Five UK universities have begun a 36-month project to improve the energy services to people in water-scarce areas of northern India, as part of a Pounds 860,000 project funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. The team, including researchers from Aston, Warwick, Leeds, Bristol and Coventry universities, is investigating ways to develop better means of converting biological material into energy sources to provide cooling for food preservation and ice production, electricity and pure water.