Aditya - world's first solar mass transport boat ..

It's great and proud to see all solar based innovations coming out of God's own country, Kerala, be it the world's first and only 100% energy-neutral solar energy airport or partially insolated Mass Rapid Transport Systems  (Metro with Platinum certified green building stations..) or the world's first solar powered Mass transport boat service, Aditya  .. 👍👍👌👌🙏

Sandit Thandassery, the IIT Chennai BTech graduate is the brain behind the world's first solar boat initiative - Aditya ..

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-meet-the-iit-madras-graduate-who-has-built-india-s-first-solar-boat-ferry-2167266

Kerala blessed with abundant waterways will benefit from this solar technology in a big way in the coming days. 

Watch the youtube video in malayalam

George ..

Simple queueing systems ..

Simple Queueing theory terma and explanation..

Arrival rate / inter-arrival time / Markovian arrival 

Service rate / service time / Markovian departure

Kendalls notation - a/b/c  d/e/f - arrival / service / servers  service discipline / waiting space / calling population

Balking, reneging and jockeying phenomenon

Single server and multiple server queues

Finite waiting and infinite waiting

Finite calling population and infinite calling population

Service discipline - First Come First Served

TED talk - How to grow fresh air indoors ?

Money plant that release abundant oxygen can be easily grown indoors .

How to grow fresh air indoors ?? What are the challenges offered by urban living as opposed to rural living. We find that we are living in more congested and constricted places indoors for more than 12 hours a day, forget about the sleeping time. 

This is an exciting TEDx talk (app. 4.5 min) on how some plants can help in aiding healthy indoor living. As more and more citizens move to densely populated cities, we need more of indoor plants giving out abundant oxygen, which is going to be an essential  requirement for healthy urban living in the coming centuries ..

Click here for the TED video on how to grow fresh air indoors ??

Here is a youtube video on how to grow money plant indoors ..

george..

Sitting is the new smoking !!

Sitting for prolonged hours is dangerous ..

(Fro the internet, very useful message ..)

You may have heard the statement "Sitting is the New Smoking!" When I first heard this saying, I thought it was crazy. Sitting is NOT like smoking.

But recently, I looked more into it, and it completely changed my outlook on one aspect of health that most people neglect.

Here's the problem: we sit an average of 9 to 10 hours a day. So we sit more than we sleep. We sit more than we stand or do any activity. 

We sit in our cars. We sit to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We sit to work. We sit to watch TV. We sit at the movie theater. We sit at the dentist's office. We sit everywhere.


What's the problem with so much sitting?

You'll be surprised to hear that it's not really "back pain" or any such thing (although, that can happen too!). The problem with so much sitting is that our bodies were not meant for it. For millions of years, we were in constant movement for 10-12 hours a day. 

Switch that to sitting for 10 hours, and there's no amount of exercise you can do that can undo the damage. Even if, after your day at the office, you went to the gym for two hours, it wouldn't negate the damage done by sitting. 

That's what led Dr. James Levine to coin the phrase "Sitting is the New Smoking!" 

When you stand, your body works very differently than when you sit. Sitting for hours a day causes the following damage ...

1. Because blood flow slows down, you increase your risk of heart disease. 

2. Your insulin is negatively affected by just one day of sitting 10 hours a day. 

3. Sitting increases your risk of cancer, for reasons we're still speculating about 

4. Perhaps it's the antioxidant processes that are engaged when we are in movement. 

5. Sitting compresses your body, slowing down digesting, leading to cramps, heartburn, constipation and bloating.  

6. Brain function slows down when we sit  

7. Your brain gets less blood and oxygen. 

8. Because of the above, mood worsens.  

9. Posture gets worse, leading to strained neck and shoulders. 

10. Your entire body degenerates when you sit 10 hours a day  

11. Standing requires tensing of the abdominal muscles.  

12. Sitting leads to weak abs, leading to mobility issues. 

13. Varicose veins develop. 

14. Your bones get weaker.

One study found that you can increase your lifespan by two years by sitting down three hours or less a day.  Another study found that each hour spent watching TV after 25 reduces your life expectancy by 22 minutes.

On the other hand, each cigarette reduces your life expectancy by 11 minutes.

 -----------------

Hence… sitting is the new smoking! It kills you much faster than smoking !! Get moving your buttocks quick and fast !! 

Start small for a greener planet - reduce your Carbon footprints..

Ask oneself - Do I make conscious efforts to personally have a sustainable life style ?

Always stick to the 3Rs - Reduce, Reuse and Recycle 

These are a set of humble instructions in all the everyday actions in our life, which if followed by everyone will help make planet earth a more greener place to live..

