Carbon Credits

With global warming due to greenhouse emissions becoming probably the most serious threat for the planet and human-kind today, a series of steps have been taken globally to cut down on emissions. The rationale behind Carbon Credits is to put a cost to greenhouse emissions in terms of real money, and create an incentive for industries and corporations for keeping their emissions low.

The Carbon Credits system, put into place through the Kyoto protocol in the Earth Summit in 1992, defines upper limits on the amount of greenhouse emissions allowed for developing and developed nations. The nations then take their limits, and accordingly define limits for local industries and corporations, called 'operators'. Effectively, each operator is allowed a certain volume of emissions, measured in credits. If any operator can manage to keep their emissions under the limit, they can 'trade' the difference. Similarly, any operator which emits more than its credits, must buy those credits by paying money.

With the above system in place, any operator, say A, whose emissions exceed their
allocated credits by a certain amount might do either of the following:
- Pay an operator B who has some surplus credits to buy credits equal to the amount, or
- Pay money to an operator C which C can use to invest in technology to reduce its emissions by that amount.

The above mechanisms which allow credits to be traded allow operators to find out the most cost effective way of cutting its greenhouse emissions, by choosing to invest in technology that can reduce its emissions, or by buying credits from another operator who has excess credits.

The above mechanism also extends to countries. Developed countries with a very high cost of reducing greenhouse emissions can sponsor a low emission project in a developing country. The developed country effectively gets credits to meet its emission reduction targets, while the developing country can get capital investment or clean technology. This system very effectively puts a price on emissions, and in turn, the emissions show up on their balance sheets as liabilities, in case of operators that exceed their credits, and assets, in case of operators who keep their emissions less than their credits. With emissions directly affecting the profitability of a company and the economy of a country, the managements and governments are driven to invest in technology that cuts emissions and if possible, accumulate extra credits.

Hybrid Cars

Any vehicle that can combine two or more methods which can create power to propel it is called a hybrid vehicle. Hybrid cars, which can use both a fossil fuel like diesel or petrol and electricity to power them have recently seen a rise in usage and production due to the increase in fuel prices and the rising awareness about the harmful effects of greenhouse emissions.

Hybrid cars combine small fossil fuel and electric engines which are operated both independently and in tandem to create power to move the vehicle. Electric engines turn off when the car is idling at a red light, thereby saving energy. Electric engines are also very good for use at lower speeds, and in general, inside a city. Fossil fuel engines become useful when the car is being driven at higher speeds. By using both the engines according to the driving conditions, hybrid cars minimise fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse emissions. It has been proven that hybrid cars emit lesser than 50% of greenhouse and other harmful gases compared to traditional cars that use only fossil fuel engines.

While hybrid cars remain expensive compared to traditional cars as they use recently developed technology which is still not used very extensively, they have been able to develop a lot of interest because of their environment friendly, smart and responsible label. Across the United States, many states have recognized the need to incentivize the use of hybrid cars, and have offered free parking to hybrid vehicles. United states has also provided tax incentives on buyers of the first 60,000 hybrid cards yearly by each manufacturer. Many businesses, too, have started giving incentives to people who own or plan to buy hybrid vehicles. For example, Google offers each employee an incentive of $5000 towards buying a hybrid.

It has been argued that buying a smaller car or using a car pool are better ways of cutting emissions or saving fuel. For those who are not quite ready to make the 'compromise', and still wanting to be good to the planet, hybrid cars probably are a good bet.

Street food @ Delhi - The great leveller

Geek and I are fond of eating out. Along with the restaurants we have a great respect for street food. Street food at Kolkata is one of our shared 'love interests'. We go berserk there... trying to taste everything in that small period when we visit the city. I had always felt that street food in Delhi has a long way to go before matching that of Kolkata, but now I can confidently declare that Delhi is no less in the street food department. This city is full of hidden gems. And apart from the regular gol-gappas and aloo tikki, this city has a lot of variety to offer.

