In today's news Danny updates us on the Auroville Council. Tonight at Bharat Nivas Auditorium a Tabla and Sitar Recital: Muthu Kumar on tabla, Sanjeev Korti on sitar 7:30 pm. Georges Van Vrekhem's next talk Saturday 17 March 5 pm Savitri Bhavan. FAMC approved formation of Varuna-Auroville, a new unit: a wind generator to be donated to the Auroville Foundation to supply electricity to Auroville. Sharma (working with EcoPro) demonstrates making charcoal with small wood, using household level technology. At Grace, Wednesday, 14 March 3-5 pm Read more

From L'Avenir d'Auroville Rolf talks on future development of the city, which is currently in chaos, especially regarding utilities infrastructure set up of the past. After the cyclone came a strong call from the community to explore underground utilities supply. And in general energy has accumulated to the point where we can start seriously thinking of overall infrastructure distribution. Next month we will get another electrical high tension cable to interconnect different transformers in order to achieve more regular supply of electricity. Read more

In recent years, there has much research and experimentation in the field of wind energy, and the production of wind turbines has become one of the leading examples of renewable energy. Jorge, who runs an initiative at Windarra Farm focused on the production of homemade wind turbines, took some time to speak about his own goals and the awareness of wind turbine benefits. His program, centered in education, brings volunteers and students to the farm to learn how to build their own turbines. Read more

The Pavilion of Tibetan Culture invites us to an exhibition of rare historic photos Walking into Exile - The Dalai Lama arrives in Tawang (March 31 to April 18, 1959) tomorrow 28th of January at 5pm. The exhibition will be inaugurated by Prof Samdhong Rinpoche, former Kalon Tripa and will be followed by a talk by Samdhong Rinpoche on My Vision of Future Tibet .In today's news we feature short phone interview about it with Namgyal. Weekend it will be nicely busy, as it is usual for this time of the year, with lots of good music, presentations... Read more

From Auroville Cyclone Response Team / Energy comes and important safety advice on the electrical poles that have broken during the cyclone. In many cases a new pole has been installed while the old pole is still on the ground next to the new pole with meter boxes and switch boxes still attached to that old For the sake of safety, everyone is requested not to interfere with the equipment, meters, fuses, switch boxes on broken poles as these may be in use. in today's news we feature interview with Kim and Kimbo about Thursday concert at Arka. Read more

L'Avenir d'Auroville will present on Municipalika - 10th International Conference on "Good Urban Governance for Safe, Healthy, Green and Smart Cities" in co terminus with 10th International Exhibiton on "City Infrastructure and Sustainable Urban Developments" - Auroville's way on how to handle waste water treatment, alternative planning, architecture and something about tropical evergreen forest. In news we feature short interview with Anbu about it. You can also hear a short excerpt of yesterday's concert of Marc Vella at Pitanga. Read more

A presentation on Pumped Storage Systems has been given in the Town Hall Conference Room on Friday 06-01-2012. The presentation team includes Harald Kraft (Water Engineering Consultant, see: ib-kraft.de/eng/), Michael Bonke (who has studied the pumped storage systems of Ruselkraftwerke, Germany) and Toine Van Megen (who presented the relevance of pumped storage systems in the context of renewable energy). The presentation and discussion had also look at the possibilities of utilizing the Matrimandir Lake as the lower elevation Read more

At Joy Guest house, previously known as College Guesthouse, the main damage was caused by uprooted trees. Also, they have no water or electricity. Except from the working men and the people living there, the place is pretty deserted, since it is impossible of receiving guests in this condition. After the interview, on my way back to the radio, i was forced to stop since a tree was taken down to secure future safety to electricity lines. Read more

The beach side was heavily damaged during the cyclone. One week after, reconstruction work is going on. In the town Periyamudaliarchavadi, people were helping government working men clearing away fallen trees to restore electricity lines. Near Repos beach lives Bhaga, already for 20 years now. She gives an account of what happened. During our interview, reconstruction workers entered her back garden with heavy machinery. This ended our talk prematurely, as Bhaga had to go outside to prevent the machine doing too much destruction. Read more

One week after the Cyclone and we still feel its impact. A change of landscape, this is for sure. But what are the environmental impacts we are going to face in the future is still unclear. Catherine, an energetic and engaged young Aurovilian and a passionate forester shares with us her views and perspectives on the present situation after the cyclone. We also give an update on Tamil Nadu relief actions for the impacted areas. And to finish a solution: Solar Energy. For this we share interesting facts about it to inspire and motivate we all. Read more

