High-Voltage DC Breakthrough Could Boost Renewable Energy

Patrick J. Kiger

Thomas Edison championed direct current, or DC, as a better mode for delivering electricity than alternating current, or AC. But the inventor of the light bulb lost the War of the Currents. Despite Edison's sometimes flamboyant efforts—at one point he electrocuted a Coney Island zoo elephant in an attempt to show the technology's hazards—AC is the primary way that electricity flows from power plants to homes and businesses everywhere. (Related Quiz: "What You Don't Know About Electricity")

But now, more than a century after Edison's misguided stunt, DC may be getting a measure of vindication.

An updated, high-voltage version of DC, called HVDC, is being touted as the transmission method of the future because of its ability to transmit current over very long distances with fewer losses than AC. And that trend may be accelerated by a new device called a hybrid HVDC breaker, which may make it possible to use DC on large power grids without the fear of catastrophic breakdown that stymied the technology in the past.  (See related photos: "World's Worst Power Outages.")

Swiss-based power technology and automation giant ABB, which developed the breaker, says it may also prove critical to the 21st century's transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, by tapping the full potential of massive wind farms and solar generating stations to provide electricity to distant cities.

So far, the device has been tested only in laboratories, but ABB's chief executive, Joe Hogan, touts the hybrid HVDC breaker as "a new chapter in the history of electrical engineering," and predicts that it will make possible the development of "the grid of the future"—that is, a massive, super-efficient network for distributing electricity that would interconnect not just nations but multiple continents. Outside experts aren't quite as grandiose, but they still see the breaker as an important breakthrough.

"I'm quite struck by the potential of this invention," says John Kassakian, an electrical engineering and computer science professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "If it works on a large scale and is economical to use, it could be a substantial asset."

Going the Distance

The hybrid HVDC breaker may herald a new day for Edison's favored mode of electricity, in which current is transmitted in a constant flow in one direction, rather than in the back-and-forth bursts of AC. In the early 1890s, DC lost the so-called War of the Currents mostly because of the issue of long-distance transmission.

In Edison's time, because of losses due to electrical resistance, there wasn't an economical technology that would enable DC systems to transmit power over long distances. Edison did not see this as a drawback because he envisioned electric power plants in every neighborhood.

But his rivals in the pioneering era of electricity, Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse, instead touted AC, which could be sent long distances with fewer losses. AC's voltage, the amount of potential energy in the current (think of it as analogous to the pressure in a water line), could be stepped up and down easily through the use of transformers. That meant high-voltage AC could be transmitted long distances until it entered neighborhoods, where it would be transformed to safer low-voltage electricity.

Thanks to AC, smoke-belching, coal-burning generating plants could be built miles away from the homes and office buildings they powered. It was the idea that won the day, and became the basis for the proliferation of electric power systems across the United States and around the world.

But advances in transformer technology ultimately made it possible to transmit DC at higher voltages. The advantages of HVDC then became readily apparent. Compared to AC, HVDC is more efficient—a thousand-mile HVDC line carrying thousands of megawatts might lose 6 to 8 percent of its power, compared to 12 to 25 percent for a similar AC line. And HVDC would require fewer lines along a route. That made it better suited to places where electricity must be transmitted extraordinarily long distances from power plants to urban areas. It also is more efficient for underwater electricity transmission.

In recent years, companies such as ABB and Germany's Siemens have built a number of big HVDC transmission projects, like ABB's 940-kilometer (584-mile) line that went into service in 2004 to deliver power from China's massive Three Gorges hydroelectric plant to Guangdong province in the South. In the United States, Siemens for the first time ever installed a 500-kilovolt submarine cable, a 65-mile HVDC line, to take additional power from the Pennsylvania/New Jersey grid to power-hungry Long Island. (Related: "Can Hurricane Sandy Shed Light on Curbing Power Outages?") And the longest electric transmission line in the world, some 2,500 kilometers (1,553 miles), is under construction by ABB now in Brazil: The Rio-Madeira HVDC project will link two new hydropower plants in the Amazon with São Paulo, the nation's main economic hub. (Related Pictures: "A River People Await an Amazon Dam")

But these projects all involved point-to-point electricity delivery. Some engineers began to envision the potential of branching out HVDC into "supergrids." Far-flung arrays of wind farms and solar installations could be tied together in giant networks. Because of its stability and low losses, HVDC could balance out the natural fluctuations in renewable energy in a way that AC never could. That could dramatically reduce the need for the constant base-load power of large coal or nuclear power plants.

