An article in The New York Times (“A Light in India”, January 10,2011) describes a sustainable supply chain for electric power in the state of Bihar, India.  A short summary of the article – “In the past, over 1.8 billion kgs of rice husk rotted in fields.  The company, Husk Power, takes this waste and, using gasifiers, converts it to electricity that is sold to poor households at a cost that is 50 % of their current costs to have kerosene based light sources.  The waste after rice husk is burned is used to create incense sticks.  The incense stick business employs 500 women, while door to door electricity bill collectors have become distributors of soap etc.  In short, the generation of power from waste, coupled with a supply chain that creates jobs in the poor communities, generates a sustainable power supply chain.”  Will such sustainable supply chains have to become the norm to solve the power availability problems for the 1.5 billion people with no electricity ?