Hemant is part of the Auroville Cyclone Relief & Rehabilitation Team. In this interview he's sharing the last few days of work of the many groups involved in the relief and rehabilitation. In the coming days the electricity will be restored in the center of Auroville but in other places it will take 4 weeks since the TNB personal is busy in other places. The main electrical work is done by Aurovilians.The positive aspect of the cyclone's event is the fact that many persons came together to help each other. Many guest also joined in this effort. Read more

The Working Committee member Daniel talks about the rehabilitation work happening in Auroville after the Thane cyclone. The most urgent matter is the restoring of the electricity since Auroville depends 100% on water pumped by the borewells. The electrical distribution lines are totally destroyed. About 150 electrical poles are broken and only 50 of them are available. It is estimated that the recovery of electrical power in all the different communities will take around one month. The next week most probably the school will open. Read more

In today's news we feature short interview with John from help desk for cyclone at Town Hall .... And Andrea spoke with visiting guest artist Carrie Dashow about her work and presentation she will held on Friday 6th of January at 5pm at Multi Media Center in Town Hall....Rosine Debode, a Belgian national, who was one of the early Aurovilians, passed away peacefully in Auroville in the early morning of January 4, 2012. She made a unique and generous contribution to Auroville with her life. Thank you Rosine for all your love and support. . Read more

You can hear Prya of Buddha Garden (Auroville), and the village head of Morattandi about their reactions to the cyclone Thane. Although separated by only 5km, their way of coping with the storm is quite different. Morattandi, a village of 2000 inhabitants southwest of Auroville, is still struggling to get the electricity and water supply working again. Buddha Garden, a sustainable farm with solar panels, is up and running again. The village head of Morattandi is giving the interview while giving directions to workmen fixing an electricity pole.

Auroville Council member Sonja gives an update on what's current on their table; not surprisingly, a lot on cyclone relief. Info on making a donation provided in the news; see more at cyclonehelp@auroville.org.in. Cyclone Relief Services information listed for water, generators, solar, tree clearing, housing and help in the Greebelt. Matrimandir closed to visitors until Pongal, mid-January. Wind/Solar Renewable Energy Design Workshop coming up on January 9 to 14. For more images open the READ MORE section. Read more

From first almost paralyzed feeling after natural catastrophe town woke up in frantic mood to clean, repair..help..Yesterday the clean up team started their work, to which we all are welcome. And since today we got a Cyclone help desk in Town Hall at the Receptionist Desk with team of people collecting and sharing information on the most important things - water, electricity, green belt - wood issues. Help desk team can be reach at main Town Hall phone line 2622250, for water and single phase generators we should call Jill on 9486144065 Read more

In this interview Sauro explains the plans and actions of the teams involved in the Thane cyclone recovery. The main priority is to supply power generators to fill up the communities' tanks scattered around Auroville. Generators has been rented and an order has been placed to buy 3 more of them. The Electrical Service is working from dawn to sunset preparing the installation of the main electrical lines which had been damage. There was no casualty in Auroville, all the guests are safe and the guest houses are open. Read more

Cyclone Thane swirled around Auroville at the end of 2011 changing the landscape; people reuniting, working together, small differences forgotten, cleaning and clearing the roads, the land. Interviewed is Alok, organizer of clean-up work teams, meeting daily 9 a.m. Town Hall parking. Auroville Electrical Service asks for assistance both financially and physically to help their team to hasten the return of power. Carrie Dashow NYC-based interdisciplinary artist shares her work at Paradiso. Read more

On the second day of Auroville International conference in Addis Abbaba at the Red Cross Society Training Institute Carsten introduced to Ethiopian audience renewable energy systems in Auroville - what we have achieved in the past, and what we want to do in the future. Carsten is the leading person behind commercial unit AV Energy Products which provide untis and individuals, home and abroad with electronic components for solar systems. Vision is that we should become energy independent and self sufficient with all our energy requirements.

Dr. Brahmanand Mohanty, expert in the field of energy concentrated his talk at Green Practise on energy from global perspective down to regional. If we could follow the imense progress in last century, the fact is that within it we've discovered oil, and we also managed to spent 50% of world reserves of it. Dr. Mohanty sees Aruoville as the right platform for the spiritual revival or regeneration of the city. Now its the time to work on sustainable regenerative systems with green infrastructure, for building, transportation, water supply ...

