{"id":89266,"date":"2019-05-23T16:21:51","date_gmt":"2019-05-23T23:21:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=89266"},"modified":"2019-05-23T16:21:51","modified_gmt":"2019-05-23T23:21:51","slug":"rebooting-agriculture-to-provide-clean-practical-solutions-to-sri-lankas-energy-crisis-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/05\/23\/rebooting-agriculture-to-provide-clean-practical-solutions-to-sri-lankas-energy-crisis-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Rebooting agriculture to provide clean, practical solutions to Sri Lanka’s energy crisis – II."},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0\u00a0 Chandre Dharmawardana, Canada<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Newspaper  reports mention how the minister of Power and\nEnergy  and the CEB engineers are trying\nto meet a systemic power shortage looming over Sri Lanka. The Easter Sunday\ncarnage made everyone forget about the grave systemic problems facing Sri\nLanka. Sri Lanka seems to lurch from one emergency to another in every sector,\nlike a ship gone adrift. A May 20th<\/sup> report in the Island states that\nCEB engineers warn of power cuts …\u201d. This is a result of not staying course\nwith  long-range power production plans\nwhen governments and their favourite financiers changed. Furthermore, the\nCEB  plans were  inconsistent with rising concerns on  pollution and global warming. The potential\nof solar-  and biomass energy  was considered  to be unimportant when the CEB energy plans\nwere  made decades ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In a previous article labelled part-I  that appeared in the Lanka web (https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/05\/06\/clean-practical-solutions-to-sri-lankas-energy-crisis-i)\nwe examined how Solar power can provide a large part of the needed power by\nusing floating solar panels in reservoirs already equipped with hydro-turbines\nand how they can be deployed to provide FIRM \nPOWER  without batteries or\nalternators.  The proposal is to store  solar electricity (or wind generated\nelectricity)    by using the alternative\nenergy source (be it wind or solar) for re-pumping  water back into the reservoirs. Then nearly\nthe  equivalent amount of electricity can\nthen be re-generated in the usual manner by the hydro-turbines.  Biomass energy offers an even bigger   inexpensive \nsource of firm energy  that can be\nmade available at will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ailing\nagricultural sectors can be re-booted inexpensively  to become vibrant bio-energy industries. The\npotential can meet Sri Lanka’s needs for decades to come, and even to sell to\nthe Indian continent using a cable link, breaking the isolation of Sri Lanka’s\npower grid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are mind\nboggling possibilities. Scientists  can\nengineer, within the decade, whole forests \nwith genetically modified  plants\nthat store lots more carbon than plants available today. The relevant genes are\nalready known. Such plants can fight climate change and  also greatly increase the efficiency of  bio-energy plants <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A READILY\nAVAILABLE BIO-ENERGY SOURCE.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bio-energy  has been talked of  for decades, but with its implementation.\nThere are, as yet  no turn-key solutions\nor commission-carrying businessmen. The simplest approach is to burn any kind\nof fast-growing wood, bamboo, bagasse \netc., in high-efficiency furnaces and \nrun  generators. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This process is\ncarbon-neutral\u201d as the CO2 released is that absorbed by the plants during  growth. The flue gases are relatively free of\nthe toxic  nitrous and sulphurous fumes\nfound in coal-fire or diesel emissions. There is  sub-micron fly ash, although minimal compared\nto coal.  While the logistics of\ncollecting the  biomass is  big,  \nprivate companies like GreenWatt in Moneragala  have set up 10 MW power plants using\nfast-growing Gliriicidia. CEB engineers consider these as small potatoes\u201d, but\nthousands of such plants can be set up easily in the plantation sector. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are several\ninexpensive and  efficient processes for\ngenerating energy for Sri Lankan needs for ever. Here we  discuss just ONE eminently practical solution\nthat simultaneously reboots the ailing coconut sector. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 THE COCONUT INDUSTRY AS  AN ENERGY GIANT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The industry concentrates\non the coconut kernel as copra and desiccated coconut. The local householder\nbuys coconuts for cooking. The milk is hand-squeezed inefficiently. The\nwater,  the spent kernel (‘polkudu’),  the shell and the husk are wasted or used in\nprimitive highly polluting industries (e.g., making coir, rugs) with only\na  minimal value addition, while the\ndemand is unsteady.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coconut shells are\nindeed used as fuel or for making activated carbon.    According to Paddon and Parker (1979) the\nhusk   has some 6700 kilo Joules per nut,\ni.e., almost  5 KWh of energy per kilo of\nhusk! So the energy from ten husks is roughly \nthe same as from one litre of petrol! Only part of the  heat can be converted into electricity\nbecause of  the Carnot-Rankin loss to\nentropy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The water, kernel\nand the shells already have a good market value. So we use the husk and all\nwaste for the energy sector.   Sri Lanka\nproduces approximately 2.5 billion nuts\/year, a drop from its better days with  3 billion. \nUsing the dry weight (following FAO data) of the husks, the  2.5 billion husks  are equivalent of about 2 million GWh per\nyear, i.e.,  some 5.3 billion liters of\npetrol\/year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If even 20% of the\nhusks were collected, and if the heat-to-electricity conversion<\/p>\n\n\n\n

