Have you looked at your energy bill recently? What is the amount you pay every month for power? For water? Have you asked yourself what the break up of power used in your house is? Do you realise how much of the power bill is coming out of use of your geysers? How much is used by fans, your lighting, your TV set, the grinder and mixer in the kitchen, or worse that electric oven that your mother gifted you on your last birthday? How much of the power is used in your kitchen by the refrigerator, may be the heating plate, and such other appliances that didn’t exist even 30 years ago?

Your water bill is so small every month that you don’t even need to think about it. How much do we use as water in the shower, how much at the wash basin when you brush your teeth or wash your face, how much do you drain down the flush tanks, for washing vegetables and meat, for cooking, for swabbing, for your gardens, for your carwash?

If you paused and reflected on what this means to the government, it would be a sobering experience. But then you could well say, “How can what I use at my house make such a big difference for the government or whoever supplies me power and water?” Or another legitimate response could be, “Anyway I pay my taxes – income tax, property tax, development cess, and such. I should be entitled to these things from the government”.

Look at it another way. If you stop using the two geysers in your house, you will drop the demand load by 4 KW. And if Bangalore’s 500,000 houses did the same, there’d be a drop in demand load of as much as 2000,000 kilowatts, or 2000 MW. To give you a perspective, the city today enjoys [or suffers?] a total demand load for power of under 10,000 MW. The daily power cuts that you endure now would be almost gone, by this one act alone – no geysers, no power cuts. And if you can’t get yourself to make that effort of scrapping the geyser, at least ensure that you put it on only in the non-peak load hours, when the pressure on the system is not so high?

Every state of India and the country as a whole is reeling under power shortage. We have a massive 50 per cent chasm between supply and demand. We have no way of creating more power-generating stations, without putting at peril our rivers, our mountains and forests. We know the dangers of creating nuclear power stations. We are today dependent up to 80 per cent on our coal-fired thermal stations like the one at Raichur, or Neyveli or Ramagundam. The future clearly shows that we cannot generate as much power as we managed to do in the past 50 years.

There is also the cost the government incurs to generate energy. It is way beyond what we pay. In Pondicherry people pay a paltry Re.1.50 per unit consumed while it costs about Rs.18 per unit for the government to produce/procure the power. Who bears the deficit? In Bangalore we pay Rs.4 per a unit on an average. In Gujarat, Kerala and AP, people pay a little over Rs.8 a unit used. In Tamilnadu the tariff for homes is about Rs.5. These deficits in cost recovered will guarantee that this route of power generation and distribution with massive subsidies will not sustain for too many years.

The solution is not generation, as much as energy efficiency: how do we change the way we do things to save energy. Every one unit that you save at home results in saving of 10 units of generation. And that’s a lot of money saved on the exchequer, for every MW we have to produce as a country costs about USD 2 billion, or Rs 10,000 crores. It’s a senseless number that only leaves the residual image of how many minions in the bureaucracy and starchy businessmen line their pockets with the monies that flow.

When you talk of water, again you can see that it is not about water cost as much as it is about water management. Installing a simple set of aerators or flow restrictors at every tap and shower head in your house will save up to 35,000 liters every year. If there are 500,000 houses, just this set of aerators at Rs.2000 a house can save the city up to 35-40 million liters every day – that’s against the city’s total demand of 800 million liters a day. If you’ve decided to treat all the waste water that your kitchen and toilet put out, and if you use this recycled water to meet your flush tank needs, or of your gardens, you will have dropped demand for water in your house by 60 per cent. That amounts to about 400 liters a day to a family of four. For 500,000 houses this means 200 million liters a day! This is one-quarter of today’s daily demand in the city.

Two startling facts
Bangaloreans in particular will be shocked to know two very startling facts. One is that we get no more than 250 million liters a day in the city from all four phases of the Cauvery Water Supply plan. There is no more water that Cauvery can give us since it is a finite source. The rest of the water in the city is today being met with over 5 lakh borewells that have increased the demand load for power by as much as 1.2 million MW in the last 20 years alone! In every large and small city, this is the reality: 75 per cent is drawn from groundwater reserves of the earth.

The second startling fact we should know is that we pay only Rs.6 for every 1000 liters that the Water Supply Board gives us. If you bought a tanker of water, you pay up to Rs.30 a kiloliter, which is 5 times the Water Supply Board cost. The Water Supply Board itself spends as much Rs.19 per kilo liter for the water that they give you at Rs.6! Can you see the massive losses that we are all incurring as a city? Is this viable? Can you do something about it to see that you drop the demand for fresh water by 50 per cent in your house?

All this can be done by you without having to either spend too much money or forego any comfort or convenience. What is more, you save on your power bills and water bills as you effect these savings and bring efficiency to use of water and power.

