The treated potato battery generates energy that is five to 50 times cheaper than commercially available batteries, Yissum Research Development Co said on today. A light powered by the battery is at least six times more economical than kerosene lamps often used in the developing world.

??The ability to provide electrical power with such simple and natural means could benefit millions of people in the developing word, literally bringing light and telecommunication to their life in areas currently lacking electrical infrastructure,?? Yaacov Michlin, chief executive of Yissum, said in a statement.

The findings were published in the June issue of the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy.

Haim Rabinowitch and research student Alex Golberg at Israel??s Hebrew University jointly with Boris Rubinsky at the University of California at Berkeley discovered a new way to construct an efficient battery using zinc and copper electrodes and a slice of an ordinary potato.

They found that boiling the potato prior to use in electrolysis increased electric power up to 10-fold over the untreated potato and enabled the battery to work for days and even weeks.

Potatoes are produced in 130 countries over a wide range of climates and thus available year round. It is the world??s number one non-grain starch food commodity.

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powergrid-Bangladesh

According to a decision, made at a regular cabinet meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair, Finance Minister AMA Muhith, Planning Minister AK Khandaker and PM’s Finance Affairs Adviser Moshiur Rahman will scrutinise the deal for ratification.

PM’s Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad said this to reporters after the meeting

“The cabinet has formed a high-powered committee to settle the agreement on power import from India,” Abul Kalam Azad, press secretary to the Prime Minister told reporters after the cabinet meeting at the Secretariat.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith, Planning Minister AK Khandker and Prime Minister”s Finance Affairs Adviser Dr Mashiur Rahman were asked to submit the report in this regard soon.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the cabinet meeting.
The MoU on power import was signed during Sheikh Hasina”s recent visit to India. The government would also ratify the MoU after getting the report, press secretary said.
Azad said the government has decided to import power from the friendly nation to meet the demand alongside producing electricity locally.
He said that a contract would be signed between Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and the National Thermal Power Corporation of India on the import.
The press secretary said the cabinet also approved Bangladesh Parjatan Board Bill-2010 for the improvement of services in the tourism industry.
On December 24, 2009, the cabinet sent back the law for further amendments and final approval.
The meeting also approved Bangladesh Non-government Primary Teachers Welfare Trust Bill-2010. Under the new bill, a teacher would be the member secretary of the welfare trust and there would be two vice-chairmen in place of one.
Ministers, state ministers and secretaries, among others, were present at the meeting. Besides, the cabinet approved the final draft of Ansar (Amendment) Act-2010 to regularise the jobs of the Ansars after nine years of service, which previously was 12 years.
The cabinet meeting was also informed about the recent visit of Ministry of Expatriates” Welfare & Overseas Employment (MEWOE) Eng Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain to Lebanon for exploring market.

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U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar gave the green light for the 130-turbine, 420-megawatt Cape Wind project in Horseshoe Shoal, Nantucket Sound, in what supporters considered a huge step forward for renewable energy in the United States.

“This project fits with the tradition of sustainable development in the area,” Salazar said in Boston.

Although small in terms of its production — the $1 billion facility would produce enough electricity to power about 400,000 houses — its approval raises hopes that other offshore wind projects will follow.

Several projects that could power hundreds of thousands of customers have already been proposed for the East Coast and the Great Lakes.

The turbines, more than 400 feet high, will dot an area of about 24 square miles (62 square km), larger than Manhattan, and be visible low on the horizon from parts of Cape Cod.

German conglomerate Siemens AG will provide the turbines.

The decision to approve Cape Wind, subject to certain conditions designed to protect offshore waters from damage and reduce visibility, is expected to face legal challenges, but Salazar said he was confident the approval would stand.

Supporters have argued that wind farms represent a giant push for renewable energy efforts and reducing dependence on foreign oil, and fit well with the Obama administration’s energy strategy.

“Greenpeace has been campaigning to get the Cape Wind project built for nearly a decade, and today’s victory is worth celebrating. It long overdue,” said Kert Davies, research director at the environmental group.

