What is Oorjaa?

Oorjaa (ऊर्जा)= Energy

The Sanskrit word Oorjaa (ऊर्जा) literally means "energy".

This is the first post on this blog and I want to address the following questions:

1. Why another blog about energy?
2. How is this blog going to be different?

As an engineer and as an individual concerned about the state of the environment, I feel that the one area in which I can apply my professional knowledge is "sustainable and renewable energy sources". I feel a direct connection to it and I can try to make some concrete contributions to it. This blog is a humble start in my efforts for doing just that: "A concrete contribution". I am going to use this blog as a place to develop my own understanding about energy related issues, sustainable and renewable energy sources and applications, the impact of such solutions on society and economy and a host of other things connected with it. I am going to use individual or series of posts to develop my own knowledge about particular topics such as "peak oil theory" or "coal gasification". Since I am doing this apart from my studies/work, the posting frequency is not going to be very high. I am going to try to have at least one post per week.

Another focus of this blog is going to be energy issues in the context of India. As a rapidly growing economy Indian energy demand is going to increase substantially in the coming years. India has the unique opportunity for implementing novel energy solutions which are sustainable and renewable to meet this demand. It is going to be interesting to see how India tackles the energy issue and also as an Indian, I would like to figure out how I can participate in this process.

The joy of blogging is enhanced many-fold if you can have a dialogue with other people and form a community, with the blog as the meeting place of ideas. I hope that over the course of time, people who find this blog useful will contribute to such dialogue and together our understanding of these issues will develop.

The history of human species can be told through it's quest for energy sources. The control of energy sources has been the source of many conflicts. As the major oil sources are depleted on one hand and global energy demand soars on the other hand, humanity is faced with finding yet another solution to its energy need. Whether the solution will lead to more conflict or whether it will be a solution which will help us sort out our conflicts and truly form a "global village" or a "global community" is the million dollar question. My hope and prayer is for the latter.

For now I leave you with this hymn that begins the Kathopanishada.

ॐ सह नाववतु । सह नौ भुनक्तु ।
सहवीर्यं करवावहै । तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु ।
मा विद्विषावहै ॥ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥

OM, may (Brahman) protect (both of) us. May we enjoy the fruits of our efforts. May (Brahman) bestow the energy to acquire knowledge upon us. May we study to reveal the glorious Truth. May there be no discord between us.
OM, peace peace peace!

Be well, do good work and keep in touch.