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'Disruptive' Technology in Water Supply

Sunday, August 9, 2009

As I have written in the previous post, nanotech may be able to revolutionize drinking water provision. Recently at the 2009 TED, an engineer demonstrated a non chemical nano-filtration bottle that could change filthy water into drinking water in a matter of second. The cost of the bottle is still quite high, around 116-170 GBP depending on the volume (filtration of up to 4,000 to 6,000 litres).

However, with better manufacturing, the price of the filter may significantly decrease in the future. If employed in a larger scale, this technology may decentralize water treatment facility and open doors for competition in the water sector.


 

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End of natural monopoly in the water sector?

Michael Pritchard demonstrated his Lifesaver Bottle that can turn filthy water into drinkable water in a matter of second. The portable lifesaver filter is said to have 15 nanometer pores, small enough to filter viruses. The running cost to produce 25.000 litres of water through a Jerrycan equipped with Livesafer filter is 0.5 cents per day.

If the technology develops and applied to drinking water infrastructure, we may soon say goodbye to natural monopoly in the water sector. Treatment costs will go significantly low making any household eligible to build their own treatment facilities so long as water sources are available.







This could be a bad news for water companies of course :)

Regulations on water services will need to accommodate the possibilities for liberalising the water sector.

 

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What will happen if the world's population go down?

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Lower land prices, higher labor prices, said Pete Alcorn. Surely, it will bring tremendous changes to social system: land reform, democratization and the rise of middle class. Alcorn suggest us to move beyond malthusian economy and pay attention to the tendency of population decrease.

In previous posts we have discussed a little about post-scarcity economics, which is a by-product of Molecular Manufacturing (MM). It may turn out that even without MMworld's population growth may decrease to negative within one century.

The reason for decreasing population may vary. In the past, it can happen because of wars. Now it seems unlikely. So plague -- such as virulent influenza viruses -- could be a scenario. Another scenario would be a relatively successful health and social programs which increases longevity but turned population growth into negative.

See Alcorn's talk here:




 

Gecko challenging a crocodile


NYT posted a story on the recent polemic between the gecko and the crocodile:

“Now our relations are no good because the K.P.K. started picking on their high officials,” said Erry Riyana Hardjapamekas, a former deputy chairman at the commission. “We suspect each other.” More recently, an active high-ranking police official, Susno Duadji, was wiretapped by the commission and caught asking for a $1 million bribe. In an interview with Tempo, the country’s most respected magazine, the police official said he knew he was being wiretapped and played along with the caller; in an allusion to the anticorruption commission and the police, he said, “It’s like a gecko challenging a crocodile.”

Civil societies recently campaigned in support of the 'Gecko'. They called their movement CICAK or Cinta Indonesia Cinta KPK (Love Indonesia, Love the Commission for Eradication of Corruption). Cicak is the Indonesian word for Gecko. As a symbol, they release the above emblem titled: "I am a gecko. I am bold to challenge a crocodile"

 

Draft Law on Commercial Court

Saturday, July 25, 2009

The Central Jakarta Court website published a draft Law (June 2009 version) on Commercial Court (in Bahasa). Click here.

 

The New Indonesian Mining Law

Thursday, July 23, 2009

ABNR/CastleAsia provided update on the new mining law here. The Jakarta Post published some report on divestment obligations for foreign mining firms here and here. A rather academic discussion is available on a paper here. IFLR published a memo on mining -- quite thorough here. There's a presentation giving a quite extensive overview on mining law here. There is also a short memo from Makarim, as well as Roosdiono.

Well, that should save some time for your research work -- and to ask more difficult question to your lawyers :)

 

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Govt limits liability for nuclear accidents

Sunday, July 19, 2009

The government recently issued GR 46/2009 on the limit of liability for losses caused by nuclear accidents. Under the recent GR, liability is limited into Rp. 4. Trillion (from the previous Rp. 900 billion). Read the said GR here (in Bahasa).