YEARS OF REVIEW

Cape Wind was subject to years of environmental review and political maneuvering, including adamant opposition from the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, whose six-acre (2.4 hectare) family compound in Hyannis Port overlooks Nantucket Sound.

A final ruling was near in 2009, but delayed further after two Wampanoag Indian tribes complained that the giant turbines would disturb spiritual sun greetings and possibly ancestral artifacts and burial grounds on the seabed.

Opponents have deemed the project an eyesore, and raised issues ranging from a detrimental effect on property values in the popular vacation area south of Boston, to possible damage to birds, whales, fishing, aviation, and historic sites.

The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, a federal agency in charge of safeguarding historic landmarks, recommended this month that the project be rejected.

The governors of six eastern U.S. states shot back in a letter to Salazar, arguing that other offshore projects will likely be abandoned if the Cape Wind project was rejected.

Salazar cited that letter as part of his decision. “We believe there is huge potential for offshore wind along the Atlantic. We don’t want to be second to anyone,” he said.

U.S. wind generation increased by 27 percent last year, accounting for 2 percent of total electricity supplies, according to the Energy Department. Wind power supports about 85,000 American jobs.

“Renewable energy projects like these not only help fight climate change, they can create jobs and play a central role in our economic recovery,” said Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Several countries have achieved much higher levels of wind power generation, often with large government subsidies, including Denmark, Spain and Portugal.

…………………OVERVIEW
LOCATION: Wind farm developers Cape Wind would build 130 turbines over a 25-mile stretch of Nantucket Sound. The 400-foot turbines would be between five miles off Cape Cod at their closest point to land to 14 miles off Nantucket at the greatest distance.

ENERGY: Cape Wind says it can generate power by 2012 and eventually would supply three-quarters of the power on Cape Cod, which has about 225,000 residents.

COST: Estimated at more than $2 billion, to be privately funded with opportunities to obtain federal stimulus dollars and tax credits.

OPPOSITION: Native American tribes say the project would interfere with sacred rituals and desecrate tribal burial sites. Others claim it would hurt the ecology of Nantucket Sound and endanger marine traffic while raising energy prices.

sources

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“All the three plants will be run by either furnace oil or natural gas,” chairman of Power Development Board (PDB) ASM Alamgir Kabir told the FE.

Two of them, to be built at Keraniganj and Madanganj, will have 150 mw to 225 mw capacity each and generate electricity for 22 years and the remaining one at Jamalpur with 100 mw will generate power for 15 years.

State-owned PDB earlier invited pre-qualification (PQ) bids for the three plants and set June 6 next as the last date for submission of documents.

With these three, 11 fossil fuel run power plant projects are now put on offer for the private bidders from home and abroad to generate a total of 2,120 mw electricity.

The BPDB will provide land for the power plants and purchase electricity from the operators at their offered rates.

The state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) will provide fuel for the furnace oil-run IPP power plants.

Contract signing with the bid winners for all the power plant projects is expected to take place in January 2011.

The power ministry will appoint an evaluation committee for each of the projects to scrutinise the applications.

The aspiring sponsors may apply either individually or as a consortium for the power plant projects, but they must have previous international experience in this field.

In case of consortium, the lead member and the operating members must have required equity participation and experience and must meet financial and technical criteria as stated in the bid documents.

The government is putting electricity generation high on agenda as it has pledged to increase the country’s overall electricity generation to 5000 mw by 2011 and to 7000 mw by 2013.

Bangladesh’s electricity generation is now hovering around 4000 mw against the demand for over 5500 mw during peak hours.

The power ministry recently presented a number of power plant projects, including those already offered, before the investors during three overseas road-shows in London, New York and Singapore.