The Need for a Breaker

Until now, however, such renewable energy solutions have faced at least one daunting obstacle. It's much trickier to regulate a DC grid, where current flows continuously, than it is with AC. "When you have a large grid and you have a lightning strike at one location, you need to be able to disconnect that section quickly and isolate the problem, or else bad things can happen to the rest of the grid," such as a catastrophic blackout, explains ABB chief technology officer Prith Banerjee. "But if you can disconnect quickly, the rest of the grid can go on working while you fix the problem." That's where HVDC hybrid breakers—basically, nondescript racks of circuitry inside a power station—could come in. The breaker combines a series of mechanical and electronic circuit-breaking devices, which redirect a surge in current and then shut it off.  ABB says the unit is capable of stopping a surge equivalent to the output of a one-gigawatt power plant, the sort that might provide power to 1 million U.S. homes or 2 million European homes, in significantly less time than the blink of an eye.

While ABB's new breaker still must be tested in actual power plants before it is deemed dependable enough for wide use, independent experts say it seems to represent an advance over previous efforts. (Siemens, an ABB competitor, reportedly also has been working to develop an advanced HVDC breaker.)

"I think this hybrid approach is a very good approach," says Narain Hingorani, a power-transmission researcher and consultant who is a fellow with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. "There are other ways of doing the same thing, but they don't exist right now, and they may be more expensive."

Hingorani thinks the hybrid HVDC breakers could play an important role in building sprawling HVDC grids that could realize the potential of renewable energy sources. HVDC cables could be laid along the ocean floor to transmit electricity from floating wind farms that are dozens of mile offshore, far out of sight of coastal residents. HVDC lines equipped with hybrid breakers also would be much cheaper to bury than AC, because they require less insulation, Hingorani says.

For wind farms and solar installations in the Midwest and Rocky Mountain regions, HVDC cables could be run underground in environmentally sensitive areas, to avoid cluttering the landscape with transmission towers and overhead lines. "So far, we've been going after the low-hanging fruit, building them in places where it's easy to connect to the grid," he explains. "There are other places where you can get a lot of wind, but where it's going to take years to get permits for overhead lines—if you can get them at all—because the public is against it."

In other words, whether due to public preference to keep coal plants out of sight, or a desire to harness the force of remote offshore or mountain wind power, society is still seeking the least obtrusive way to deliver electricity long distances. That means that for the same reason Edison lost the War of the Currents at the end of the 19th century, his DC current may gain its opportunity (thanks to technological advances) to serve as the backbone of a cleaner 21st-century grid. (See related story: "The 21st Century Grid: Can we fix the infrastructure that powers our lives?")

This story is part of a special series that explores energy issues. For more, visit The Great Energy Challenge.

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McAfee Mystery Deepens With Possible Heart Attack

Our audience is comprised of 40M active subscribers to blogs, tweets, Facebook and RSS feeds from top publishers including Inc, MSNBC, Reuters, InformationWeek, TechTarget, CBS Sports, AOL, CNET, ABC News, NBC, Politico and hundreds of others. Learn More

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Rubio, Ryan look to the future during award dinner speeches

Two high-profile Republican members of Congress who stand at the forefront of the effort to rebuild the party after a stinging presidential defeat delivered speeches Tuesday night aimed at turning the page with a fresh emphasis on inclusion and a renewed focus on growing the middle class.

“Nothing represents how special America is more than our middle class. And our challenge and our opportunity now is to create the conditions that allow it not just to survive, but to grow,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), the Leadership Award recipient at a dinner hosted by the Jack Kemp Foundation, a charitable nonprofit organization named for the late congressman and Housing and Urban Development secretary.

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Football: Champions League holders Chelsea out despite rout

LONDON: Chelsea became the first Champions League holders to go out in the group phase despite a resounding 6-1 win at home to FC Nordsjaelland in their final Group E game on Wednesday.

