Sunday, May 23, 2010

Hewlett Packard Moots Using Cowdung to Power Warehouses

I remember the 1970s when India tried promoting "Gobar Gas" plants for farms in the country, in one of very few socialist exercises that were positive in any way. the experiment failed, however, and all was conveniently forgotten since. This blog has looked at examples of western businesses - mostly farms - which have been using methane to power themselves. This new Hewlett Packard initiative, Link however, is a very positive one because you have a prominent high tech business looking at using methane from dairy and meat farms to power its warehouses. As the Times article points out, other companies are looking at using this power to run data centers. Is there a hint in this for the many software technology parks being set up in India at the moment? Even if they are not looking at them at the moment, they should. India has a huge population of cattle which are left abandoned and suffering on its streets. At the very least, these could be cared for for their dung and it could be used to produce power, something that the country is desperately in short supply of.

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