Cheaper, cleaner, more reliable: why invest in cross-border power-trading

Despite improvements to energy supply over the years, many Indian states still face frequent power shortages. Meanwhile, neighboring Nepal and Bhutan have large reserves of untapped hydro power with the potential to meet unserved demand for energy in major load centres. Investing in interconnections could also contribute to significant reductions in CO2 emissions. Today’s blog quantifies potential gains from an integrated South Asian power

Sri Lankan tsunami refugees: a cross sectional study of the relationships between housing conditions and self-reported health

BACKGROUND: On the 26th December 2004 the Asian tsunami devastated the Sri Lankan coastline. More than two years later, over 14,500 families were still living in transitional shelters. This study compares the health of the internally displaced people (IDP), living in transitional camps with those in permanent housing projects provided by government and non-government organisations in Sri Lanka. METHODS: This study was conducted in seven transitional camps and five permanent housing projects in the south west of Sri Lanka. Using an interviewer-led questionnaire, data on the IDPs' self-reported health and housing conditions were collected from 154 participants from transitional camps and 147 participants from permanent housing projects. Simple tabulation with non-parametric tests and logistic regression were used to identify and analyse relationships between housing conditions and the reported prevalence of specific symptoms. RESULTS: Analysis showed that living conditions were significantly worse in transitional camps than in permanent housing projects for all factors investigated, except 'having a leaking roof'. Transitional camp participants scored significantly lower on self-perceived overall health scores than those living in housing projects. After controlling for gender, age and marital status, living in a transitional camp compared to a housing project was found to be a significant risk factor for the following symptoms; coughs OR: 3.53 (CI: 2.11-5.89), stomach ache 4.82 (2.19-10.82), headache 5.20 (3.09-8.76), general aches and pains 6.44 (3.67-11.33) and feeling generally unwell 2.28 (2.51-7.29). Within transitional camp data, the only condition shown to be a significant risk factor for any symptom was household population density, which increased the risk of stomach aches 1.40 (1.09-1.79) and headaches 1.33 (1.01-1.77). CONCLUSION: Internally displaced people living in transitional camps are a vulnerable population and specific interventions need to be targeted at this population to address the health inequalities that they report to be experiencing. Further studies need to be conducted to establish which aspects of their housing environment predispose them to poorer health

Economic and environmental impact of micro‐hydro‐ and biomass‐based electricity generation in the Sri Lanka tea plantation sector

The production process of tea is such that the industry's maximum power need coincides with the power system peak demand, thus consuming expensive energy. This industry is largely located in the Central, Sabaragamuwa and Uva provinces, where the topography coupled with heavy persistent rainfall offers a good opportunity to harness hydro‐power, the most widely used power source in the plantation sector, to meet the entire power requirement of the industry. This potential remains largely underutilised, as grid electricity supply is at present available in almost all tea estates, particularly at the factories where tea is processed. These plantations also practise cultivation and harvesting of fast‐growing tree species in abandoned tea‐growing land to meet the industry's thermal energy requirements. This biomass usage could also be extended to electricity generation, though realising the scope for this application in the Sri Lankan context is in an experimental stage. Widespread use of these two indigenous energy sources by the plantation industry can be expected to reduce the peak demand while making the cost of electricity in the sector less sensitive to external factors. Further, the use of micro‐hydro and biomass can contribute to the reduction of undesirable environmental impacts associated with electricity generation. The paper discusses a detailed estimation of the aggregate potential of biomass‐ and microhydro‐based energy supplies in the tea plantation sector. Also, its substitution effect on demand for electricity in the sector in terms of its economic impact both in the plantation sector and in the national energy scenario is examined

Efficiency of RAPD, ISSR and ITS markers in detecting genetic variability among Salacia species sampled from the Western Ghats of Karnataka

Diversity and phylogenetic relationship between four closely related Salacia species, i.e., Salacia chinensis, Salacia macrosperma, Salacia fruticosa and Salacia oblonga, collected from the Western Ghats of Karnataka, India, was assessed. Ten each of RAPD and ISSR primers generated a total of 76 and 68 loci, generating polymorphisms of 92.21 and 89.71%, respectively. Maximum likelihood analysis of the ITS sequences revealed three clades. Dendrogram analyses of RAPD and ISSR revealed two and four clusters, respectively. Overall polymorphism revealed by RAPD was 41.45 ± 10%, ISSR was 33.58 ± 6.52%, and ITS was 25.50 ± 17.25%. Molecular variance revealed significant variance within and among the Salacia species. Tajima’s D neutrality test and Fu’s Fs were negative for all four species, implying presences of rare alleles and population expansion. Comparative study of RAPD, ISSR and ITS for Salacia species has given an insight into the efficiency of each technique in detecting diversity within and among the population sampled in the Western Ghats of Karnataka