The much-maligned Fernando Torres scored twice, with David Luiz, Gary Cahill, Juan Mata and Oscar also on target, but Juventus' 1-0 win at Shakhtar Donetsk in the other group game put the Italians in the last 16 at Chelsea's expense.

Chelsea finished their group campaign with 10 points -- level with Shakhtar, but below the Ukrainian champions by virtue of an inferior head-to-head record.

The result gave interim coach Rafael Benitez his first win in four games at the Stamford Bridge helm, but Chelsea's only hope of securing silverware in Europe for a second successive season now lies in the Europa League.

"The other game was out of our hands, so we couldn't do anything about it," said Benitez.

"I said before that we just had to do our job. As a manager, you have to be really pleased with the performance of your team.

"Thirty-two attempts at goal, 18 on target, six goals, a lot of clear chances. You have to think about the positives, even though we're disappointed we can't progress in the Champions League.

"People ask about the Europa League. Every competition is important for us. We will try to challenge and win where we can."

Ashley Cole was making his 100th Champions League appearance and he crafted the game's first opportunity by teeing up Victor Moses for a volley that visiting goalkeeper Jesper Hansen blocked at his near post.

Hansen also saved from Torres, twice, and Eden Hazard, although the chants of 'Come on Shakhtar!' from the home support suggested Chelsea's fans were keeping half an eye on events 1,700 miles away in Ukraine.

Chelsea came within inches of taking the lead in the 26th minute, with Nicolai Stokholm slicing an attempted clearance against his own crossbar from Moses' low centre.

In reply, Kasper Lorentzen and Enoch Adu chanced their arm from range for Nordsjaelland, before a curious seven-minute spell that saw three penalties awarded for handball, but only one converted.

Chelsea were incensed when referee Bas Nijhuis awarded a penalty against them after Cahill appeared to handle Anders Christiansen's shot outside the area, but Stokholm's penalty was saved by Petr Cech.

Three minutes later, Hazard fluffed his lines from 12 yards after a handball by substitute Mikkel Beckmann, before Luiz showed him how it was done by confidently scoring from the spot following yet another handball by Joshua John.

Torres' previous goal, in the 3-2 home win over Shakhtar, owed much to a fortunate ricochet and there was a touch of luck about his first goal in first-half injury time.

After racing onto Moses' through ball, the Spaniard saw his shot blocked by Hansen but the ball rebounded against him and he steadied himself before finding the empty net.

Chelsea were on course to complete their side of the bargain in comfortable fashion but they allowed their opponents to pull a goal back within 21 seconds of kick-off in the second period.

Lorentzen picked out John's run with a lofted pass and the on-loan FC Twente forward held off Branislav Ivanovic before hoisting the ball past Cech.

It took barely five minutes for Chelsea to restore their two-goal cushion, however, as Cahill met Mata's deep free-kick with a strong header that looped over the despairing Hansen.

It was Chelsea's 200th European Cup goal, and Torres poked in Hazard's low cross in the 56th minute to make it 4-1, but by that stage Juve were ahead in Donetsk.

Mata added a fifth, following in after Hansen saved his first attempt, and the former Valencia man then teed up substitute Oscar to score Chelsea's sixth.

The celebrations, though, were subdued -- 200 days on from their historic triumph on penalties against Bayern Munich in last season's final, this was a very different kind of Chelsea victory.

UEFA Champions League results

Chelsea 6 Nordsjaelland 1
Shakhtar Donetsk 0 Juventus 1
Bayern Munich 4 BATE Borisov 1
Lille 0 Valencia 1
Barcelona 0 Benfica 0
Celtic 2 Spartak Moscow 1
Braga 1 Galatasaray 2
Manchester Utd 0 CFR Cluj 1

-AFP/ac

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A midnight raid that changed course of history

NEW DELHI: On the night of December 22-23, 1949, an idol of Ram Lalla "mysteriously" appeared inside Ayodhya's Babri Masjid, setting in motion a chain of events that was to change the course of Indian politics in later decades. Little is known about what happened on that fateful night. But a new book now reveals how the events unfolded and claims those who pulled the strings of the Ayodhya strategy were also those accused in the Mahatma Gandhi murder case.

