington.

On the other hand, researchers at the Texas Centre for Superconductivity and Advanced Materials of University of Houston have engineered a method to devise a “solid oxide” fuel cell that functions at half the temperature of the currently operational hydrogen fuel cell systems.  Both General Motor (GM) and Boeing are working towards developing hydrogen fuel cells and hope to hit the target by 2010.  As it is GM has achieved some success in demonstrating that compressed hydrogen and wire technology could benefit automobile uses to a large extent.

Some fine-tuning regarding the cost, reliability and ability to store hydrogen in cars could make thing smooth for use of fuel cells as the convenient driving energy source.  Boeing on the other hand is keen on engineering a hydrogen fuel cell for use in aircraft.  But Boeing had made it clear that at the present level of technological growth, hydrogen fuel cells are not economically viable option for aircraft.

The California-based outfit Ultra Cell has succeeded in developing a light weight and high performance hydrogen fuel cell weighing just 1.3 kg.  In fact, Ultra Cell achieved a breakthrough in converting methanol into hydrogen inside the device to generate power.  But the hindrance is that this involves a chemical reaction running at about 280 degrees Celsius.  As such the crux of the problem is how to minimize the temperature to render the system an operationally viable unit. 

In the ultimate analysis, a number of technological challenges need to be surmounted to create an ideal hydrogen fuel cell wherein hydrogen combines with oxygen to produce power within the permissible range of pressure and temperature.  And, of course, the cost of a hydrogen fuel cell would also need to be brought down by a substantial extent in order to make it a popular energy source.---INFA

 (Copyright, India News and feature Alliance)

PEOPLE AND THEIR PROBLEMS

New Delhi, 11 November 2005

Poverty Alleviation Plan

EXPLOITING POTENTIALS OF BAMBOO

By Radhakrishna  Rao

Hailed as the “green fold of the forest” and “poor man’s timber”, the lean, tall and gracious bamboo is an eco-friendly natural resource of great utility which has been meeting a wide ranging needs of  human society from time immemorial. China, on its part, has succeeded in turning bamboo into a lucrative foreign exchange earner through the production and export of many innovative bamboo products.

India which has the second highest resource of bamboo in the world, is also planning to  make it big in the global market for bamboo products. But then there is a huge demand and supply gap insofar as bamboo is concerned. Right now, the supply of bamboo is about 13.47-million tonnes, while the demand is pegged at 26.9-million tonnes.

Indian hopes to overcome the gap by raising commercial bamboo plantations. The Union Government, on its part, has unveiled a national mission on bamboo trade and technology under which thrust is being given to the production of innovative items and their marketing. The major objective of the mission is to serve “as an instrument of poverty alleviation and employment generation, particularly in the rural areas.”

In recent years, there has been a growing emphasis on promoting the cultivation of bamboo varieties. Bamboo which has traditionally been used in paper and rayon production, is now being used to build dwellings in many parts of the world. Bamboo is also now used to make match-sticks and incense sticks. By 2015, the Indian bamboo industry is estimated to grow to US$5.7-billion sector as against US$174-million sector in 2000”, says a spokesman of International Network for Bamboo and Ratan (INBAR).

Indian paper industry which has for long been dependent on bamboo as a cheap raw material has to go in for costlier feedstock in the context of the acute shortage of bamboo in the country. Bamboo forests in India cover 10.03-million hectares making for 12.8 per cent of forest area in the country.

A large proportion of the tribal population in the country is dependent on bamboo for its livelihood. In Karnataka, Medhara tribals who have been for centuries making a living by bamboo products, are finding it difficult to make both the ends meet on account of an acute shortage of bamboo.

The  hilly, north-eastern region of India   accounts for two-thirds of the total bamboo stock in the country. But in the absence of a well-organized production facility and marketing network people in many part of north east India are not in a position  to exploit the economic potentials of this eco-friendly forest species .Meanwhile, there is a concern in part of north-east India over the bamboo flowering expected to take place during 2006-07. For bamboo flowering in this part of the country has been associated with rat infestations and famine. For rat invasion is known to follow bamboo flowering In fact, way back in 1959, bamboo flowering in Mizoram led to widespread starvation leading to the separatist movement. Scientists,  on their part, point out that the “gregarious bamboo flowering” causes widespread ecological havocs.

Perhaps, no other natural species is used to make as many products as bamboo .From the  traditional weapons of the aboriginals to the scaffoldings of modern high rise buildings, bamboo continues to play its role in human civilization. This noble grass  can be  made into baskets and chairs, chopsticks, hats and ladders. Thus, the use to which the bamboo can   be put is endless. As the 800 year old Chinese philosopher,  Poo-Son-Tong said ,”A meal should have a meat but a house must have a bamboo Without bamboo, we lose serenity and culture  itself”.