1. Living and surroundings
a. make more use of natural lighting and wind circulation
b. keep surroundings clean
c. use more of cotton bags and less of polythene bags
d. always insist on less packaging for goods and food items
e. try to purchase more from kirana stores than from super markets
f. employ rainwater harvesting to preserve water
g. try to fast for at least half a day in a week or 2 days in a month
h. at source itself, try to segregate waste and prepare compost for organic waste

2. Food and drinks 

a. eat more of unprocessed and unpackaged food

b. eat less of meat, eggs, poultry and fish

c. eat more of locally available food, fruits, vegetables

d. use less of plastic bottles and packaged / processed drinks and water

3. Energy usage 

a. use energy efficient LED bulbs
b. maintain fans, pumps, motors etc regularly for efficient operation
c. switch off fans and lighting when not in use
d. switch off wi-fi routers and other electronic gadgets before one goes to sleep

4. Study / Games / Work environment

a. try to read and study in naturally lit and naturally ventilated rooms

b. try to use more of renewable energy sources like solar panels, wind turbines 

c. while organising sports or other events, be more green conscious

5. Transport 

a. make more use of public transport
b. try to walk more to your destination instead of taking automobile, it is very healthy too
c. if taking private transport, try to do more car-pooling
d. always insist on less storage and less transportation in the supply chain 

6. Socialising

a. go to clubs and entertainment centres near to home to avoid excess travel

b. network with social service NGO to take away excess food at special events

These are some simple steps one can take to make a sustainable world from our home or work environment. And if everyone on planet earth decides to do his bit for the environment, imagine how wonderful and peaceful this planet is going to be ..

ge...

Sindhutai Sapkal from Pune ..

Some people come in our life as blessings, some come in as lessons - Mother Teresa

*Mother to 1400 orphans*, 70 year old Sindhutai Sapkal from Pune is doing great service to society, much more than what words can describe !! How tiny and selfish we are in comparison to this great Lady. 

Even to this day she does not depend on govt funding, but only on the he goodwill of kind hearted citizens.  

Her 80 year old abusive husband who drove her out on the roads when she was just 20, has repented and has come back to the family as her eldest son ..

Click here on the YouTube video  on the life of Sindhutai !!

Click here for a neat writeup from the betterindian site ..

George .. 

How can companies make their transition to environmental sustainability smooth ?

Environmental Sustainability is a term detested by most of the industries and businesses in the world because it entails extra expenses, more regulations and extra headache. It challenges the status quo, profitability, competitiveness and even the survival of the organisation in the long run.

Everybody talks of going green, being sustainable and so on, but is there a strategic time-tested and proven method of carrying out sustainability transition in large and small organisations, that can make this transition less risky. This is one of the reasons why organisations detest to go green. But there are time tested strategies and illustrated in this paper of a research by a team led by late Prof. CK Prahlad and published in the Harvard Business Review. 

Sustainability has impact not only on the environment,
it has impact on the society and economy too.. 

While going through earlier issues of HBR (Sept 2009), I found that treating sustainability as a new frontier of innovation and creating great awareness of the future benefits through good communications was one way organisations could be made to transition to sustainability initiatives effectively.

In the research, Why sustainability is now the key driver of innovation, the authors have brought out five proactive steps, if adopted can make the sustainability and innovation journey of organisations quite productive and smooth. The five steps are mentioned here.

Step I - Viewing compliance as opportunity

Step II - Making value chains sustainable

Step III - Designing sustainable products and services

Step IV - Developing new Business Models

Step V - Creating next-practice platforms

In step I when we view compliance as an opportunity we tend to accept that sustainability is good for the society and the environment as a whole and change our mindsets and that of the society to take to environment preservation through sustainability initiatives as a top priority.

In step II, as the next step after recognising that sustainability is an inevitable activity, we need to follow it up not only with enforcing sustainability within only our organisations, but also sensitising our suppliers and supply chain partners to be more environmentally sensitive and to contribute to the well being of the environment.

In step III, having setup the supply chain to be environmentally conscious and sensitive, turn to getting advanced designs of one's own products and services which are environmentally sustainable, like electric cars, water less washing etc. 

In step IV, concentrate more on coming up with new business models like sustainable models of solar energy and wind energy generation, developing green buildings, adopting lean manufacturing across organisations etc..

In step V, creating next-practice platforms which have a radical look at conventional thinking and do away with many of the present day wasteful practices and customs can help design better revolutionary products that can not only serve human and societal needs but also come up with solutions that can take care of the environment and make it livable even for future generations. 

As much as it is important for organisations to have top-down commitment to foster sustainability measures, it is equally important for them to absorb and nurture the right quality workforce that respects and takes care of the environment and supports al sustainability initiatives of the organisation with full gusto and fervour.

Click here for Toyota's sustainability initiatives in their India plant at Bidadi, near Bangalore.

Click here for my writing on UN Sustainable Development Goals, 2015 ..

There is no alternative to the Sustainability Imperative .. (Click here ..)

george..

Ref : 1. Nidumolu, Prahlad, Rangaswami, Why sustainability now is the key driver of Innovation, Harvard Business Review, Sept, 2009.