Authors Krishna Jha and Dhirendra K Jha interviewed a number of surviving eyewitnesses and accessed archival material to uncover the buried story of how the mosque turned into a temple overnight — a tale that describes the motivations of local players, the administrative collusion and the grand plan of a nationwide rightwing political mobilization intended to pitchfork Hindu Mahasabha as a major political player in post-independent India.

Central to the cast of local characters was Baba Abhiram Das, a well-built, 6-foot-tall local sadhu of the Nirvani akhara, who led three others into the mosque with the idol. Abhiram, later known as 'Ramjanmabhoomi Uddharak' (liberator) or simply as Uddharak Baba, died in 1981.

The researchers pieced together events of that night through extensive interviews with Abhiram's brother and cousins, who were all in Ayodhya in 1949. Two of his cousins —Indushekhar Jha and Yugal Kishore Jha — claim to have followed Abhiram into the mosque.

But that was not the original plan. According to the researchers, Abhiram was to have been accompanied by Baba Ramchandra Das Paramhans, who later became a central figure in the Ayodhya movement. Another sadhu, Vrindavan Das, was to join the two with an idol of Lord Ram. The trio was supposed to go inside the 16th-century mosque around 11pm — with a sympathetic guard looking the other way — plant the idol below its central dome and keep the deserted place of worship under their control till the next morning, when a large band of sadhus would pour in for support.

But that night, Paramhans "went missing", surfacing again in Ayodhya a few days later, the researchers claim. Forty-two years later, Paramhans had his own version of the event, telling The New York Times he was "the very man who put the idol inside the masjid".

According to the book, Ayodhya: The Dark Night (HarperCollins), to be released later this month, Abhiram went ahead with the plan regardless. The lone occupant of the mosque, muezzin Muhammad Ismael, was beaten up and made to flee. As the intruders sat inside the mosque waiting for dawn, Gopal Singh Visharad, Faizabad unit president of the All India Hindu Mahasabha, was at a printing press, readying posters and pamphlets announcing the 'miracle' of Rama Lalla 'reclaiming' the Babri Masjid.

That morning, Ayodhya woke up to cries of 'Ram Lalla' from inside the mosque. Significantly, say the authors, one of the first persons to reach the spot was Faizabad DM, K K K Nair, a Malayalee known for his rightwing Hindu leanings. Though he was at the spot at 4am, the DM did not inform his superiors in Lucknow about the takeover till 9am, allowing time for Ram bhakts to gain complete control of the mosque. According to the book, on December 21, a day before the surreptitious planting of the idols, Nair had met a group of sadhus at a low-profile Ayodhya temple, Jambwant Quila, where the plan was given final shape.

Many of local Mahasabha leaders involved in the plan were the acolytes of Mahant Digvijai Nath, head of the Gorakshapeeth in Gorakhpur and president of the UP unit of Mahasabha. A day after the Ayodhya event, he became all-India general secretary of the party.

The book claims Digvijai Nath — a main accused in the Gandhi murder case but later let off — was the master strategist of the Ayodhya takeover. His old association with DM Nair helped the plan immensely. The larger design, the authors argue, was to make Ayodhya the fulcrum of a right-wing mobilization. The effort failed then, but later became the basis of major political movement culminating in the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992.

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Giant Sequoias Grow Faster With Age

Aging giant sequoia trees are growing faster than ever, with some of the oldest and tallest trees producing more wood, on average, in old age than they did when they were younger. (Read about redwoods, another species of giant tree, in National Geographic magazine.)

A 2,000-year-old giant sequoia is just cranking out wood, said Steve Sillett, a professor at Humboldt State University in California who has conducted recent research on the big trees.

Other long-lived trees like coast redwoods and Australia's Eucalyptus regnans also show an increase in wood production during old age, according to an article Sillett published in the journal Forest Ecology and Management.

That may be because a tree's leaf area increases as its crown expands over a long life span. The leaves produce more sugars through photosynthesis, Sillett said, and these sugars build wood across a growing cambium, or the living surface separating bark and wood in trees.