Depending on the species, the bamboo flowering takes place anywhere between  60 and 120 years .Flowering is spread  over a year or two and is gregarious  nature. The bamboo dies after flowering because the old leaves fall and instead of  followed by regeneration are replaced by flowers.

Indonesia is the world’s largest producer of bamboo. About half-a-million people in South-East Asia derive their employment directly from the bamboo cultivation, extraction and processing. From birth to death,  bamboo plays a crucial role in the lives of the millions of people in South East Asia.

Incidentally, the destruction of bamboo forests also means a severe disturbance in the fine-tuned eco-system of a closed forest. A host of animals from weevils to wild elephants, feed on bamboo flowers that carpet the floor of the forests. The disappearance of bamboo forests also leads  to the growth of invidious weed eupatorium glandulosum, particularly in the moist parts of the forest .Once the compact weeds take over, it smothers the and totally suppresses all other vegetation

In Bangalore, the Indian Plywood Industry Research and Training Institute has  developed the technological elements for building dwellings with the reinforced bamboo. There is a move to popularize the cost-efficient and eco-friendly bamboo houses in both the rural and urban areas of India. The Bangkok-based Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) has played a key role in popularizing bamboo houses in rural pockets of Thailand with a high degree of success. ….INFA

 (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

PEOPLE AND THEIR PROBLEMS

New Delhi, 30 September 2005

Future Of Genetic Medicine

FORAYS INTO STEM CELL RESEARCH

By Radhakrishna Rao

A number of initiatives spearheaded by both the Government-funded agencies and private sector outfits in India are all set to give a new direction and orientation to the state-of-the-art stem cell research described as the future of medical science. For quite sometime now, there has been a growing realization of the need to foster and strengthen public private partnership to sustain the tempo of stem cell research which calls for a huge investment and creation of research facilities.

“Public-private partnership is inevitable for sustainability due to high cost involved in stem cell research” says Dr.Chander P.Puri, Director of the Mumbai based National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health (NIRH), which functions under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Interestingly, the Union Health Ministry has sanctioned a grant of Rs.5-million to NIRH to help set up a well-equipped stem cell research facility in Mumbai.

On its part, the Union Health Ministry is in dialogue with the privately-owned Korean research enterprise Histostem for setting up four umbilical cord blood banks in India. Incidentally, cryo storage of umbilical cord, the richest source of stem cells, is gaining in popularity. Described as a bio-insurance the stored umbilical cord stem cells can be used to set right many of the hitherto incurable afflictions at any point of the life of an individual.  The stem cell bank has been described as the future of genetic medicine.

As pointed out by Dr.A.Ramdoss, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister, human stem cell banking in India could receive a boost in the country if 2.5-crore waste umbilical cord were cryo-frozen and later used for stem cell research. “There is a need to stop this wastage and these could be channelized   to stem cell banks”, he said.

For many years now, bio-medical researchers have been envisioning the use of stem cells to cure degenerate disorders including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Researchers have found that these cells when injected into the affected areas begin replicating and transforming into cells of the organ, in the process recovering the degenerate disease. 

In a significant breakthrough the New Delhi-based All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) has pioneered a novel injection method for an effective stem cell therapy.  This innovative technique perfected by doctors at this prestigious Institute helps to deliver the stem cells to the site of the diseased organ in patient suffering from a variety of ailments.

According the AIIMS sources, the specialized stem cells that are versatile enough to perform a variety of functions initiate the process of repair and regeneration of diseases cells.  This, in turn, substantially brings down the severity of disease.  Over the last two years, more than 30 patients suffering from heart-related ailments were subjected to stem cell treatment.  In majority of cases, the dead heart muscles of the patients were revived.  It has held out the hope of setting right several immune related disorders and degenerate diseases. 

In Banglore, the Manipal Hospital is planning to carry out stem cell-based trial to tackle neurological and other disorders.  According to Satish Totey, Director of Stem Cell Research Centre at the Hospital, trials will be conducted for persons suffering from myocardial infraction, spinal cord injury, peripheral arterial diseases and optic nerve.

On another front, Appolo hospital group has tied up with Histostem to set up a stem cell therapy Centre which will make use of the cord blood. Reliance Life Sciences in Mumbai, National Centre for Biological Science and Pune-based National Centre for Life Sciences are some of the major centers of excellence in the area of stem cell research.  On its part, Reliance Life Sciences has revealed that it will invest Rs.200 million for speeding up stem cell research. 

The Hyderabad-based L.V. Prasad Eye Institute is among the few medical centers in the world that have been putting the fruits of stem cell research to the good use.  Here doctors take about one millimeter limbal tissue from the healthy eye of the patient, culture them on an appropriate surface and graft it on to the diseased eye. 

