Cleantech Friday by Steve (and Lauren) Guengerich

After last week’s visit with Peggy Liu and her first-person account of the cleantech opportunities and challenges in China, I sought a similar first-person account of the other big Eastern hemisphere emerging power, India.   

ME (last week):  “I want you to go ‘on assignment’ for me.  Take pictures of everyday energy and sustainability-related issues where you live/study/travel…things like the water supply, vehicle emissions, recycling, sustainable architecture, electric power lines and wall sockets, gas-powered generators, etc.  Basically, give us an Austin-ite’s view of what it’s like ‘on the ground’ in India, right now.”

My daughter Lauren is a 3rd-year senior at St Olaf in Minnesota.  This Fall, however, she is studying abroad in Chennai, the “Detroit of India.”  She is a biology major, so she and her fellow students have research assignments near Chennai and the surrounding rural areas.  Flickr and Skype are our friends.

LAUREN (this week):  “Man, dad, that’s a big task.  I don’t know if my camera has enough memory to hold all the pictures I could take of that kind of stuff.  So let me describe some of the things that you will likely see in the pictures.  My lungs are probably smokers’ lungs by now, due to the lack of air quality control.  There is trash everywhere along the sides of roads (when you throw something away, you simply throw it out the window of your car…it kind of goes against everything I’ve ever been taught about littering). 

Recycling program???  Well they are pretty good at reusing stuff in odd ways, but not because they want to do the earth good…but because they don’t have other materials available.  The water is mostly unfit to drink…some of the locals don’t even care to drink it…we have become best friends with our bottled water.  We nicknamed one of the rivers in Chennai "Poo-um" (it is really called Cooum, but it smells like crap because it’s so polluted).   

I’ve been in several planned and unplanned power outages …one while taking a bucket bath…that was exciting.  On the upside you do take bucket bath’s and use “squatty potties,” which conserve water.  There’s really no air conditioning…so that saves power.  We’ve visited an agricultural sciences institute, where they train farmers to plant crops that use less water, are engineering crops that are naturally more resistant to pests (so they don’t have to use pesticides), and teach how to use natural fertilizers. 

Mass transit is huge over here - everyone uses trains, the buses are so full that people ride on top, motorcycles carry a family of four regularly, people often bicycle (and carry a 2nd person too), and of course there is always the cart-pulled-by-your-cow method of transport.   

As for green architecture…well, some of the houses are made of sticks and have thatched coconut leave roof…not really because it’s sustainable, but because it’s cheap and readily available.  If you can’t tell, energy efficiency, sustainability, recycling, pollution control, and eco-friendliness are not really high on the Indian’s priority list – at least in the areas where I am sojourning. 

Despite all of this, I am having the time of my life – the people, the food, the beautiful country-side  – in India.”   

The moral & message:  whether it’s China, India, or Costa Rica:  if you think you have a cleantech product that will sell well internationally, you’ve got to get out of Austin, go there, and absorb the culture first-hand.  Oh, and parents, encourage your children travel abroad without you – it’s among the greatest gifts you can give.  (Third from the left.)

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