"What we're finding," Sillett said, "is that the rate of wood production in some species doesn't slow down until a tree gets to the end of its lifetime."

Sequoias Active in Old Age

Sillett's team recently measured the President, a 3,200-year-old giant sequoia tree in California's Sequoia National Park. By climbing and measuring the tree, they calculated that the 247-foot-tall (75-meter-tall) giant holds more than 54,000 cubic feet (1,500 cubic meters) of wood and bark, earning it the ranking of second largest tree on Earth, as reported in National Geographic. (Watch video: Photographing the President.)

"Eventually every tree will suffer structural collapse and fall apart," said Sillett. "All Earthlings have finite life spans, but some trees live more than a thousand years without slowing down."

(Interactive gallery: The creatures that call giant sequoias home.)

Sillett is also co-leading the Redwoods and Climate Change Initiative group investigating how climate changes may affect tree growth. They've established long-term monitoring plots throughout the geographic ranges of both redwood species in California and have recorded growth histories of over a hundred trees.

Because the trees are still alive, Sillett said, they can go back to specific trees and evaluate predictions about their growth responses to climate variation.

"Annual rings provide a wonderful, long-term record of a tree's performance," Sillett said. "By studying a tree's rings, we can, in a sense, translate what it knows about the forest."

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Obama Rejects GOP 'Doomsday' Plan

President Obama's lead negotiator in the "fiscal cliff" talks said the administration is "absolutely" willing to allow the package of deep automatic spending cuts and across-the-board tax hikes to take effect Jan. 1, unless Republicans drop their opposition to higher income tax rates on the wealthy.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in an interview with CNBC that both sides are "making a little bit of progress" toward a deal to avert the "cliff" but remain stuck on Obama's desired rate increase for the top U.S. income-earners.

"There's no prospect for an agreement that doesn't involve those rates going up on the top two percent of the wealthiest," Geithner said.

Most House Republicans, including Speaker John Boehner, remain opposed to any increase in tax rates.

Obama and Boehner spoke by phone this afternoon, their first conversation in exactly one week, an administration official said. Their relations have grown frosty in recent days as both sides have dug in on the issue of higher rates.

In separate appearances earlier today, Obama and Boehner publicly sparred over who's to blame for the standoff and what to do if lawmakers can't reach a broad deficit-reduction agreement in 27 days.

Saul Loeb/AFP/GettyImages

Fiscal Cliff: What Republicans, Democrats Agree on So Far Watch Video

'Fiscal Cliff': John Boehner Makes Counteroffer Watch Video

Washington, D.C., Gridlocked as Fiscal Cliff Approaches Watch Video

Obama, speaking at a meeting of 100 CEOs, warned Republicans that he would not accept a so-called "doomsday" deal that extends tax cuts for middle-income earners before the end of the year but nothing more.

Such an approach, which has been under consideration by top Republicans as a likely scenario, would set the stage for a big battle over spending cuts and top tax rates in early 2013 – all tied to the nation's debt ceiling, which will need to be raised, which only Congress can do.

"That is a bad strategy for America, it's bad strategy for businesses," Obama said. "It's not a game I will play."

Brinksmanship over the a 2011 debt ceiling increase to avoid a U.S. default cost the country its AAA credit rating and rattled markets around the world.

While both sides say publicly that the U.S. will not default on its debt obligations, Republicans believe the issue could give them increased leverage for extracting cuts to entitlement programs and other spending.

Boehner said at a morning news conference that Obama has stifled the "fiscal cliff" negotiations by imposing the precondition that Republicans accept income tax hikes on the top 2 percent of U.S. earners.

"We're ready and eager to talk to the president and to work with him to make sure that the American people aren't disadvantaged by what's happening here in Washington," Boehner said at a morning news conference.

"We need a response from the White House," he said. "We can't sit here and negotiate with ourselves."

Earlier this week, House Republicans presented a $2.2 trillion deficit reduction package, including $800 billion in higher taxes through elimination of loopholes and deductions, slower annual cost-of-living increases for Social Security benefits and a higher eligibility age for Medicare.