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Against this backdrop, the efforts for expanding the capacity for the use of renewable solar energy do merit attention. If the government really means business about what it has promised to the people for improving the situation sooner rather than later, it must vigorously work for facilitating wider use of solar panels as far as practicable. Such efforts at the initiative of the government should now move much beyond the PMO and the Bangladesh Bank to all other government buildings and public offices. Likewise, a strong pro-active public policy needs to be operationalised at the earliest to encourage the use of solar energy in the private sector. All such steps should come in tandem in order to create a real momentum for the use of solar energy, wherever it is feasible and, thus, possible. In this context, the refinancing facility of the central bank to the commercial banks against loans for installation of solar systems in both urban and rural areas is a step in the right direction. There should now be in place a built-in mechanism for regular monitoring of the activities of the commercial banks for expanding credit facilities to encourage wider use of solar energy.

Increasing the spread of off-grid, renewable energy technologies such as environment-friendly solar power systems is an obvious priority for Bangladesh, now suffering from acute shortage of electricity. It is otherwise the most convenient form of energy. Harnessing its potential through provision of all necessary supports — fiscal and financial — to develop the related industry in Bangladesh can open up promising new opportunities, particularly in the rural areas. A number of initiatives, albeit on a limited scale, are already there to provide solar energy to the villagers in Bangladesh. If appropriate policy moves are taken at this stage to expand such facilities and to extend the same also to the city-dwellers through synergising both private and public entrepreneurship, the conditions will then be created for widening its use on a commercial and sustainable basis. Building institutional capacity is critically important for the purpose. Fully developing the infrastructure for solar energy and other renewables in Bangladesh will, however, require more than just putting solar panels on the market. A package of interventions will be needed to remove the barriers to its more widespread use.

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In such mental mood we cann,t consider such a news like ” Bangladesh shuts fertilizer factories for lack of gas”
Bangladesh shut five fertiliser factories on Saturday to save nearly 250 million cubic feet (mmcft) of natural gas a day in the face of acute electricity shortages, a senior official said.
“The gas will be diverted to different power plants to produce more 500 megawatts of electricity,” said Mohammad Hossain Monsur, chairman of the state-run Bangladesh Oil, Gas & Mineral Corporation or Petrobangla.

The country faces up to 300 mmcft gas and up to 1,500 mw of electricity shortages a day.

“The step will help to improve the electricity supply situation,” Monsur told reporters.

Last month the ministry of energy and power decided to stop gas supply to these factories and that would continue till the end of current irrigation season in June for Boro rice crop.

Bangladesh’s annual urea demand is around 3.0 million tonnes, of which the country produces 1.8 million tonnes and imports the rest, mainly from China, Tunisia, Australia and a number of Gulf countries.

Short supply of fertilizer often trigger violent protest by farmers.

In 2006 six people were killed and dozens injured in clashes between police and farmers over the urea shortage, in the country’s north.

Industries Minister Dilip Barua ruled out the possibility of fertilizer scarcity in the country following temporary closure of the fertilizer factories.

“Bangladesh will not face any shortages of urea as the country now has a stock of 500,000 tonnes of urea, almost double the quantity compared with last year,” he told reporters.
…………………..
What should we do ? What initiative can be taken in urgent basis? What is the policy makers strength on the policy that can overcome the situations immidiately.

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“We are supporting the government of Bangladesh for reliable power generation to boost growth,” she said in the statement.

Through public-private partnerships (PPP), independent power providers have increased generation by 178 megawatts in recent years.

The PPP model holds promise to further overcome Bangladesh’s power deficit.

World Bank also supported government’s $321 million rural electrification and renewable energy development project.

The World Bank official said it had contributed to connecting 630,000 rural homes to the national electricity grid and provided about 320,000 remote households with solar home systems.

The project has also connected another 270,000 households in remote rural areas through solar home systems.

Power plants at Haripur with 360 megawatts (MW) capacity and Meghnaghat with 450 MW capacity supported by the World Bank are providing reliable power to the national grid
An ongoing project of the World Bank is supporting a 300 MW peaking power plant in Siddhirganj near Dhaka.

Bangladesh’s foreign direct investment halved to $297 million during the first half of the fiscal year to end June 2010 because of global recession and crippling shortages in local power supply, the central bank said last week.

