The recent floods have not only caused loss to human lives and infrastructure but the water lost was also worth to irrigate 40 million acre of land. Following excerpt gives the details:
Pakistan lost water worth Rs240 billion due to lack of dams and water reservoirs in the country.
Chairman Fauji Fertilizer Company talking to media men said a quantity of water needed for irrigating 40 million acres land has been wasted. He said Rs6 billion worth of water is required for irrigating 1 million acres land.
According to economic experts, due to absence of political harmony the country not only faced worst ever floods but also failed to store water worth Rs240 billion.
Environment, Infrastructure, Pakistan, Water
flood, Irrigation, Loss, Pakistan, Water
The Water and Power Ministry has received an appalling 15.6 percent of total budgetary allocation for the first quarter of the current year, an amount that flagrantly disregards the critical contribution of this ministry to not only national output, but also to serious issues of households-related to water and power deficiency in the country.
The Finance Ministry provided Rs 2.8 billion during the first quarter (July-September) of 2009-10 financial year to the Water and Power Ministry as against the total committed quarterly allocation, amounting to Rs 17.85 billion. During three-day PSDP review meeting held recently, the Finance Ministry gave top priority to the Ministries of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA), Ports and Shipping, Communication, Population, Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) and Health Ministry.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources received 85 percent of the budgetary allocations, amounting to Rs 170 million as against the request of Rs 200 million in the first quarter.
The Finance Ministry gave second priority to Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA), which received 75.1 percent of the committed funds, amounting to Rs 82.5 million as against the committed amount of Rs 109.8 million in the first quarter. The Ministry of Ports and Shipping received 72.2 percent fund releases, amounting to Rs 16 million as against the requirement of Rs 22 million in the first quarter.
Via Business Recorder
Economics, Electricity, Energy, Nuclear, Oil, Pakistan, Petrol, Water, power
Daily Times reports that Ministry of Science and Technology(S & T) is to complete surveys for windmill farm sites. The S&T Ministry received Rs 4.1 billion in budget. Here are the details.
To attract public private investment in the power-producing sector, the government has asked the Ministry of Science and Technology (S&T) to complete the survey report of 24 sites in Northern Areas for the establishment of windmill farms.
The Ministry of S&T has to complete the survey report during the fiscal year 2009-10 so that work on these sites could be initiated soon, the Annual Plan 2009-10 revealed. The government is determined to overcome electricity shortfall by December 2009 so that economic activities might get momentum to optimal level.
The plan further revealed that growing level of investment in research and development was generally correlated with improved gross domestic product (GDP). For the fiscal year 2009-10, the government has allocated Rs 4.1 billion in public sector development programme for S&T sector projects. Out of which, an amount of Rs 3.3 billion had been earmarked for the Ministry of S&T and Rs 0.8 billion for the S&T projects of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission.
Pakistan Council for Renewable Energy Technologies (PCRET): The council would provide indigenous technological support to the local industry to develop and promote renewable energy products of international quality. PCRET would start production of solar cells and modules up to 80kw annual capacity.
Read more after the break about the different research organizations and their spending plans.
Read more…
Buildings, Cars, Clean Technology, Electricity, Energy, Investment, Water, Wind
You may think that data centers can be located wherever real estate is cheap. Tech Review writes about the value of water to conserve electricity and improve efficiency. Check out the placement of data centers in very particular geographic locations.
In addition to bandwidth, data centers need electricity. Lots of it. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that U.S. servers and data centers were responsible for a total of 1.5 percent of America’s electricity consumption in 2006 (about 61 billion kilowatt-hours), at a cost of $4.5 billion, and that their consumption will double by 2011. Not surprisingly, data-center owners have searched out sources of cheap electricity in the hydroelectric dams that dot the Rockies and the Northwest. Washington and Oregon, America’s top two hydroelectric-producing states, have electricity costs 20 to 30 percent lower than the national average. As a result, small towns in places like the Columbia River basin are enjoying a data-center gold rush, often helped by local authorities who are willing to provide owners with fiber-optic connections to the rest of the world.
Clean Technology, Electricity, IT, Infrastructure, Water
