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Developed for the first time in 1954 in the Bell laboratories, Solar cells are revolutionary technology to har­ness the free energy provided by the sun. One hour of solar energy that falls on the earth in a day is capable of powering the world economy for that day. Solar energy also provides great scope for job creation.

Solar is being productively har­nessed by both India and China. Nar­endra Modi recently had the 75 MW solar plant in Uttar Pradesh com­missioned by the French President Emmanuel Macron and China has the world’s largest installed capacity for renewable energy.

Nepal has to spend more than 50 percent of its foreign currency to import petroleum products, two-thirds of which is used to power the hungry transport system. Diverting these resources to electrically-pow­ered zero emission vehicles can cre­ate job opportunities never before imagined. Solar, wind and hydro powered charging stations for elec­trical vehicles can be deployed even in the remotest corners of Nepal.

Kathmandu’s tourism opportu­nities are overshadowed by its ill repute as the world’s most polluted cities. Protecting its cultural heritage from pollution has been a challenge. Going green can expand and save the economy in more than one way.

The traditional pollution-based economy has created two classes of people: have and haves not. But dis­tributed renewable energy will gen­erate equal income for all involved stakeholders. These sources of energy can be people-owned, and as such the fruits of the economy will be widely shared.

Renewable sources of energy are easily deployed and scalable, espe­cially solar. Technological develop­ment over past four years in Solar PV systems goes beyond hydro and wind. With vocational training a college graduate can be the sole required skilled manpower. Solar PV system thus has been responsible for three million jobs around the globe. Bringing our brothers and sisters back home though creation of lucra­tive jobs is the need of the hour.

The renewable energy penetration for China and India are 15 and 25 percent respectively, as of 2015. With other renewable energy, the major challenge is to store for emergency use; hydro has the most feasible storage option.

With combined development of solar and hydro in Nepal, we can eas­ily be a renewable energy supplier to both these economies. There are tremendous growth opportunities in these energy markets. The long-term objective of creating a sustainable Nepali economy goes hand in hand with the interests of our neighbors and leading world economies.

Our economy can be a role model and develop concurrent to the 17 sustainable development goals of United Nations. The goals are broad and interrelated, with one common thread: renewable energy. So long as anybody can remember, the water has never stopped flowing, the wind has never stopped blowing and there is sunshine year round.

BY SOUGAT DHUNGEL

The Hyatt Global Month of Community Service program encourages hotels around the world to give something back to the communities they call home. A total of 30 associates from dif­ferent departments participated in the construction activity in an effort to strengthen their com­mitment and bond with the local communities.

The team of associates trav­eled 47 kilometers to volunteer in building a house for 56-year-old Lata Man Tamang, living in Panchkal. His house was com­pletely destroyed during the earthquakes in 2015. The Partic­ipatory Approach for Safe Shel­ter Awareness (PASSA), a group formed as part of Habitat Nepal’s Nepal Earthquake Assistance Program, identified as one of the most vulnerable persons in the community, allowing him to receive extra support, such as goods-in-kind, top-ups and labor support, on top of the typical reconstruction grants offered to rebuild his house.

Marking the special occasion of New Year 2075 BS and as a part of its 3rd Anniversary cele­brations, Himalaya Airlines has reinforced its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative by extending its association with Prayas Nepal, by contributing kitchen utilities and a yearlong supply of notebooks for chil­dren for the educational year of 2075/76.

“We sincerely hope our small contribution supports Prayas Nepal’s efforts to encourage and empower the children, to help them thrive and grow into confident, healthy and strong adults,” Ujjwala Dali, Head of Department, Brand and Service Improvement of Himalaya Air­lines, said at a program inside Prayas premises.

Smart, innovative, energy effi­cient and eco-friendly are words commonly used to describe any consumer electronic or home appliance product. LG refriger­ators have always been popular in the Nepali market as well. The durability, features, aesthetics, after sales service, warranty, and energy savings, are few rea­sons why LG refrigerators have acquired the number 1 position in the Nepali market.

