Cloaca Maxima - a sewer system that has functioned for 2500 years....

Here is a picture of the Senate in Rome. This building was built in 44 BC, under Julius Caesar, and itself replaced earlier Senates.

After a Roman magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic appointment to the Senate.

The Senate controlled money, administration, and the details of foreign policy.

The power and authority of the Senate derived from precedent, the high caliber and prestige of the senators, and the Senate's unbroken lineage, which dated back to the founding of the Republic in 509 BC.

The Cloaca Maxima was a sewer system built in Rome in 600 BC. I photographed its outfall at the Forum in Rome. 

The eleven aqueducts which supplied water to Rome by the 1st century AD were finally channeled into the sewers after having supplied the many public baths, public fountains, imperial palaces and private houses. The continuous supply of running water helped to remove wastes and keep the sewers clear of obstructions.

The Cloaca Maxima was well maintained throughout the life of the Roman Empire and even today drains rainwater and debris from the center of town, below the ancient Forum. In 33 BC it is known to have received an inspection and overhaul from Agrippa who was a colleague of Julius Ceaser.

The outfall of the Cloaca Maxima into the River Tiber is still visible today.

The Forum of Ancient Rome

As legend has it, Rome was founded in 753 B.C. by Romulus and Remus. A line of seven kings followed in non-hereditary succession. All the kings after Romulus were elected by the senate.

Rome’s era as a monarchy ended in 509 B.C. with the overthrow of its seventh king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, whom ancient historians portrayed as cruel and tyrannical. Rome turned from a monarchy into a republic, a world derived from res publica, or “property of the people.” 

The power of the monarch passed to two annually elected magistrates called consuls. They also served as commanders in chief of the army. The magistrates, though elected by the people, were drawn largely from the Senate, which was dominated by the patricians, or the descendants of the original senators from the time of Romulus.

Politics in the early republic was marked by the long struggle between patricians and plebeians (the common people), who eventually attained some political power through years of concessions from patricians.

Shown here are public spaces of Ancient Rome, called the Forum. 

The Umbrella Pines of Rome

 The Triumphal way, at the end of which stands the Arch of Constantine. 

These iconic Umbrella Pine trees are everywhere in Rome. 

Apparently Mussolini planted many. 

But now these trees are mortally threatened by a pest that got into Italy from the USA. 

Neighbourhood Associations are releasing large numbers of ladybirds in an effort to combat that pest. 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Triumphbogen_fexx.jpg

Most monuments in Rome are framed by these trees, as this image from Wikimedia shows. 

The Arch of Constantine

I read documents / articles, and watch documentaries on history quite a bit. So was thrilled to find this channel where history professors show / describe answers to questions I always had... 

For example, my husband and I spent quite a long time trying to figure out the arch of Constantine, a prominent beautiful building in the centre of Rome. It had roughly done figures in the centre, and beautifully sculpted figures on top. Why was there so much difference in style ? 

It must have been important for the time, as it was built on the procession way, where emperor's walked in triumph. It was evidently a lot about war, but what was it saying ?

But the professors explain it beautifully here... 

Ancient Rome is worth understanding a bit, as along with Ancient Greece, whose successor it was, it laid the foundation of modern Europe - and the English speaking world, along with it. Its laws, infrastructure concepts, public institutions like the judiciary and parliament, even architecture styles are the bedrock of these societies to this day. 

Every successful nation in the West to this day, aims to be the Roman empire all over again. It is then worth it to understand Ancient Rome's achievements, but also its vanities and corruptions.

The inability of India's discoms to pay for more expensive power

I read more widely around the ‘inability of discoms to pay for more expensive power’ as in the current scenario.

June 2019 article – Before the recent high prices of coal and gas arrived : The article asked : Why is India unable to provide 24x7 electricity despite building morepower stations?

Unless distribution companies pay their record debt, which would reach Rs 2.6 lakh crore by 2020, it won’t be possible to increase power generation.

At the root of the contradictions between almost-universal electrification, surplus electricity and the inability to supply it around-the-clock to Indian homes, is a debt that burdens state-owned electricity distribution companies nationwide, impairing their ability to build and maintain power grids and equipment.

The inability or refusal of state governments to increase power bills, has led to more borrowing and power shortages and made distribution companies reluctant to buy available electricity, which means continuing blackouts and erratic power supply.

India currently has around 356 gigawatts of installed generation capacity against a peak demand of about 177 gigawatts.