“Bangladesh can overcome energy shortage within the next three to four years through institutional capacity building and strong commitment from the government,” Ellen said.

She also suggested importing hydroelectricity from neighbouring countries like Nepal and Bhutan that have the potential to export up to 24,000 MW of electricity.

“These sources can be an affordable and cost effective option for Bangladesh.”

Bangladesh faces shortages of up to 300 million cubic feet of gas and up to 1,500 megawatts of electricity each day

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Globalization is must good for Bangladesh. Bangladeshi as a proud Nation Having the ultimate resources of Nature and human resource can make benificial Bangladesh resulting globaliszation competetion. Bangladesh put entry in the Information Highway.Now to see the better result- The sky is the limit for what can be achieved here

The government of Bangladesh has begun work on an ambitious new scheme to tackle poverty with the help of the internet. It plans to improve schools, hospitals, businesses and government services by linking them to the web by 2021.

At the moment, most villages – and even some communities in the capital Dhaka – do not even have access to electricity.

But the rapid spread of mobile phones to even the most remote and impoverished parts of the country in recent years, has shown what is possible.

“This will be a digitised nation depending on information technology, for information, for services, for all kinds of activities that individuals can do,” the finance minister, Abdul Muhith, told the BBC.

“This is a simple dream, and is really workable.

“It is the ideal solution for Bangladesh’s various problems. I’m sure that by 2021 the largest sector in Bangladesh is going to be information technology, not textiles and garments.”

Power cuts

This marks a big change with the past. Previous governments were suspicious of the internet, and imposed high charges on service providers.

Bangladesh is with a largely rural population, so relatively few people have ever gone online in their lives.

At the moment, the government’s plans are still vague and many Bangladeshis are sceptical of ministers’ boasts of the impending digital revolution, especially as power cuts are only getting worse. The country’s infrastructure is dreadful – gas and water supplies are also drying up – and the bureaucracy is famously corrupt.

But some organisations have already started connecting poor communities to the web, and begun to make a difference to people’s lives – which suggests that the government’s vision may indeed well work.

Aral Bazaar, a three-hour drive from Dhaka, is a typical small Bangladeshi town. Surrounded by paddy fields and banana groves, it is a sleepy place where the men gather to drink tea and the women stay at home to look after the kids.

But in its small row of shops, and sharing room space with a photo studio decorated with pictures of Bollywood actresses, Aral Bazaar now has its very own “Community Information Centre”.

It is one of 500 set up by Grameenphone, Bangladesh’s largest mobile phone provider, which was founded with the help of Muhammed Yunus, the Nobel Peace laureate and micro-credit pioneer.

“The sky is the limit for what can be achieved here,” says Mahbub-el-Elahi Prince, owner of the centre, which is little more than two computers connected to the web.

E-farmers

A consultation on the web, is better than a two-day trip to meet an expert face-to-face

“People can come and communicate with their relatives who live abroad, but most of my customers are farmers who want advice on their crops.”

Prince is able to connect them to a Dhaka-based website called E-Krishok (E-farmer).

Faruque Mia, for example, wanted to know what was wrong with his pumpkin plant. He brought two brown leaves and a diseased looking fruit into the centre, where Prince’s assistant took digital photos. He submitted these to E-Krishok, where an expert was able to examine them and then send back advice on treatment.

“We used to go to a government-employed agriculture officer for this kind of help, but he works a long way away and it sometimes took two days to get anything from him. The CIC is close to where we live – that’s why everyone prefers to come here,” he said.

A more dramatic success story is taking place in an anonymous-looking hospital for diabetics in Faridpur, half a day’s drive and a river ferry ride from Dhaka.

Many of its patients are too poor to make the journey to the capital to see a consultant, so this hospital simply connects them over the web, using video-conferencing technology.

Two doctors sit with the patient, taking notes and conducting tests if required, while the consultant asks questions. They can all see and hear each other on large TV screens.

