"We can create a more sustainable, cleaner and safer world by making wiser energy choices". ~ Robert Alan
The professor was touring villages in Karnataka, gathering information for a program called Sustainable Transformation of Rural Areas. Soil and growing conditions were harsh in much of the area, and many of the villages were poor.
In one such village, the professor and his team of research assistants stopped in a tea stall. Naturally, the strangers drew attention in the small village. One villager struck up a conversation with the professor, and asked what the visitors were doing.
"We're looking for ways to use science and engineering principles to solve real-life problems in villages like this one", Professor Shrinivasa told the man. The villager thought for a moment. "Well, we use oil from the Honge tree to light the lamps in our temples", the man volunteered. "Maybe you could find some other use for that oil".
Indeed he could. The professor, who is based at the Indian Institute of Science, found that the Honge tree (whose Latin name is Pongamia Pinnata) grew throughout the village, and oil could easily be extracted from the tree's plentiful pods.
He also recalled that many years ago Rudolf Diesel had used peanut oil when demonstrating his invention, the diesel engine. The professor told his colleagues, "Let's try this oil in a diesel engine right here in the village".
They got some oil, borrowed a small diesel engine, started it up and