Bye to Srinath, Hi to Hydro Power

So today is a very sad day. Srinath, one of the two Indian interns here who have helped us so much and who we've shared some good times with is leaving. To celebrate we're going to go to our usual haunt for dinner, Sapna, but we're going to sit in the AC SECTION!!!!!! Im very excited.

Meanwhile, not seeing the sun in 2 weeks has led me to believe that a solar cooking project may be a little tricky to investigate and Im waiting on an anemometer although initial measurements taken from the prospective sight suggest that wind speeds may not be consistent enough for a cost-effective wind turbine.

This has led me to look into a new project, a pico-hydro turbine with a view to providing mechanical power to a local industry and possibly electricity to a small community. Ideally both!

Although in two months its extremely doubtful that I'll get to any actual building, hydro is the technology with obvious potential in this region which is very hilly with a long, wet monsoon season and reasonable rainfall for most months of the year. Therefore I believe that looking into potential sites and sizing of a prospective system which can then be passed onto future interns as part of a 3-5 yr plan of implementation will be the best use of my time both personally and for SELCO.

As far as time off goes, we ventured up to Anands farm the other day. The farm is set at the foot of the Western Ghats, a range of picturesque, luscious green mountains with a stream running through and a small plot of rice fields. This was probably one of my favourite experiences of the trip so far.

We also went into Mangalore to the cinema. I was outvoted so we had to see Transformers rather than a Bollywood film but it provided a small reminder of home for which I was grateful.

With the existence of the sun being in serious doubt the solar water heater is still not working on our building so I'd kill for some hot water and a western toilet.

Anyway, I'm off to psyche myself up for the AC experience.