A Suggestion for The Golden Quadrilateral

India was an early pioneer in harnessing wind energy though that seems, recently, to have fallen by the wayside thanks to Suzlon Energy's near collapse. However, this does not diminish from the opportunity that this clean energy sector still has to offer. Today's New York Times Green Inc blog talks about erecting wind turbines along highways: http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/23/harvesting-clean-energy-along-the-road/ I can see where this would be especially easy to do along the new Golden Quadrilateral highway system tat is being constructed in India at the moment. This is a state of the art highway that is being built around the country from all indications. Though there have been problems including corruption, it is progressing. Obviously, with a highway available to provide access to turbines all along the route, maintenance and servicing would be very easy. Also, in much of India which is starved of water, this could be a superb way of generating power without tapping into the country's meager water reserves.

The Times article also talks about solar power being harnessed along the route. I am not sure if this would be all that practical for India though there is something that could definitely make a difference - Tata BP Solar www.tatabpsolar.com manufacture solar powered street lighting as well as traffic lights and these could be deployed along the route. In fact, if Tata were to use the strengths of their huge software division at TCS and build an intelligent switching system using solar powerand WiLL to control the lights using data inputs for traffic along the route, they would not only have a world-class system to show for their efforts, they would also help save millions of gallons of fuel.

Yes, there is potential to show fossil fuel the fist! Let's hope that this opportunity is taken up either by the Government of India or by a forward looking private company like the Tatas!