Hurricane Ian struck the western tip of the island, left millions of Cubans without power and is headed towards Florida

The hurricane knocked out power across all of Cuba. Initially, there was loss of power in the western provinces, but later the entire grid collapsed. That meant nearly 11 million people were left without electricity. Hurricane Ian made landfall as a Category 3 storm and devastated Pinar del Rio province. That meant destruction of large numbers of the country's most important tobacco farms. The authorities had to arrange evacuation of tens of thousands of people as the disaster left behind damaged houses and floods. The US National Hurricane Center said Cuba suffered "significant wind and storm surge impacts." The hurricane had struck with top sustained winds of 125mph and it could gain strength as it moves over the Gulf of Mexico and nears the southwestern coast of Florida. Already orders are given for millions of people of Florida to leave. Hurricane Ian leaves 11 million in Cuba without electricity as it heads towards Florida. Warning is given to residents as well as holidaymakers to take precautions and not be complacent. This is because the hurricane could become a Category 4 storm, with wind speeds of 140mph across the whole state.

Deanne Criswell, spokeswoman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), held an emergency briefing at the White House. She summed up the grim situation and said - “The storm surge is going to be significant, and you put 20 inches of rain on top of that…. We are talking about impacts in parts of Florida that haven't seen a major direct impact in nearly 100 years." Incidentally, Hurricane Ian is heading towards the Florida Keys. This is a popular holiday destination consisting several islands, some less than a mile wide. US President Joe Biden cancelled a planned trip and called mayors in three Florida cities to assure them federal support is ready to deploy food, fuel and shelter. FEMA has already set up 29 emergency community shelters. Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, has declared a state of emergency and urged residents to be prepared. There are predictions of floods for much of the Florida peninsula midweek. This could lead to heavy rainfall for the southeast of the US later this week.

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Britain's first wave farm in Cornwall to produce electricity for 6000 homes by 2020

Britain is looking at an alternative source of electrical energy from the sea waves and expects wave farms in Cornwall to produce enough electricity to start generating electricity with one device in 2018 and, subsequently, meet the needs of 6000 homes every year by 2020.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 7 November 2016.

Carnegie Wave Energy, an Australian company, has been granted £9,551,962 from the European Regional Development Fund to support the first phase of its planned commercial project at Wave Hub in Cornwall. The device is called 'Ceto 6', named after a sea goddess in Greek mythology. It is different from other wave energy devices because it operates from underwater and, hence, is safer from large storms and, also, invisible from the shore.
The device makes use of a large float submerged in the sea which rises and falls due to the wave motion - this movement drives a pump and a generator. Power is delivered back to shore through underwater cables to power desalination plants as well as for export into the grid. Three of the Ceto units are already operational in Australia.
In due course of time, wave power could become a viable alternative to wind energy.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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Pine needles to produce electricity in Uttarakhand

Uttarakhand is setting a new trend in clean bio-energy by generating electricity from pine needles. These items have been responsible for forest fires and a scheme has now been devised to make use of these needles because these will be processed to generate electricity and light up homes and lives across the state.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 22 October 2016.

Two 10 megawatt (MW) pine needles gasifier plants have been set up at Tripura Devi and Simalta villages in Pithoragarh district to process these needles. These gasifier plants have been connected with the grid of state electricity company of UPCL and, it is expected that by end of October, these will start sending electric power to UPCL grids.
One pilot 9 kilowatt hour (KWH) pine needle power station had been developed in the NGO's campus at Berinag in Pithoragarh way back in 2009. It employs local women to collect pine needles in large quantities and, for every Kg of pine needles collected, they receive Rs 2. These are then processed. Approximately 1.5-Kg of needles are needed to generate one KWH of electricity. These 1.5 kg of pine needles produce 150 gm of charcoal as a byproduct and this is used for household cooking.
The company has already entered into an agreement with the state government to sell electricity produced from pine needle gasifier at the cost of Rs 4.76 per unit. This could go up to Rs 7.20 per unit since it is clean bio-energy. Incidentally, this is the first time in the world that biological waste like pine needles are being converted into electricity. The technology is totally new and patent of the technology has been applied for and it is pending.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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