Hi Friends,

Even as I launch this today ( my 80th Birthday ), I realize that there is yet so much to say and do. There is just no time to look back, no time to wonder,"Will anyone read these pages?"

With regards,
Hemen Parekh
27 June 2013

Now as I approach my 90th birthday ( 27 June 2023 ) , I invite you to visit my Digital Avatar ( www.hemenparekh.ai ) – and continue chatting with me , even when I am no more here physically

Sunday, 18 November 2018

A Desperate Measure ?





Gujarat CM , Shri Vijay Rupani announced setting up of a Sea Water Desalination plant , costing Rs 1,000 crore



He added :


"We will set up 7-8 plants along the state's coast, which will help in making water crisis a thing of the past “



Read :

Using Reverse Osmosis technology , plant will produce 100 million liter of drinkable water per day





At what cost ?



My guesstimate :


Capital Cost   ……………………………….. Rs   1,000  cr

Interest @ 15 %  ………………………….. Rs    150  cr

Depreciation @ 10 %..................... Rs    100  cr

Operating Expenses @ 20 %  ………… Rs    200  cr

Total annual cost ……………………………  Rs    450  cr

Per day cost ( 365 days ) ………………. Rs  1.23   cr  (  Rs 12.3 Million )


 So , per liter cost …………………………… Rs  0.10  ( approx. )




Considering that , by 2020 , we may expect    Water  Wars “ in most metro cities of India , this measure may be justified



I only hope , the Policy Makers took this huge investment decision ( which will require 30 MONTHS to supply water ) , after considering the following alternatives :




 As far as India is concerned , all that is required , is to dig 700,000
    ponds / lakes ( one in each village ) , where we capture / store rain water


 These 700,000 ponds must be lined with Geo-Synthetic Fabrics to ensure
    that the captured water does not seep underground - a simple technology


[ source :




     

A device that can create water out of thin air in even arid environments has been invented that could make Coleridge’s famous line “Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink” a thing of the past.


·    Using only the power of the sun and a special material with some extraordinary properties, the device is capable of producing 2.8 litres of water in 12 hours.


·   And it can work in conditions where humidity is as low as 20 per cent.


[ source ;






Akshay  Deshmukh  [  akshay.deshmukh@yale.edu  ]


 

 

Ref :

 

·         https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=SxKsRlUAAAAJ&hl=en


 

·         https://elimelechlab.yale.edu/people/akshay-deshmukh



 

 

And his work ( getting clean water from dry desert air – using Solar energy ) is at :



 

Using Solar Power To Bring Clean Drinking Water To Remote Areas

https://scienceblog.com/499980/using-solar-power-to-bring-clean-drinking-water-to-remote-areas/



[ source :







It is very heartening that a team of scientists have just come up with such a method



By draping black, carbon-dipped paper in a triangular shape and using it to both absorb and vaporize water, they have developed a method for using sunlight to generate clean water with near-perfect efficiency
Read about this at :



[ source :










Highlights :


They prevailed by developing a system that uses shipping containerswood chips and other detritus to produce as much as 528 gallons ( 2,000 liters ) of water a day at a cost of no more than 2 cents a quart (1 liter).


They settled on creating little rainstorms inside shipping containers by heating up wood chips to produce the temperature and humidity needed to draw water from the air and the wood itself.


And if you don’t have wood chips to heat them with, coconut husksricewalnut shellsgrass clippings or just about any other such waste product will do just fine


Certainly in regions where you have a lot of  biomass  this is going to be a very simple technology to deploy,” said Matthew Stuber, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of Connecticut and expert on water systems who was one of the panel’s judges.



He called their water-making machine a “really cool” merging of rather simple technologies that can be used to quickly deliver water to regions hit by natural disasters, stricken by drought or even rural areas with a shortage of clean water.


[ source :

26  Oct  2018   ]





Before different coastal States of India , start spending lakhs of crore of rupees on Desalination Plants , I urge Prime Minister’s Science – Technology – Innovation Advisory Council to examine the above mentioned alternatives , which score over those Desalination Plants in following respects :



·         Very low initial capital cost ( could be 5 %  of Desalination plant equivalent units )



·         Erection / commissioning within WEEKS ( instead of MONTHS )



·         Solar Energy powered ( no need for coal-based / polluting electricity  )


·         Thousands of small units close to usage , eliminating piped distribution



·         No need to be only in coastal areas . Can be anywhere / even in a desert !


·         None ( or very little running maintenance cost )



·         No need to replace Reverse Osmosis Filters ( very expensive )


·         Will solve the problem of Stubble burning / smog in Delhi



·         Plants can be easily fabricated by small , local workshops generating employment





On many earlier occasions , I have said :


All the problems of the World are known


For each of these, practical / feasible solutions are also known


Only NOT known are obsessed / dedicated / committed persons , who come forward to say :
  I will implement this and won’t let anyone derail me “




References :


Indian Desalination Association






Is desalination worth its salt  ?





 =========================



19  Nov  2018




Thursday, 15 November 2018

Missing piece of Jigsaw Puzzle ?