CG Impex (P) Ltd., the sole dis­tributor for LG in Nepal, brings the best refrigerators ranging from single door units to side by side refrigerators with InstaView Door-In-Door features. The new line-ups of the double door units that are common in the Nepali households are equipped with trademark features like Linear Cooling, Door Cooling, Smart Diagnosis, Auto Smart Connect among others.

As part of its CSR, Hotel Yak & Yeti organized an event in honor of Earth Day 2018 this week. Earth Day is the world’s largest environmental movement and the theme for this year was “End Plastic Pollution.” Hotel Yak & Yeti hosted an interactive program in which it invited fifteen Grade 7 students from Tangal Secondary School (Tangal Madhyamik Bidhyalaya) to engage in activities like recycling plastic bottles, planting seeds and trees in the east side garden and making drawings on Earth Day 2018.

Hotel Yak & Yeti’s in-house gardener demonstrated how to make plant pots out of recycled bottles and the children followed. The children of Tangal Secondary School were encouraged to participate in activities such as seeds and tree plantations in the garden as an honor to Mother Earth. There was a special healthy snack box menu prepared by Executive Chef Sagar Singh Rawat for the children and teachers participat­ing in the event.

Chitwan: The Chitwan National Park (CNP) is pre­paring to send a male rhino calf to China.

According to Man Bahadur Khadka, director of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, a team of wildlife experts including veterinarians from China and Nepal examined the rhino calf and verified it to be healthy for the journey. The rhino calf was bred by the CNP at its enclosure at the National Nature Conservation Trust Sauraha. The government has decided to gift two pairs of rhino to China within the next three months. RSS

Rumba is not the only one complaining. Most movies made in the year 2074 have been unsuc­cessful. Only 10 percent of the 83 movies released in the year made a profit; 20 percent broke even. The producers of the rest blamed movie theater owners, actors and distributors for their film’s failure. Most producers who lost their investment are in no mood to make another film.

Although investments in films grew considerably last year, the return on them didn’t meet expectations. Film-mak­ing costs spiked largely because actors’ fees and other expenses increased. The cost of making one film last year ranged from Rs 2.5 million to 30 million. Only a few films were able to take advantage of the global mar­ket, and the domestic market wasn’t big enough to recoup costs. Many films couldn’t be completed on time—another fac­tor that swelled costs.

While 160 films were registered for production at the Film Devel­opment Board, only 83 were released in 2074 BS. Ghampa­ni, directed by Dipendra Lama, was released on the first day of the year. Lili Bili, directed by Milan Chams, and Nepte, direct­ed by Dev Kumar Shrestha, were released on last day of the year.

Most of the films released last year could recoup just 10 to 50 percent of the investment. A tiny number of them, however, made handsome profits—two to three times the investment cost. Films that earned the most profits last year include Chhakka Panja-2, Shatru Gate, Kri and Ae Mero Hajur.

Chhakka Panja-2, directed by Deepa Shree Niraula, per­formed well at the box office at a time when the trend of mak­ing sequels is growing. In fact, it did even better than its prequel Chhakka Panja in terms of box office collections. While the two films have a similar cast, their stories are different. Chhakka Panja-2 was produced with an investment of Rs 15 million.

Shatru Gate, another box-office success, was also made with an investment of Rs 15 million. It is still being screened at a few theaters. Although it is running in the fifth week, it is still giv­ing tough competition to new releases. It’s entirely possible that among the movies released last year, Shatru Gate, which made a whopping Rs 30.2 mil­lion in its first weekend, will be the highest earner. This film with a fairly large cast was directed by Pradip Bhattarai.

Kri, starring Anmol KC and Aditi Budhathoki, did earn a prof­it, but it had to pay a fine worth Rs 1.1 million for plagiarizing a song. Kri was directed by Suren­dra Paudel and produced by Bhu­wan KC and Subash Giri.

Some other films that recouped their investment include Aish­warya, Prem Geet-2, Ma Yas­to Geet Gaaunchhu, Kanchhi and Lili Bili. But because most films couldn’t recover their investment, the overall loss the film-making industry incurred last year totaled Rs 500 million.  

BY ANANTA WAGLE | KATHMANDU

Weekly Editorial Cartoon