The Banglore-based Cryostem Karnataka Pvt. Ltd, which is both a cord stem cell bank and research center has entered into an agreement with Malasia’s Stem Life to expand the scope of its research and development activities.  This tie up is expected to pave way for opening up the stem cell transplantation facilities in various parts of S.E. Asia.  “This tie up with Stem Life is important and will strengthen our endeavour in fighting the disease that don’t have a cure and those include Parkinson’s disease, Alzhiemer’s, diabetes and myocardial infarction” says Dr. S.G.A. Rao, Chairman of Managing Director of Cryostem Karnataka.

Basically, stem cells are considered wonder cells that are capable of developing into any of more than 200 cell types that make up the human body.  As such stem cell research offers potential of replacing the “faulty” and “malfunctioning” tissues and pave way for curing the hitherto incurable diseases.  Stem cells grow into virtually and kind of tissue in human body when properly nurtured.  The new stem cell lines, researchers hope, can replace the old ones and worn out cells within the human body, serving as a miracle cure for degenerative diseases.

All said and done, many aspects and features of stem cells continue to puzzle researchers.  As pointed out by Dr. Peter A. Andrews, Chairman of the International Stem Cell Forum, “The basic science of stem cell biology is still not fully well understood.  By and large, people today know how to derive stem cell but we do not know what exactly do they do and how to control them.  We do not know how to keep them in desired state so that they can be used when needed.  All this will take time, perhaps the normal span in any new treatment. 

With the US restricting the scope of stem cell research under pressure from Christian fundamentalists, countries such as India, South Korea, China and Japan are expected to take lead in this vital research could prove costly for the USA which seems to buckling under the influence of Christian Taliban.---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Features Alliance)

PEOPLE AND THEIR PROBLEMS

NEW DELHI, 16 September 2005

 
Children’s Death-Trap

VICTIMS OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION

By Radhakrishna Rao

An increasing number of children get seriously affected or killed by pollution, unsafe water and poor sanitation the world over. In many urban centre of the world, a high content of led in the air -- a fall out of the explosive growth in the numbers of fossil fuel driven motor vehicles-- is known to cause a variety of physical and mental disorders among the school-going children. Similarly, polluted and unsafe water kills hundreds of thousands of children across the world. Even the industrially developed countries of Europe are not immune   to this global   trend.

According to public health experts, environmental pollution and unsafe water are major factors leading to one-third of child and adolescent deaths in many parts of Europe. As it is, pollution from burning coal and wood used to heat individual homes during the peak winter season is a major killer of children in the Central Asian Republic. On the other hand, polluted water and poor sanitation have been found to be the major cause of death in East European countries. "One third of all death of children and adolescents in the European region can be attributed to environmental factors," points out Giorgio Tamburlini of the Institute of Child Health in Trieste, Italy.

On the other hand, an extensive field study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) comes to the conclusion that one lakh deaths and six million years of healthy life are lost each year in children from birth to the 19th year of age in many parts of Europe. "This is the first assessment of the health effect in children and adolescents of environmental factors in the European region" says a report published in the reputed medical journal Lancet.

Indeed, medical researchers drive home the point that children are more susceptible to the effects of environmental hazards because they live and play closer to the ground and have less control over their environment. About 23,000 children up to four years of age die from pneumonia and other respiratory disorders that have their roots in indoor and outdoor pollution. "Intervention is able to reduce the exposure to children to risk factors, ranging from outdoor and indoor pollution to lack of safe water to unsafe housing and transport are going to produce substantial benefits in terms of disease, disability and death" says Tamburlini.

In a significant finding, a team of scientists in the United Kingdom has proved that the harmful atmospheric pollutants could cross the placenta to affect the developing foetus. According to Prof. Alan Pruce, Professor of Medical Physics at the University of Bristol, the unborn child is particularly sensitive to the effects of the mother's response to environmental agents through placenta transfer. As pointed out by Pruce, "We found that foetal organ concentration can exceed those of the mothers which may have implications due to the increment sensitivity of the foetus. The exact levels are as yet unknown but we know that childhood leukaemia is initiated ".

As researchers observe the damage to the chromosomes tends to linger, making people more susceptible to cancerous disorders. Many studies in various parts of the world, have come to the solid conclusion that pollutants could cause genetic changes leading to the onset of leukaemia and other forms of cancer." While we cannot estimate the precise increase in the cancer risk, our findings underscore the need for policy makers to take appropriate measures to protect children from these avoidable exposure" says Dr. Frederic Perera of the Columbia University's Centre for Children's Environmental Health in New York.

Studies carried elsewhere in the US go to show that the school going children exposed to   diesel exhaust fumes while traveling to the schools during a school year of up to 200 days, had to face a higher risk of respiratory disorders. Nearer home, a study of about 20,000 school going children carried out in Bangalore showed that they faced an increased risk of respiratory disorders. According to Ameer Ahmed, an environmental engineer the high prevalence of diesel particulate matter in the air in cities such as Bangalore is a matter of serious concern. He feels that there are still no stringent quality checks on emission levels of the vehicles in India. ---- INFA

(Copyright India News and Feature Alliance)