The nub of the issue: power generation cannot be increased unless distribution companies pay their dues.

The distribution company debt of Rs 2.6 lakh crore (dated to 2020) would be more than the Centre’s combined 2017-’18 spending on: highways, national railways, metro-rail systems, national food subsidies, cash transfers for national social-security schemes or direct benefit transfers, cooking-gas subsidies and capital expenditure for the defence services, space technology applications and satellites.

The accumulated losses of dicoms, and efforts to do something about it, have a long history.

In 2015, India’s distribution companies collectively recovered less than 80% of their operational costs. On March 2015, they had accumulated losses of about Rs 4.3 lakh crore.

So, the companies borrowed money from banks, with interest rates as high as 14%-15%, to cover their costs, their cycle of losses cancelling out India’s other gains: more coal, more power plants, and more transmission lines

Under the UDAY scheme, the power ministry, state governments and distribution companies signed a memoranda of understanding that said state governments would take over 75% of the companies’ debts – outstanding as on September 2015 – through bonds with a maturity period of 10 years to 15 years.

The companies were given goals: reduce power and interest costs, monitor and reduce transmission losses and power theft and fix faulty meters. By charging more, distribution companies were to wipe out the difference between the cost of supply and average revenue by 2018-’19.

In 15 states that account for 85% of national aggregate technical and commercial losses, despite the debt takeover, the UDAY failed.

Distribution companies in three BJP-ruled states – Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Maharashtra – were responsible for 87% of the outstanding amount not paid by consumers, said a May 20 study.

The Government’s electrification drive, begun in 2016, had some goals contradictory to the UDAY scheme. The electrification drive was meant to connect all the villages and households to the grid and to provide them with round-the-clock power.

The time-bound objectives [of electrification drives] and UDAY were converging and diverging on certain aspects, which resulted in a haywire situation for the implementation agencies, such as the distribution agencies.

The government electrified 26.30 million rural households to achieve 99.93% electrification over 16 months leading up to January 2019, a mammoth exercise whose implementation created problems for distribution companies: higher costs and reduced revenues from the newly connected households, mostly rural, paying low or no bills.

The blackouts continued primarily because the companies were reluctant to buy more power, either because they do not have the money or were afraid consumers will not pay.

Whats Next on the Ujjwala Scheme ?

The scheme had been virtually withdrawn in September 2019, although no formal declaration was made. Only three States — Haryana, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh — and five Union Territories, were declared kerosene-free at that time.

A 2021 report says that District Nodal Officers have highlighted the issue of PMUY beneficiaries finding it difficult to shell out around Rs 800 per cylinder in one go. This is even though the cylinder lasts them around three months, effectively costing around Rs 250 a month of LPG usage. The 5 kg LPG cylinder option may be more viable.

This was pointed out to the government by many agencies but it paid no heed during the initial years of the scheme. 

Currently on a per kg basis, the LPG in a 14.2 kg domestic cylinder costs around Rs 58 a kg. But it costs roughly Rs 94 a kg in a 5 kg cylinder. According to LPG dealers, the 5 kg cylinders were supposed to be for a migratory population like students, IT professionals , among others who can afford more expensive cooking gas. But it finds hardly any buyers nowadays. The higher cost per kg dissuades consumers that are anyway price sensitive. These issues are soon expected to be addressed by increasing availability of LPG in a 5 kg domestic cylinders that costs around Rs 60 per kg.

The three public sector oil marketing companies are waiting to recover around Rs 4,500 crore from existing PMUY beneficiaries.

PMUY beneficiaries buy LPG cylinders at full cost and oil companies recover the loaned amount from the subsidy that is accrued on domestic (14.2 kg) LPG cylinders.

This makes the cylinder unaffordable for a large chunk of beneficiaries who tend to use them sparingly. They often revert to biomass (firewood or cow dung which they get for no additional financial cost) for their primary cooking needs when LPG prices shoot up.

Audit Report of the Ujjwala scheme

My reading on fuels brought me to LPG, and to the present Government’s Ujjwala scheme which distributed crores of free LPG connections to the poor, starting from 2016. 

The end 2019 Government audit report of the scheme says that the targets of distribution were achieved. It reviews in detail the 5 crore target of the original Ujjwala scheme (called PMUY).