- Chandrashekar Hariharan
24 Jul 2010

Chandrashekar Hariharan is CEO of Biodiversity Conservation India, the Bangalore-based pioneer of green buildings. (Full disclosure: Ashwin Mahesh, co-editor of India Together, is a member of the Board of Directors at BCIL).

Source: IndiaTogether.org

I quit my job to focus my energies to the cause of ‘ek titli’ and also working on the relationship, but in vain. The titli is gearing for its flight but unfortunately the relationship didn’t see the light of the day. I think its nature’s way of saying, hey I gotta take something to give something.

The other day I was watching this movie called Jaan-e-Mann starring Salman Khan, Preity Zinta and Akshay Kumar and the lyrics of one of the songs describes my situation. Here it is:

Sau dard hain (in hindi)
A hundred pains (translated to english)

Sau rahatein
A hundred pathways

Sab mila dilnasheen
I got it all my love

Ek tu hi nahin
I just didn’t get you

Ruki ruki si yeh hawa
Feels like the wind has stopped blowing

Aur sookhe patte ki tarah
And like a dried up leaf

Shehar ki sadkon pe main
On the streets of the city

Laawaris udhta hua
I am flying around all alone

Sau raaste par teri raah nahin
A hundred roads but yours is missing

To listen to the song, click here.

Though it’s been a year of learning’s and experiences, there were also those that took my breath away.. and one of them was 2nd Nov, my birthday.

The evening of the 1st was spent at a family friends place to celebrate his wife’s birthday. I headed back home to celebrate my day with my siblings and Ma. It was special for Mom because we were celebrating it together after around 7 years. Though, I wanted my friends to be a part of it but none of them were making it as some of them were in Indore attending a wedding and the others in Pune, due to work commitments. So, this birthday was expected to be a quiet celebration… but not until 5 Spider Men barged into the house just before the stroke of 12.

Even before I could fathom the fact that my friends are here, my sisters emptied an entire can of Shaving Foam on me. Very Lathery! [check the pictures here]

Getting back to my friends, they took a flight from Indore only to make it for my birthday. One of the best surprises I have ever been a part of or experienced. It was one of those days where everyone played a part to make the day as special as ever.

Thanks guys… thanks a ton.. I promise that when your day comes, I’ll make it as special as ever. Thanks again.

I have set myself a few goals for the coming year and I am hoping to aggressively pursue it this time. The one of utmost importance and priority is given below:

• See that the titli reaches great heights or is on its way to glory. Using it as a platform, encourage citizens to “act now” for a green today and a greener tomorrow.

Until my next post, here’s wishing you a very Happy New Year. May the coming year be filled with Greenery, Smiles and loads of Sunshine

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

For further reading click here. To Join the cause on FaceBook Click here

a trash-covered creek in Manila, Philippines, where slums often adjoin rubbish dumps. The country's poorest sift through the garbage to find discarded objects they can sell on or re-use, or even scraps of food to eat.

How long until we realize that we are sitting on a chair with a bamboo growing under our @ss and when it’s time to move out, it’s too late ‘coz you are freaking stuck to the chair and the bamboo continues to grow, unperturbed about what it’s going to touch. It will continue to grow with a lot of force: Like it fu*&ing has a brain.

But, we do.

So what are you doing, as an individual to combat climate change, fight Global Warming and prevent it’s ill-affects? Celebrate another “world environment day” until the bamboo … do I need to mention !

There’s a small story I want to tell you.. the wash room at my work place has a paper-napkin vending machine. You don’t need to drop in a coin to get paper… but just pull it out, wipe your hands and throw it in the bin. Why can’t these guys, bloody carry a handkerchief? I didn’t care to ask them. I dont’ want to educate, “educated” people. Nature help these “educated” people; I don’t think it cares. It must be happy that it will get rid of us.

Now getting back to the Great Bamboo Story, if it begins to hurt.. .. dude… I will move the chair.

An employee works inside the Caivano dump, near Naples, southern Italy, where rubbish is turned into bales. Neapolitans took the law into their own hands after the city ran out of space to dump rubbish

A huge mound of waste at a dump in New Orleans, a year after Hurricane Katrina struck

Carrier bags from the British supermarket chain Tesco contribute to pollution in the Shunde district of Guangdong, China. Italian, Dutch and British waste is recycled in the area, but as many as 3bn plastic bags are used in China every day

Computer parts lie on the ground at a dump in Accra, Ghana. Thousands of discarded computers from western Europe and the US arrive in the ports of west Africa every day, ending up in massive toxic dumps where children burn and pull them apart to extract metals for cash.