The Auroville Town Development Council Meeting group discussed with Mr. Doshi the Galaxy Plan Footprint, studies done on residential zones and their existing building densities, roads, waste water treatment plants, land ownership, upgrading electricity, fences, security, mobility, green corridors, immediate and future development. Mr. Doshi emphasized the importance of making a "vital" city" and quality of life enhancement through astute use of energy and time.. He touched upon various aspects of town planning that enable holistic living. Read more

L'Avenir d'Auroville in cooperation with the technology company Dura-Line hosted an informational meeting on "Existing Synergy Opportunity for Infrastructure Development". The meeting presented Polyethylene Piping Systems solutions which would serve gray water/black water treatment and infrastructure development works in the Auroville Community. We have recorded the presentation and discussions of subjects related to distribution schemes, connection between houses and communities, environmental impact, construction and costs, more efficient drip irrigation systems, gray and black water treatment and much more. The presentation was held at the Town Hall, in conference hall on June 4th . Read more

Today's news bring us a great variate of subjects that are part of our daily life in Auroville, starting with the announcement of the festival Panorama of Contemporary Indian Cinema, that is happening this weekend at Bharat Nivas. The dance performance:Repeated Act of Giving that was programed for tomorrow the 3th of March at Sri Aurobindo Auditorium is canceled, new date will be informed soon. The electrical service inform: new timings for power shut-down started on the 1th of march, be plugged! If you love flowers, a great opportunity: Sri Aurobindo's Compassion (Portulaca) are available at Unity Garden. Want to know more? Contact Alain or Lieve at Matrimandir office. Read more

At the Solitude Farm in Auroville they made a music festival at the 29th of January 2011, called Lively up your Earth. Next to music there was a farm market with locally grown vegetables, books for sale and nice foods and drinks to eat. There was also a place for technology at the festival as several Aurovillian companies presented there products. One of these was Auroville Energy Products, selling Solar Energy products. Carsten tells us about the latest developments in the industry, about the latest improvements in technology, new ways of using energy more suficiant and the harm reduction to environment by producing these products. Read more

At the Green Practice Workshop held in August, Astar Patel, a member of the Governing Board of the Auroville Foundation, spoke about how Auroville is an intense experience, from the physical to the spiritual. Talking about how Sri Aurobindo foresaw an extreme crisis upon man, which he called the crisis of evolution, Dr Patel drew parallels to the various events that took place this century, one of which was the formation of Auroville. “Auroville is like the world’s inner space… in spite of the compact collectivity, the freedom of the individual is absolute,” she added.

At Saracon at 3pm Blue Light will demonstrate Enterprise Resource management (ERP) software which is widely use all over the world to manage the business activities of enterprises ranging from small and medium size enterprises to large corporations. Tomorrow at the Pavilion of Tibetan Culture in International Zone the exhibition of Hu Hsu paintings will be open. Hu Hsu, the Chinese disciple who lived in Ashram, was by the Mother's words a scholar, and artist, a yogi. At Cinema Paradiso we can see tonight at 8pm and Italian movie OGGI SPOSI, and tomorrow documentary about Neil Yung&Crazy Horse and the music.

Today's news features an excerpt from yesterday's presentation about Beema Bamboo at the Town Hall Conference room. This bamboo is a native Indian specie and could be used for electricity generation for Auroville. This plan would enable to reduce Auroville's carbon footprint dramatically as the gas made out of gasification would be relatively clean and could provide Auroville with its own steady source of electricity. Also in the news some essential phone numbers for more securty on the roads and for taxi orders.

On Monday 26th July 2010 in Town Hall conference hall we had a chance to hear interesting presentation about Beema bamboo as an ecological and economical source of energy by Pashi and few others. . This bamboo is a native Indian specie which has been proven to grow well under our local conditions and which possesses many assets – very good yield , it has a high biomass content, as well as a good pulp and a high calorific value (4000 K cal/kg). It therefore acts as a carbon sink as it can absorb CO2 3 to 4 times more than trees; Read more

This is a brief summary of the open presentation and discussion arranged by L’avenir on 29th January 2010 at the Town Hall. The goals of ICITI is to build a scalable ICT platform by 2012 in Auroville for+ Better connectivity at lower cost, enabling closer  collaboration and more effective governance+ Reduce carbon foot print   - Eliminate or reduce energy used for ‘need-less’ travel   - Eliminate or reduce use of paper   - Use low power/ power efficient technologies+ Reduce Electromagnetic pollution+ Usher in ‘Knowledge Society”+ Extend it to the bio-regionThe consensus at the end of the meeting was that ICITI is technically feasible and financially viable and its realization would be beneficial. For its realization, ICITI needs Government approvals, funds and Community support in the aspiration, goodwill and a helping hand, wherever possible..In READ MORE part 2 & 3.Read more

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On Friday 11 December there was a presentation on energy presented by the task force on infrastructure of l'Avenir d'Auroville, specifically Pashi and Toine. The discussion started from the actual energy consumption in Auroville, continuing with possible solutions that the city may take.This was to  be the last Open Friday meeting of this year organized by l'Avenir d'Auroville. To dowload the edited recording of the meeting click here.

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