In order to rule out existing LPG connection in beneficiaries’ household, de-duplication was to be carried out on Aadhaar of all family members. Audit noticed that out of 3.78 crore LPG connections given under PMUY, 42 % were issued only on the basis of beneficiary Aadhaar which remained a deterrent in de-duplication.

PMUY envisaged release of LPG connection in the name of woman. However, 50% of the connections were released in the names of males. 

Test check in field audit revealed that 18 per cent of beneficiaries were those given benefits by LPG distributors to un-intended persons.

Encouraging the sustained usage of LPG remained a big challenge as only 3-4 refills each were availed of by beneficiary families per year. 

Many organizations had highlighted the importance of small 5 Kg cylinders to make PMUY successful considering high refill cost as a barrier to LPG usage. However, inadequacy of efforts was noticed in this direction as only 0.24 per cent of 3.78 crore beneficiary connections were provided 5 Kg cylinder connections.

24% of the beneficiaries had not even taken 3 refills over a year. This had hindered recovery of outstanding loan of ₹1235 crores.

The government audit report concluded that considering the audit findings on the basis of limited test check of sample cases, the entire LPG databases as well as physical records need to be scrutinized to identify and restrict release of connections to ineligible/male/minor beneficiaries/multiple connections.

The scheme had been virtually withdrawn in September 2019, although no formal declaration was made. Only three States — Haryana, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh — and five Union Territories, were declared kerosene-free at that time.

The founding of the fossil fuel infrastructure in India

 The longest fuel pipeline is being built from Kandla to Gorakhpur across 2805 kms, that saves transportation costs. That is great. 

The commentary in the video is bombastic, implying ‘this is being done for the first time’. Obviously, this is not the first time. 

The longest cross-country pipeline in India before this one was the Mundra-Delhi pipeline running 1055 kms, commissioned in 2009. 

Oil production started in India in 1889 in Assam. Oil in colonial India was mostly exploited by a number of British companies to support British troops and industries in the United Kingdom.

After independence, the foreign companies continued to play a key role in the oil industry. This changed in 1956 when the government adopted an industrial policy that placed oil as a “schedule A industry” and put its future development in the hands of the state. The Oil and Natural Gas Commission was established for this purpose. 

In order to find the expertise necessary to reach these goals, foreign experts from West Germany, Romania, the US, and the Soviet Union were brought in. The increased focus on exploration resulted in the discovery of several new oil fields most notably the off-shore Bombay High field, which remains by a long margin, India's most productive well.

The Indian Oil Corporation which owns most of the refineries putting it within the top 20 oil companies in the world, was also established in the 1950s. 

The Why and Impacts of the Energy Crisis

Why is there an Energy Crisis ? 

Renewables do not supply enough energy to replace coal and natural gas. 

Ageing, less efficient coal plants had been shut down in parts of the world and that has also led to power shortages. 

Price of coal and natural gas (the latter used to produce power and also heat homes in the developed world) has risen 250-300 % over one year. There are shortages of both in Europe, China and India. 

Australia, Indonesia, South Africa etc. are big exporters of coal, and countries are vying to get shipments from them. 

Energy prices to customers are controlled in many regions of the world and energy producers are suffering catastrophic losses as a result of the price rise. They have stopped / reduced importing coal / natural gas. Many countries are contemplating supporting such energy companies tide over some of their losses. 

Shipping vessels which bring the coal have also been in short supply all over the world for many reasons.

The emerging impacts of the energy crisis

India meets around three-quarters of its demand locally, but heavy rains have flooded mines and key transport routes. Coal inventories at Indian power plants fell to around 8 million tons at the end of September, about 76% less than a year earlier.

A lack of coal means factories could shut in India. Supplies to power plants are currently short by between 60,000 and 80,000 tons a day on the impact of the prolonged rains that have drenched coal pits. More than half the power plants are on alert for outages.

Supplies of coal are being diverted away from key customers including aluminum smelters and steel mills.

“Until supplies stabilize completely, we are likely to see power outages in some pockets, while customers elsewhere may be asked to pay more for power,” said a Director at ratings firm Crisil.

 In China, industrial users of natural gas including makers of ceramics, glass, and cement may respond by raising prices. If Chinese factories have to contend with widespread power shortages, global prices for steel and aluminum will jump. 

Economies that can’t afford the fuel—such as Pakistan or Bangla­desh—could simply grind to a halt.

“If the winter is actually cold, my concern is we will not have enough gas for use for heating in parts of Europe,” the US State Department’s adviser for energy security said.