The plan contrasts sharply with the White House proposal, which calls for $1.6 trillion in new tax revenue -- largely from higher rates on upper-income earners -- modest unspecified savings from Medicare and a new burst of economic stimulus spending.

Both sides rejected the opposing plan as "unserious."

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Football: Real Madrid hit four as Ajax crumble

MADRID: Real Madrid made light work of Ajax with an emphatic 4-1 win on Tuesday, but still had to settle for second place in Champions League Group D.

Goals from Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and a Jose Callejon double in the Santiago Bernabeu sealed the Spanish champions' victory, but top spot in the group went to Borussia Dortmund who beat Manchester City 1-0.

Derk Boerrigter got the consolation for the Dutch who gave a good account of themselves and their reward is a place in the Europa League after finishing third ahead of Manchester City, who came a miserable last.

Afterwards Madrid coach Jose Mourinho was full of praise for the performance of ex-Tottenham player Luka Modric, who gave two wonderful assists for his side's first goals of the evening.

"Modric has already performed well for us in a number of games, he is a great player who can play at the highest level, nobody can deny he is going to be an important signing for the future of this club," he said.

Mourinho had earlier took advantage of having already qualified to rest a number of first team players, mixing youth with experience, a tactic for which he has recently come under fire in the Spanish press for rarely doing.

Reserve goalkeeper Adan started and a Champions League debut was handed to full-back Nacho Fernandez.

Mourinho also introduced 17-year-old Jose Rodriguez and Alvaro Morata, a year his elder, late on while the experienced Ricardo Carvalho started his first Champions League game of the season.

Fabio Coentrao limping off early, with what looked like a hamstring injury, was the only negative on the night for Mourinho.

Ajax coach Frank de Boer, with a Europa League place still to fight for, named the same side that began Saturday's encouraging 3-1 win over PSV Eindhoven.

However, the weakened Madrid side did not appear to be worried as they dominated possession and it was not long before the chances began arriving thick and fast.

Karim Benzema had the ball in the net as early as the seventh minute but the French striker was ruled offside.

By the time Cristiano Ronaldo hit Madrid's first of the night on 13 minutes, a post had already come between Fabio Coentrao and the opening goal.

Modric won the ball in his own half before finding Benzema with a long raking pass that allowed the Frenchman to check back and square the ball into the path of Ronaldo for an easy finish.

Kenneth Vermeer in the Ajax goal had to make good saves from Benzema and Ronaldo before Callejon doubled Real's lead on 28 minutes.

Modric was again involved, turning under pressure on halfway before digging out a fantastic pass for Callejon to race onto and finish with aplomb.

A Sami Khedira shot on 39 minutes had to be dealt with by Vermeer, and it was his performance that kept Madrid's lead down to two at the break.

For Ajax, 18-year-old Dane Viktor Fischer was lively all evening on the left wing and he brought the first save of the night from Adan just before the interval.

Kaka hit Madrid's third, exquisitely curling a left-footed shot home off the post from just outside the area just after the break.

Ajax then enjoyed a good period of pressure and much needed relief.

Fischer went close with a curling shot before Derk Boerrigter pounced on a punched clearance from Adan to grab a consolation for the Dutch on the hour mark.

Boerrigter forced a save from Adan with a free-kick five minutes later and Ajax went on to play bright attacking football for much of the second half.

Mourinho shuffled his pack and introduced youth and Morata responded with a great run on the right and cross for Callejon to head home his second and his side's fourth with two minutes remaining.

- AFP/fa

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Cash scheme will influence polls, says CEC

CHENNAI/NEW DELHI: Chief election commissioner V C Sampath on Tuesday expressed his disapproval over the Centre's decision to go ahead with the direct cash transfer scheme when assembly elections were round-the-corner in Gujarat.

Himachal Pradesh, the other state that went to polls, is yet to know the result, and model code of conduct is still in force.

Sampath, who was in Chennai to review the ongoing summary revision of rolls, said that the EC would not allow the level playing field to be disturbed in any manner. He said the Centre should not have started the scheme at this juncture. "Our order is clear, that it is something which ought not to have been done now." The scheme will actually come into effect only on January 1, but the EC's view is that the announcement should not have been made now as it would influence elections in the two states. "We have expressed our concern," he added.

