Biomass

Punjab Green Hydrogen Policy

The Punjab Energy Development Agency has released a draft green hydrogen policy aiming to achieve a green hydrogen and ammonia production capacity of 100 kilo tonnes per annum by 2030. The policy proposes extending incentives under the existing “Punjab Industrial and Business Development Policy 2022” to new green hydrogen and …

More fuelwood = more forests?

in india, where 500 million people out of about 1,000 million depend on forests for their survival, any

Simple, bare necessities

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Power packed option

the Lok Sabha cleared the Central Electricity Bill, 2000, on April 9, 2003. Its final passage is expected to pave the way for wide-ranging reforms in the power sector. Since the provisions of the proposed legislation are technology and supply neutral, it would in effect promote decentralisation

Organic farming: Reaping mixed benefits

Dhanpao village: Two patches of land adjacent to each other. Wheat is sown on both tracts. But while one yields numerous saplings, the other is barren. The reason: organic manure was used in the lush green field to grow ginger before wheat was planted. Lachiwala village: A mound of organic …

Devolution has to happen. It will

It has been a year since Anil Agarwal, the founder editor of Down To Earth, passed away. We remember him every moment. We work as his proxies. We work his dreams; they have become ours, too. His ideas changed many around the world. He changed the way we think. But …

Mission impossible?

after three years the draft National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (nbsap) is finally up for discussion. But its real worth, feel experts, will only be known when the plan actually becomes a reality. A Union ministry of environment and forests (mef) project, the nbsap began as an ambitious process …

Phulmai s walk a day in the life of a headloader

It is five o'clock in the morning. I am inside Jharkhand's Khellari forest, on assignment. In the first light of morning, the forest looks lush and dark green. Suddenly, a frail frame

She walks in oblivion

What if Phulmai did not exist. You can meet her in the forest; follow her for a day; listen to what she says and so complete half an assignment. The other half lies in accounting for her, and all those like her who spend their lives headloading. Step out of …

Of props and power

The Spanish government's proposal to end subsidies for renewable fuels has made the country's Association of Renewable Energy Producers (arep) see red. The government feels that the sop should be done away with as certain forms of renewable energy are mature enough to compete in the open market. But arep …

No pulp fiction

researchers have evolved an efficient way to convert sewage and rejects from paper mills into hydrogen

Unmasking aerosols

A P Mitra couldn't believe it. He along with 200-odd scientists from India, Europe, Maldives and the us was conducting an intensive six-week field experiment in 1999 to study the effect of airborne tiny particles called aerosols on climate. The tropical Indian Ocean, where clean air from the southern Indian …

Widespread web

RAINFALL Aerosols may be reducing rainfall and threatening the Earth's fresh water supplies, according to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, San Diego. "Initially we thought that aerosols were mainly a cooling agent, offsetting global warming. Now we find that these have a big impact on the water budget of the …

Picture imperfect

Scientists are yet to unravel all the mysteries about the tiny and yet complex three-dimensional particles. Key details about their properties and their effects remain elusive. So far, it has not been possible to make reliable measurements to determine their distribution and properties on a global scale. Large uncertainties remain …

Proposal rubbished

a recent in-principle clearance to a gasification plant in Delhi has fuelled a major controversy. While environmental groups are up in arms about the "polluting and extravagantly expensive' project, Energy Developments Limited (edl) India

Green alternatives

Alternative energy sources are being promoted the worldover to replace polluting fossil fuels. For example, in many of the European countries it is mandatory for conventional power producers to purchase certain amount of renewable energy. More than 15 per cent of energy generated in the world comes from this ecofriendly …

What s cooking tonight?

in houses where biomass is used as cooking fuel, the adult members of the family face the risk of tuberculosis. The prevalence of active tuberculosis is 3.6 times higher among adults in households using biomass fuels than among adults in other households shows a recent study. The term

Survival primer: Down to Earth special issue

This publication contains prominent articles collated from 200 issues of science and environment fortnightly, Down to Earth, from 1992 onwards.

NOBEL GESTURE

The United Nations Development Programme ( UNDP ) will finance a biomass fuel efficiency project in Bhutan. The project is aimed to solve the environmental and health problems faced by the people of Tsirangdzongkhag. Bhutan will be given US $29,400 by the UNDP . The project will tackle problems such …

Power plants

spanish farmers are growing genetically modified ( gm ) artichokes ( Cynara scolymus ) with a height of three metres to produce electricity in special power stations . The monster vegetables boast seven-metre long roots and will be used to generate power for 60,000 people when operations in the northern …

A time bomb ticking

Air pollution continues to violate health guidelines in many cities of the world. Sulphur dioxide and particulate matter are the most commonly recorded pollutants. Independently or in combination, these pollutants cause lung damage and aggravate existing respiratory problems. The air in rural areas is also getting polluted due to excessive …

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