“This has brightened the possibility of taking care of the rural population as we would take care of the affluent and urban population,” Professor Tofail Ahmed of the Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation in Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders (BIRDEM), said. “It saves money, it saves time. It reduces all sorts of obstacles.”

According Zarina Begum, a patient with severely swollen limbs and face, she is now getting treatment that she would never have dreamed of receiving before.

“In my village we don’t have any good doctors. But fortunately I’ve been able to come here and see the Dhaka doctors anyway. My condition is now improving,” she said.

Bangladesh has been slow to benefit from the internet, but it is trying hard to make up for lost time.

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They signed two MoUs on power generation and distribution, and agreed to install a 130km power grid.

The decisions were taken at the second meeting of the Bangladesh-India Joint Steering Committee on Power Sector which had been formed during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to Delhi last month.
Each of the units in the joint-venture power plant will have the capacity to generate 660MW of power using imported coal. National Thermal Power Corporation of India will carry out a feasibility study for the plant this month, and submit a report by July this year to the Bangladesh government while the timeline for finishing the project has been set between 36 and 48 months of issuing the work order.

Power secretary Abul Kalam Azad, who led the host team to the talks in Dhaka, said that the two countries had finalised the details on the grid, and reached a broad agreement on building a 1320MW coal-fired power plant.

The two-unit power plant (660MW each) will be based in Khulna and cost about $1.8 billion.

The connection will facilitate Bangladesh’s import of 250 megawatts, enough for Mymensingh zone (demand 200MW) or Sylhet zone (198MW) or Rangpur which burns 175MW.

The Indian power secretary, HS Brahma, said that his country was offering “the cheapest rates”– varying between Rs 2 and Rs 2.5 (Tk 3-3.5).

In Bangladesh, the household consumers currently pay about Tk 2.5 per kWh.

India’s National Thermal Power Cooperation (NTPC) and the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) signed the MoUs Friday night.

“The project requires 130km grid connectivity with 85km in India and 45km in Bangladesh,” Brahma said.

The two secretaries led the joint committee of officials, set up after the summit meeting in Delhi last month to thrash out the modalities of power cooperation.

The committee decided to call for tenders on Feb 28, and hopes to award a work order in July this year.

Experts say the project will take up to 24 months to be completed.

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“We invited foreign investors during a four-day road show in Singapore and New York as we need huge direct foreign investment to spur our economy,” said Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, energy and power adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The two-day show in Singapore was held from Jan. 25, followed by another in New York from Jan. 28.

“About 25 globally reputed companies like Morgan Stanley (MS.N), Siemens (SIEGn.DE), AES Corp (AES.N), ConocoPhillips (COP.N), Caterpillar (CAT.N) and HSBC (HSBA.L) participated in the road show and showed keenness to invest in Bangladesh,” Tawfiq told a news conference.

Bangladesh also held a similar show last month in London.

Due to technical constraints and shortfalls of natural gas supply, Bangladesh can produce only around a maximum of 3,700 MW of electricity while peak hour demand reaches more than 5,500 MW, officials said.

Electricity demand has been growing by 7.50 percent annually since 1990.

Around 40 percent of Bangladesh’s 150 million population has access to electricity, one of the lowest levels in the world.

“Augmenting electricity generation is a key priority of the present government and we are committed to generate 5,000 MW by 2011, and 7,000 MW by 2013 and that will require an investment of $7 billion,” Tawfiq told reporters.

The government will float a pre-qualification international tender this month to set up four natural gas or diesel fired power plants with total capacity of 800 MW, he said.

He said another pre-qualification international tender would be floated in July this year for four coal-fired plants.

Tawfiq said foreign experts would visit Bangladesh in March to discuss liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports.

“We feel that it would not be difficult as the private sector investors both at home and abroad, along with our development partners including the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, expressed desire to play a major role in this, while the government will play the role of the catalyst,” he said.

Bangladesh also plans to import up to 1,200 MW of electricity from India by the middle of 2012.

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