The stage is set for an all-out scramble among Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America for shipments of LNG from exporters such as the Qatar, Trinidad and Tobago.

Cutting back on energy will help the lights stay on longer

 From recent reading it became clear that there is an energy crisis not only in Europe, but also in China – and in India !

Here is Shekhar Gupta explaining why we may suffer blackouts / power cuts over the coming months in parts of India – hopefully planned and announced ones, rather than sudden. 

There are many reasons for what is happening and I will share them as I read – but cutting back on our energy consumption will help the lights stay on a bit longer for everyone. 

25 IDEAS FOR BRINGING DOWN ELECTRICITY USE WITHOUT LOSING COMFORT

Home Lighting

1. In the early 90s, we moved to using 60 W filament bulbs instead of 100 W. In mid-90s, we replaced nearly all our filament bulbs with CFLs, thus reducing per light load to 18 and 36 W from 60 W. 

2. For the last few years, we buy only LEDs and are gradually replacing all bulbs as the past ones die out. All heavy use lights already have LEDs – 3 / 6 / 9 watts each usually. 

3. We find our selves becoming more economical in the use of lighting. One light suffices where two were put on habitually earlier. 

4. Natural light is utilized to the maximum by hanging transparent plastic curtain on the doors which get a lot of light. This plastic curtain keeps out the cold air in winter and hot air in summer, while letting in light. 

5. Window glasses are curtained off for the night only at sleep time as until then they continue letting in outside light. 

6. In consultation with our neighbours, we keep less of the lights of our common corridor on. 

7. Our torches are solar.

Cooling home in summers

8. Our mini honeycomb pad cooler uses just 90 W instead of the 350 W and above, for mid-sized woodwool coolers. 

9. We have just learnt that slower speeds in fans use much less electricity than full speed, so we will now use them at more optimum levels. 

10. We have started replacing old induction motor 90 W fans with new electronic motor 28 W fans – whenever old fans go out of order and cannot be repaired.

11. Our AC use is 10 % compared to our neighbours and only on the hottest days for short durations. The coolers carry on cooling after the AC is shut off. Coolers even circulate the cool air to a second room if both are occupied. 

12. All sun receiving areas of the house are shaded during summer with green nursery cloth. Tirpals / roller blinds / plastic curtains are used, preferably outside the sun receiving windows, so the glass does not heat up. 

Heating Home in Winters

13. We have maximized sun use when it is comfortable to be outside. Our balcony / garden are equipped with electric point for laptop, table and chair, so one can spend long hours outside. 

14. All sun receiving areas of the flat have conveniently placed furniture so one can spend the maximum time in direct heat from the sun. 

15. Blowers and Oil Radiators use 1000 or 2000 W at a time. In contrast halogen rod heaters use 125-400 W rods for heating and one can use multiple rods for faster heating. 

16. But as we have become more conscious of what global warming implies, we find ourselves dressing up even more warmly at home – as a result, in recent winters we have not needed to use heaters at all. 

17. Hot water is used only for bathing, not for washing of hands or washing utensils. Ofcourse, someone unwell would use the hot water stored in the geyser for washing hands, or an especially dirty utensil would be washed in hot water. 

18. Small carpets on the floor at crucial places (like by your bed) keep you warmer and make you step back from using heaters a bit. Ditto by using blankets as ground covers on ALL SLEEPING AND SEATING SURFACES – beds and sofas. 

Electronics

19. All computers are now switched off for the night as are spike busters connecting them to power sources. 

20. When we are getting up from our computers, we are more conscious to immediately put them to sleep while we are away. 

Use of Appliances

21. Having become more economical in our use of electricity, we now use the full capacity of an oven while baking rather than partially. For example, all shakarkandi (sweet potato) is baked together in larger quantitiy at a go. 

22. Washing Machines are ofcourse used only at full load. 

23. Hot things are not put inside the Fridge but allowed to come to room temperature before putting them in the fridge.

24. In summer, water from the fridge is mixed with normal temperature water in thermoses to get the right temperature for drinking water. The fridge does not have to be opened day long for drinking water then, thus conserving on electricity use.  

25. We are away from our home now and then, like most people. In the past, the fridge was left on when we were away. Now we plan in such a way that we try to consume the perishables, or take them with us to our home in another city. Milk packets are packed with ice in an ice box for travel to another city, and so on. However this cant be done for every trip.