This jigsaw puzzle consists of :



·         Our current population of Petrol/Diesel vehicles …………….. 220 +   Million


·         No of vehicles getting added per year ………………………………   10 +  Million



·         In 2 years ( by end 2020 ), population will become  …………  240 +  Million


·         Target date for complete change over to EV  ……………………… 2030




Now , if we assume that , after 2 years , ie : starting 2021,


#    No new petrol / diesel vehicles get made / sold ( no more than wishful thinking ! )


#    All new vehicles will be Electric Vehicles only




Even then ,



#  In 10 years ( between 2021 – 2030 ) , we need to replace ( through scrapping of old
    vehicles ? ), some 24 Million vehicles, EACH YEAR ( total of 240 million in 10 years ! )



If we assume that the depreciated value of those OLD vehicles is just Rs ONE lakh each, then we are talking of scrapping assets worth Rs 24,000 Crore , EACH YEAR !


Year after year , for 10 years !



Now we know that , in a Petrol / Diesel vehicle , only polluting sub-assembly is the engine



Other than the engine, the body / chasis etc of that vehicle may be in good condition and worth salvaging ( - could be half of the depreciated value of the vehicle ? )



But how ?



By retro-fitting those old Petrol / Diesel vehicles by,


#   Removing the polluting engine / transmission etc

#   Fitting in , a Lithium-ion Battery / Electric Motors / Electronic Controls etc




In short , convert them to Electric Vehicles ( - green reincarnation ? )



Some 31 months back , in my blog / email ,


[ Piyush Plan ?  /  27  March  2016  ]


I wrote :


#   DISPOSAL  OF  EXISTING  VEHICLES ( 200 million + produced till 2030 )


*  Enable / encourage MSME units to carry out " Retro Fitting " of existing vehicles


*  Vehicles older than 15 years to be taken off the roads . Encourage MSME to salvage
    whatever they can from such vehicles ( eg : Steel )


*  Provide special incentives to export such " Pre-Used / Reconditioned " to less developed
    countries




I repeated this suggestion in my following email :

Retiring Old Vehicles - Gadkari Style ?  /  30  March  2016




Then , as recently as 01 Nov 2018,  in my following e mail to our Policy Makers ,

[   Better Late than Never !  ]



I wrote :




#     Why scrap entire vehicle  ?  Why not retrofit  ?


·    In an OLD vehicle,

-      only “ Polluting Sub Assembly “ is the ENGINE


-       other “ Non-Polluting Sub Assemblies “ are :


 Body – Chasis – Transmission – Tyres etc




So , why SCRAP those non-polluting parts ?


Why not just scrap the old engine and retro-fit the vehicle with a brand NEW engine ( BS VI compliant )  ?


That will mean re-utilizing some 80 % of the asset and , at the same time getting rid of the air pollution !




Now it seems that the missing link of our jigsaw puzzle has finally arrived !





Here it is :


E-Trio Automobiles, a Hyderabad based startup will soon launch electric vehicle conversion kits for conventionally powered cars in India. The company claims to be the first enterprise to have received ARAI approval for electric vehicle kits for the Maruti Suzuki Alto and Wagon R.

The company has been testing these kits for the last two years and aims to retrofit 5,000 units in the next year. It's factory is up and running and has the capacity to produce 1,000 units per month.

The retrofitted Alto and Wagon R can run 150 km on a single charge. The company is also in discussions with other manufacturers from Japan and Thailand. These new cars will have a range of 210 km.

Sathya Yalamanchili, ( @sathya_ys) , the founder of the start-up, said that retrofitting is the way to go and need of the hour and these cars currently are the most efficient and economical cars compared to their counterparts in the market. The company's vision is to create e-mobility which inspires and nurtures pollution free India. Affordable range is the key to helping electro mobility achieve a breakthrough in the near future.

Retrofitting, if done up to a proper standard, makes a lot of sense for a price-conscious market like India where the entry-price of EVs is a major hindrance to their take-up.




Obviously , E-Trio cannot retro-fit 24 Million vehicles , each year

Each of these vehicle has a considerable salvage value – in terms of “ steel scrap

May be 21.6 Million tons of scrap from those 24 million vehicles ?

Quite a lot as compared to some 5.7 million tons of steel scrap that India imported in 2016-17 to feed its steel industry ( valued at Rs 1,500 Cr including import duty @ 26 % ? )

Not only will India save this foreign exchange but could well earn some precious foreign exchange by exporting steel scrap , generated by those 24 million vehicles  !

So , it is heartening that the Government is about to come out with : Steel Scrap Policy

Read :
There is one more piece of this jigsaw puzzle

Where – and how – will we manage to scrap those 24 million vehicles and salvage that scrap ?

It seems , even this is falling in its place !

Some time back ,in this regard ,  I had written following mails to Policy Makers :


Car Grave-Yard of World ?  /  14  Feb  2018




And further wrote :



Remember, steel scrap from just 50 million cars would amount to 45 million tons



And  when used as feed-stock for our steel plants , that would bring down the selling price of steel sheets ( used for making new vehicles ), from current Rs 50,000 per ton to Rs 30, 000 per ton  !



In turn , that would bring down the ex-factory selling price of cars by Rs 15,000 / -  , eliminating any need for providing long-term incentives / benefits to our auto industry or customers



I do hope NDA govt gives serious consideration to my suggestion


( source : One door closes ; Another opens  /  27  Feb  2018  )



It seems these suggestions are about to get implemented , as seen from :


Mega employment zones plan gets Niti Aayog approval 

 



Additional Related E Mails to Policy Makers :

 

Rename it , “ Vehicle Recycle Policy “  /  08  Aug  2018 


Mahindra Accelo : Saluting a pioneer   /   19  June 2018




My only worry at this stage is :



Will different Ministries and their umpteen departments , work in tandem ?


Will they coordinate their “ moves “ like those trapeze artists of a circus  ?


  =========================================================

16  Nov  2018