I am listing down my favourite spots in the city, and if you know of anymore then please let me know. 

1. Chicken shawarma at Al-Bake, NFC. 

We discovered this place a few weeks ago. The place looks run down and decrepit, devoid of all color. But it is burstling with people, even at the dead of wintry nights. This place is known for chicken shawarma. It is better than I have ever eaten anywhere. They serve the shawarma with thick mayonnaise and sell two pieces for 25 bucks. Beware, there are a lot of fake 'Al-Bake's in the area, so take your time to locate the authentic one, and you'll be amply rewarded. It is easily recognisable, for it is the most crowded. 

2. Momo at M Block Market, GK-1

There is a momo wala who stands near the gate of M Block Market at GK-1. I am a momo freak and have tried it at a number of places, and I will readily hand 'the best momo in Delhi' certificate to him. He serves momo with 2 types of chutney, green and red. Even the chutney is worth licking. I never leave GK without visiting him and he always doles out an extra momo for my loyalty. There is a good momo wala who stands in front of Baskin & Robins, at NFC. His is also good but not as good as the GK one.

3. Chicken/mutton roll at Khan Chacha

Khan Chacha is an important landmark in Delhi. Almost all of non vegetarian Delhi loves Khan Chacha. People wait in long queues for food and silently eye each other. What else will you do if it takes 20 mins for your mutton kathi roll to arrive? The mutton rolls are awesome and the chicken ones simply melt in the mouth. They also sell  paneer kathi rolls, which it seems has its takers too.

4. Chacha ke chole bhature

Anybody who has studied at North Campus will know what I am talking about. Those were the carefree days when there was no such thing labeled 'fattening food'. Lectures made me sleepy, angry and hungry and back then Pizza Hut was a luxury. Chacha held court in a tiny gali in knags( Kamala Nagar). The place served hot, big, yellow bhaturas and black chola along with acchar. It was tasty, oily and very easy on the pocket. 

More to follow.....

Ghajini - A review

Okay, I confess, I couldn't resist knowing how Amir Khan got that scar on his bald head, so just had to see the movie. Ghajini is a revenge saga - kind hearted girlfriend is murdered defending the girl children and deep pocketed hero seeks revenge. 

We'll start with the name. I have given it some real deep thought, to conclude that it has been named Ghajini because the word sounds good. It also happens to be the name of the villain in the movie, but it might as well have been the name of the police inspector or the pani puri seller whose stall Amir Khan eats at. As for villain, the director seems to think a huge man with red eyes who speaks in an Haryanvi accent  can be fearsome. Sorry, we think that's irritating. I mean, any hindi movie director has this massive pool of great baddies like Mogambo and Gabbar to draw inspiration from. Then why this lame duck masquerading as the bette noire of the mighty Sanjay Singhania.

Amir Khan, as Sanjay Singhania, was great as always. He covered the frame, flashed his abs, gnashed his teeth, snorted like a lion. He hardly spoke in the movie and let his expressions do all the talking. It was difficult to look away when he was on the screen. 

Fresh faced Asin was great as Kalpana, and held herself quite well opposite Amir Khan. It was a good respite to see the curvaceous Asin after the waif like actresses. She emoted fear, happiness all very nicely and her character was very nicely sketched. Jiah khan should seriously consider learning Hindi. It was a pain every time she spoke any dialogue.

The movie tries to build on Sanjay Sanghania's inability to remember anything beyond 15 minutes - which we all will agree can throw up many interesting possibilities. But the director hardly gets under the skin of the business, his mental condition is used more as a pretext than as a background or a setting. The director has taken care to use the right nomenclature for the ailment, and even shows a human brain while the credits roll, but I don't think he makes as much use of the fact as was possible and promised to create interesting situations in the movie. Nothing was told as to how Sanjay got the clues, all we saw was Sanjay bashing up the baddies. 

But the movie was enjoyable and the music is excellent. The background score is also nice specially the score when baddie Ghajini comes on the screen.