efficiency is  30%, an energy yield of 0.3 billion liters of\npetrol,  or about    150,000 \nGWh from the husk alone is possible. Taking the total annual power need\nof the country  to be about  15,000 GWh, the coconut sector can readily\nsupply ten times the energy needs of the country right now!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka’s ailing\ncoir industry and allied industries \nlike  husk chips,    coir pith (‘kohubath’) for soil\nremediation, `kohu’-panels,   etc\nare  simply methods of discarding\nvaluable energy. Just as Sri Lanka throws away the coconut water, kurumba  Komba\u201d (used coconut),  the \npotential of the husk too is wasted when used  in traditional agriculture or rural\nindustries.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The coconut husks\nare traditionally dumped in pits  or\nsubmerged in cages near waterways  for\n‘retting’,  prior to the fiber extraction\nby primitive methods dangerous to workers. \nThe water  become polluted and\nemits bad odors;  oxygen depleted effluent\nfull of organic matter  deadly to aquatic\nbiota are a byproduct of this industry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recognizing the\nenergy potential in coconut, a different industry model must be\nlegislated.  Whole nuts should only\nbe  sparingly available in the market.\nJust as paddy is processed and only hulled rice is marketed, coconuts  should be processed to market the kernel and\nshell, while the coconut water should be canned and sold.  The husk is the fuel for high-efficiency\nburners whose heat  generates\nelectricity. The sale of individual coconuts rather than the transformed\nproducts should be highly taxed. Only those who grow coconut in their home\ngardens for private use can have the luxury of consuming coconuts in the\ntraditional way. A higher price for husks will tempt everyone to sell their\nhusks to the power company. The present \n‘waste tariff’  on husks must be\nlifted and the power industry be given a 20-year tax credit. There can be power\nhundreds of companies in large coconut estates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we have no need\nfor coal or liquified gas,  or  ransoming Sri Lanka’s sovereignty to foreign\nvendors, or destroying the environment, in order  to be self-sufficient in energy. Similarly,\nmini-hydro companies should be banned as they render little and  cause \nmuch ecological damage. No oil or gas exploration in the neighbouring\nseas should be allowed as it is intensely environmentally damaging. It will further\nthreaten the nation’s sovereignty as has happened to many small oil-rich\nnations now in the grip of powerful consortia. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The coconut  acreage need not increase (i.e., no habitat\nloss) as the current  husk supply far\nexceeds the needs for energy production which can start within  months \nrather than years.  Those working\nin the ailing coir and allied industries should be absorbed into the energy\nsector. The ash from burning coconut husk is rich in potassium, phosphorous and\nother minerals.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Husk ash  mixed with optimal amounts of  humus and urea makes a good fertilizer.\nHowever, controls on metal toxins against \nbio-accumulation are needed just as with organic fertilizers. The  ash is useful in the construction industry,\ne.g., for sand mixes, making bricks or paving stones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using gene\ntechnology in agriculture for carbon capture and reuse.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coconut production\nitself can be increased  using modern\ncultivars instead of traditional varieties, without<\/strong> incurring habitat\nloss and in fact aiming to return currently cultivated land back to nature.\nProper fertilizer application, irrigation, and restoring the right of the\ncoconut grower to use herbicides like glyphosate that are least harmful to the\nenvironment will increase nut production without increasing the land under\ncultivation. The use of  so-called\norganic\u201d methods based on unscientific and outdated myths that rejects the use\nof plant genetics etc., should be discouraged. \nUse of herbicides enables a drastic reduction in soil erosion and\nreduces  manual labour. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is interesting\nto note that many anti-rational ideologically motivated programs have contain\nin them an attack on genetics. The Marxist\u201d agriculture of Lysenko in the  Soviet Union, and the so-called organic farming\u201d\nmovements of today which also lean on a nostalgic throw-back to traditional\nagriculture\u201d are examples of such anti-rational movements. Instead, plant\ngenetics and biotechnology should be harvested to increase yields, be it in the\noutput of nuts husks or any other desirable product, while decreasing the area\nunder cultivation, thus reducing the \nhabitat encroachment by human activity. <\/em>The catastrophic decline in\npollinating species, and in biodiversity in general are mostly due to habitat\nloss and deforestation caused by humans.  \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any tree that is\ngrown for production of energy for \nbiomass can be genetically engineered and optimized for increased carbon\ncapture as well as rapid growth. For instance, mangroves have developed root\nsystems which contain various types of high-carbon  cellulose. Mangroves should be preserved on\ntheir own ecological value and  should\nNOT  be exploited for their bio-mass. But\nwe can learn from the genetic makeup of plants like Mangroves. That is,  genes relevant to high carbon capture by\nplants that make, say, Subarin<\/em>, \ncan be transferred to many other plants using gene technology. Many\nyoung Sri lankan scientists have now acquired the scientific know how needed in\nbiotechnology and genetic engineering. Coconut plants re-designed to make\nSubarin in the husk would further increase the high energy content of husks,\nand also add to temporary carbon storage. Such innovative solutions are needed\nif we are to meet to the current ecological crisis by reducing global warming,\nand by aggressively returning cultivated land back to nature to preserve\nbio-diversity, while getting ready for 11 billion humans by the end of the\ncentury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CONCLUSION.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have shown that\neffectively unlimited amounts of power are available from the waste\nbio-mass  of the coconut industry.  A similar analysis will be presented in a\nfuture article,  showing  that \nRubber, Paddy, or maize \netc.,  can become  lucrative energy giants. Genetically\nengineered carbon-rich plants can boost the energy harvest enormously, while also\nscavenging out  green-house gases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[The Author was a\npast-Professor of Chemistry and a Vice-Chancellor of the SJP University in the\n1970s. He is currently a Professor of Physics in Canada.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0\u00a0 Chandre Dharmawardana, Canada Newspaper  reports mention how the minister of Power and Energy  and the CEB engineers are trying to meet a systemic power shortage looming over Sri Lanka. The Easter Sunday carnage made everyone forget about the grave systemic problems facing Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka seems to lurch from one emergency to another […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chandre-dharmawardana"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89266\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}