A cow feeds on plastic bags and other garbage along a stream in New Delhi, India

Farm waste and used pesticide containers pile up in a natural water reserve, which has become an illegal dump,according to environmental group Ecologistas en Accion, in El Ejido, south-east Spain

Birds on a tree among plastic materials in Changzhi, Shanxi province

Sheep feed off rubbish left on one of Albania's biggest beach resorts of Durres

In this photo released by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, marine debris has been washed ashore on Laysan Island in the Hawaiian Islands

Picture source: guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009

I dreamt of being a saint when i was 11. We were studying about religions then. Jainism and Buddhism fascinated me; which eventually earned me a nickname in St Pauls, ‘saddhu‘. A year later, physics enthralled me. I got down making motor boats, vacuum cleaners, lifts, models of aero planes and jets. I loved my name then, kinda Hollywooddy, ‘Mad Professor Dugar‘. My love for Physics sprouted into my dream of becoming an engineer and later taking up a profession in the marketing line. But in all these years, there was a dream, a constant dream in my sub-conscious mind, a dream to do something for the cause of the environment.

Last year i founded ek titli, Experimented by sending money to people to plant trees. It didn’t work. This year, I took it a step further. A few of my friends and i distributed potted plants for free at a multiplex in Pune [for details, please click here]. This was basically to test the waters. I wanted to understand how serious the recipients were about plants, about global warming. They were serious. There were many who were willing to help us and support us for the forthcoming activities. We took it as an achievement and pride. It was very encouraging for us, very encouraging for me. My obscure dreams were getting clearer and defined. A dream of clean roads, clean cities. A dream of purity in air, purity in water. A dream of green technologies and green energy. A dream where we will all be self sufficient. Everything will be recyclable and renewable.

It’s said that if you want something, shoot it to the universe and the universe gives it to you. So here are my visions for ek titli:

1. A company dedicated only to the betterment of the environment.
2. Educating children on the impacts of global warming and how they can make a difference.
3. Increasing greenery in towns and villages in every possible way.
4. Building an “all natural township”. Also considering adopting a village/town/city where every form of energy used is naturally acquired. Either through Solar, bio gas, wind, etc.

A couple of people have shown their enthusiasm and interest. Meanwhile Bhavik and me are getting the website ready and looking for details on registering the name. We plan to take the free distribution of potted plants further, Do it at multiple locations and cities so that the importance and urgency can be felt by one and all. If you would like to be of any help do mail me at vaibhav {at} ektitli {dot} org

Unitl then, I’ll work towards building my dream ‘coz I believe that The titli needs a tree, the titli will survive.

links: ektitli.org | Event Blog | Event Pictures | FaceBook Group

• If you can’t stand up for yourself then you can’t stand up for anyone else.
• If you can’t control your mind, you can’t control your life
• If you can’t be true to yourself, you won’t be true to anyone else.
• If you have a million thoughts at the same time, you’ll have your hands in too many things at any point of time.
• If you can’t keep yourself happy; you won’t keep anyone happy.

Mumbai has also seen another successful campaign. It was the “Mumbai Un-plug” campaign. Citizens were requested to switch off all electricity appliances for an hour on this particular day.

Seeing two successful awareness campaigns happening in the city, can trigger more awareness drives. I am listing a few down, which I believe will be as successful as the others.

• No ‘peeing’ day: There’s not a single wall in the city that can boast that ‘I haven’t been ‘pee-ed’ upon!‘
• No spitting day: ditto
• Walk on footpaths day: But for that, we need to get rid of all the hawkers, vendors, garbage who happily call these footpaths their homes.
• No Newspaper day: I am sure this will be a pain for so many people who rely on the newspaper first thing in the morning. It helps them drink their morning tea, finish with the loo, etc but above all it will help the environment. So many Trees will survive.
• No Smoking day: If this actually happens, many Mumbaikars will die of hypertension and stress!mu Many believe that Smoking is the best way to kill tension, stress, viz.
• No email day: If this happens (why should it?), it will be back to the “Morse Code” days.
• Say Hi with a smile day: Mumbai is one of the loneliest cities to live in. Saying Hi with a smile to a stranger will make so much of a difference to this reputation that Mumbai has earned.

The remainder either weren’t aware of such a movement (where on the 15th of December, all electrical appliances and consumers had to be switched off from 7:30 pm IST for an hour) or they had this to say, “How Does it Matter?”

Such people are apprehensive because we humans are always pessimistic about a change or trying something new.

Humans believe that they always need a leader to perform a show, it talks about our dependency. It’s sad to say that they/we have forgotten the power of ‘I’
For the fight against Global Warming we don’t need leaders, we need ‘I’s. It has to be you, me and our contemporaries joining hands not to follow someone but working together to fight it.

You may be the one who said, “How does it Matter?” but remember it’s the thought that matters because a thought becomes a habit; a habit becomes your nature; a nature your character. And it’s this character that creates Revolutions.
So, don’t kill the thought by saying “How does it matter?”

Related Tags : mumbai unplug batti bandh global warming mumbai

This Post got featured in Mumbai Mirror on the 17th of December.
[To view the epaper of the article click here, to see the article on Mumbai Mirror.com, click here]
Thankyou