The CEC has also directed the Centre to suspend all steps towards operationalization of the scheme in the two election-bound states until the poll process was complete. Incidentally, this may make little difference on the ground as the direct cash transfer scheme is to roll out across 51 districts — of which four are in Gujarat and two in Himachal Pradesh — only from January 1, 2013. The poll process in the two states will wind up by December 24.

TOI was the first to report on December 2 about EC's unhappiness over the timing of the cash transfer scheme and said its implementation would be put on hold in the poll-bound states until after the elections.

The EC's order on Tuesday, which followed a BJP complaint, said the poll-eve announcement was "avoidable... going by the letter and spirit of the model code of conduct".

Stating that the commission was not going into the merits of the government's policy decisions but was concerned if any such decision would disturb the electoral level playing field, the EC said the government had failed to offer justification sought by it on the necessity of the direct cash transfer announcement while the poll code was in force in Gujarat and Himachal.

The three-member body is said to have questioned the urgency behind announcing the scheme in November when the roll out was slated only by the New Year, by when the poll process would be over.

Besides, the fact that two Union ministers, P Chidambaram and Jairam Ramesh, held forth on the benefits of the scheme from Congress platforms caught the EC's attention. The government sees cash transfers as a major poll hook, coining the slogan "aap ka paisa, aap ke haath" while seeing the benefits of the scheme in streamlining subsidies and getting rid of ghost beneficiaries. Mindful of its populist appeal, the BJP lost no time in alleging violation of the poll code by the Congress-led government at the Centre.

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Oldest Giant Panda Relative Found in Spain

The oldest relative of the giant panda has been discovered in Spain—suggesting that the animals' ancestors originated in Europe, a new study says.

Dubbed Kretzoiarctos beatrix, the 11-million-year-old species was previously named Agriarctos beatrix based on a few fossil teeth found at a paleontological site near Zaragoza, Spain (map). Agriarctos is an extinct genus of European bear and a possible panda ancestor that lived eight to nine million years ago. (Read about the previous research.)

Earlier this year, scientists found a piece of A. beatrix's jaw, allowing them to compare it with that of another ancient Agriarctos bear from Hungary. In doing so, the team determined that A. beatrix is actually its own genus, which they called Kretzoiarctos.

The newly named K. beatrix pushes back the origin of giant pandas by a few million years, making it the oldest recorded giant panda relative, said study leader Juan Abella, a paleobiologist at the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in Madrid, Spain.

"Therefore, the origin of this group is not located in China, where the [giant panda] species lives, but in the warm and humid regions of [southwestern] Europe," Abella said in May.

(See: "Ancient Bear DNA Mapped—A First for Extinct Species.")

New Bear Was Panda-Like?

K. beatrix likely shared some similarities with today's giant panda.

For one, says Abella, the newfound jaw fragment shows the animal was likely an omnivore that fed on tough plants, like modern-day pandas. Also like them, and like most existing species of small bears, K. beatrix was probably a great climber. According to Abella, it would have had to scramble up trees to escape big predators of the day—such as extinct, doglike carnivores called bear-dogs—in the forests of what's now Spain.

But at 130 pounds (60 kilograms), K. beatrix was smaller than modern pandas and even more petite than the modern-day sun bear or spectacled bear.

(See "Biggest Bear Ever Found-'It Blew My Mind,' Expert Says.")

An Epic Trek?

It's still unclear how panda ancestors made the epic trek from Europe to China.

Previous research suggests bears generally can migrate easily if the climate is mild enough, Abella said. Eleven million years ago, southwestern Europe was warm and humid-good conditions for starting out, he said.

The bears likely migrated mostly on land. One potential barrier—an ancient European sea called Parathetys—was already shrinking during the Middle Miocene, when K. beatrix lived, said Abella.

As for whether K. beatrix made it to China, "We don't really know, but no fossil remains of this species have been found outside Spain."

Whatever its history, the new research shows that K. beatrix was not your average bear.

The oldest panda relative study was published November 14 in the journal PLoS ONE.

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