By Bilal Zuberi
Reportedly, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf is encouraging the use of alternative energy sources in Pakistan.
“We must make the best use of untapped energy potential in the form of wind and solar energy to meet the growing requirements in the long-term. This has become all the more important in the face of soaring oil prices… Mounting energy requirements on the back of robust industrial growth demand that the country exploit its hydropower capacity as well as benefit from abundant alternative energy means.â€Â?
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This could be a much needed leadership stance to at least explore what alternative energy sources can become available for Pakistan in the future. Researchers in Pakistani universities should jump on this opportunity to take lead in unleashing energy stored in solar, wind, water/tidal, bio-fuels, hydrogen, coal, gas, nuclear and other alternative fuels. Energy derived from alternative sources can not only be renewable, but also cheap, clean and locally accessible.
For example, last year, nearly $1.6 billion of venture capital investments in the US were made in the clean-technology industry, and they have exceeded the total investments in semi-conductor industry . How and where is Pakistan positioning itself in this next technology boom? There is a huge potential for an agriculture based economy like Pakistan to trade up in value derived from its crops.
Pakistan is already going to make a move from diesel to CNG (starting 2007). In the past, chairman of the Alternative Energy Development Board of Pakistan, has also announced that Pakistan will derive 650MW of energy from wind sources, and up to 9700 MW (5% of total installed capacity) by 2030.
Is the alternative energy/renewable fuel/environmental movement finally catching interest in government circles? How can we help strengthen their resolve (if it is real and not just hot air) and bring other necessary resources to the table?
Dr. Bilal Zuberi is Vice President of Product Development at GEO2 Technologies in Boston (MA), USA. (See more at Bilal’s blog).
‘The Man Who Wasn’t There’ has depth
Post-Tribune (IN) November 2, 2001 | Jim Gordon THIS ELECTRONIC VERSION MAY DIFFER SLIGHTLY FROM PRINTED VERSION Billy Bob Thornton stars in “The Man Who Wasn’t There.”(PHOTO) (USA FILMS) Joel and Ethan Coen acknowledge their new film was influenced by novelist James M. Cain, on whose work the classic films noir “Double Indemnity” and “The Postman Always Rings Twice” were based. But the spring from which “The Man Who Wasn’t There” flowed was a poster that was part of the barber shop set in their 1994 film “The Hudsucker Proxy.” They looked at the illustration of the variety of men’s haircuts in the 1940s and began imagining the barber who might have cut hair in those styles. site men s haircuts
From these ruminations evolved the character Ed Crane, an all but invisible barber who works the second chair in the shop owned by his wife’s brother.
Billy Bob Thornton, in a role that requires iron discipline and perfect register, plays Ed as a resolutely quiet man who spends his days in an environment where chatter runs rampant.
What we know of Ed’s inner life we learn from his narration, in which he numbly describes vague dreams of a better life.
For better or worse, the arc of his life changes when Tolliver (Jon Polito, a Coen film regular) sits down in Ed’s chair and talks about the riches that await the man smart enough to get in on the ground floor of a can’t-miss new business, dry-cleaning, for an investment of $10,000.
Until that time, he had been inclined to ignore the affair his wife (Frances McDormand), a bookkeeper at a large department store, was probably having with her boss (James Gandolfini).
But the need for venture capital moves him to send an anonymous blackmail note to his wife’s lover, demanding $10,000 not to reveal the affair to the man’s wife.
This extortion scheme triggers a series of unexpected events, just as the “safe” kidnapping does in the Coens’ small masterpiece, “Fargo,” a film with which “The Man Who Wasn’t There” also shares a compelling blend of tragedy and comedy. go to website men s haircuts
The Coens divide the labor as they did in “Raising Arizona,” “Barton Fink,” Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?” and all their other films. Both write, Joel directs and Ethan produces.
The Coens add richness to their movies by investing each character, major or minor, with a distinct personality. In this film, Scarlett Johansson, Richard Jenkins and Tony Shalhoub contribute texture to the Coens’ canvas.
But it’s Thornton, in his second glittering performance of the season — he also stars opposite Bruce Willis and Cate Blanchett in “Bandits” — who anchors the film in a sea of misfiring dreams and twists of fate.
“The Man Who Wasn’t There” is dark and funny, a work of considerable imagination and depth.
**** “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” rated R for one scene of violence, has a running time of 122 minutes.
Jim Gordon
I am gld you wrote on this subject. I hope you cover moe on this. Especially since Prof. Najam is an expert in this area. There are some interesting developments in Pakistn on environment which we should push and encourage.
I am student of commerce(M.com)in my point of view energy is the baises on which the economy of a country base.pakisitan is one of the country in the world who have huge amount of recorcess but unfourtunately these have become useless becouse of improper planing if we want to live more in the world we need to efficent use of our resoucess and do plan next 10years.
We people converted cars to ‘gas’ early on in Pakistan because of petrol prices and there is lot of talk about biofuels becasue of teh cost of petrol more than because of environment reason. But eventually it will be good for environment also
I am gld you wrote on this subject. I hope you cover moe on this. Especially since Prof. Najam is an expert in this area. There are some interesting developments in Pakistn on environment which we should push and encourage.
I think the green movement is real – now we need to move it beyond the realm of environmental supporters to the businessmen so they can invest. I will try to look for official Pakistani energy policy documents that may outline a strategy for future energy needs.
On a side note: a related post has been published at: http://bznotes.wordpress.com/2006/07/01/ethanol-vs-gasoline/. Would Pakistan be able to play in the ethanol world? (meaning produce and export ethanol from biomass).