Anagha Speaks

A few days back, I and my students had a chance to interact with a Nuclear Physicist. The pertinent question that all of us had on our minds and came out in our discussions was Would Nuclear Power mean a boon or a curse for India? Nuclear Power is amazing! In a nutshell, it takes just a little radioactive substance to be 'processed' in a Nuclear Power reactor and the whole substance with its looooong half life, takes its own sweet time to divide itself into smaller and smaller particles, producing large amounts of heat and thereby power for India. Sounds simple, isn't it? However its not so! The underlying political, administrative and technical processes finally will define how the nuclear power gets generatedand used. The N-Deal that was publicized by the media and politically negotiated by our Prime Minister simply states that we can now import Nuclear fuel for power generation in our country. The technical negotiations will now begin to fire up existing nuclear reactors...

. . . And that is the classic question that Punekars have been asking since the last 10 years. Frankly, I have been unable to take either side. At one end I know that the remaining 'open' space will disappear surely if permissions are given to build on the hill tops and hill slopes. At the other end, I am not sure if Pune, via its municipal corporation, has the capacity to develop hill tops and hill slopes as natural preserves for biodiversity. Is there a middle way? I often ask myself. What is it that it prompting activists to react on one end, while the municipal government is pressured to act on the other end? Is it just the developers lobby seeking more core city land to build premium condos and earn money that is pressurizing action against biodiversity preservation or are their other forces at play too? When in San Francisco, I had a chance to look at a hilly and completely contoured terrain of California being developed as breautiful city suburbs, which led me to thinkin...

In my explorations of San Francisco, I came across a very innovative architectural exhibition. This was organized by American Institute for Architects, SF Chapter. The idea of the exhibition was to commend six architectural not-for-profit organizations and their contributions to Social Architecture. These visionaries have shaped the urban landscape by designing affordable housing for the poorest San Franciscans (Asian Neighborhood Design); rebuilt Sri Lankan villages devastated by tsunamis (Architecture for Humanity); challenged our assumptions about the use of urban parking spaces (Rebar); plowed up urban sidewalks and created wildflower gardens (PlantSF); educated kids about careers in architecture (Architectural Foundation of San Francisco); and reshaped the possibilities of pro bono (voluntary without pay) service in the architecture profession (Public Architecture). The innovative designs were amazing to see. The most simple one that I liked and I feel made a difference in our eve...

In April 2009, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) had their annual convention in San Francisco. Under the umbrella of this event and in partnership with various orgnizations, a small exhibition was organized titled as '10 x 10 cities - Green Facts Challenges Futures. The exhibits were organized as datascapes showing the current challenges facing the 10 major North American cities, including San Francisco. The interesting part of the exhibition was the responses to these challenges by architects in terms of their green designs and planning of energy efficient buildings. The exhibition also showcased San Francisco's Environmental Action Plan aiming towards its Climate Change goals. The interesting and perhaps unique point about this exhibit was the effective use of visual language used in communicating green facts about cities. The 10 cities were compared on a 10 point Sustainability Scale, which included parameters such as garbage production, water consumption, air quali...

San Fransisco, a leader in sustainable city development, commissioned a Solar Energy Project five years ago. The idea simply was a public-private partnership (PPP), where the private player (Recurrent Energy) would finance, construct, own, operate and maintain a solar PV plant on rooftops of public buildings. The public entity (SF City) would buy the energy generated, thereby producing a pool of green energy units available to the consumers. After 7 years or at 15 years, the City would buy the project at fair market value or $33 million, whichever is greater. The solar PV installations are designed to generate 5MW power, enough to power 1500 homes. The PPP initiative is amongst the various targets the city of SF has set for itself, which is to generate 50MW of Renewable Energy in the city by 2012. Currently, 7.24 MW of Solar Energy is being generated in SF, with city owned installations amounting to 2MW. The city generates 150MW hydro power, which is, of course, not a part of the renew...

As I am now settling into the daily routine in CA, I am exploring various ways to move about the place (with two kids in row) using any means of transport than the car. I was very much excited initially, as the city here is offering me alternatives...the bus, the light rail and the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train! The public transport infrastructure here is amazing. All the stations and stops are well designed, accessible within 1 mile walking from any point, with nice shelters where I could stand / sit with my kids. The websites gave excellent schedules and connections that I should take, properly indicated on a map of the city. I also have a hot line number which I can call to access transport related information at any point of time. The buses, the trains were amazingly clean, properly maintained and up and working! Despite all this and more, I found all the public transport EMPTY..of people! I rode with 2 other persons on the bus and the train stations were deserted to the poin...