ENVIRONMENT SNIPPETS – CA – OCT 2014
- Posted by CERC India
- Posted in monthly
ENVIRONMENT SNIPPETS
Water ATMs bring smiles in Rajasthan
An Indian energy major and modern technology have combined to bring about a revolution in two districts of Rajasthan that were infamous due to the scarcity of potable water. Thanks to water ATMs, many otherwise arid villages here have 24X7 access to the commodity at the swipe of a smart card – at 20 litres for Rs.5, according to IANS.
Under Cairn India’s ‘Jeevan Amrit Project’, kiosks with reverse osmosis (RO) plants have been installed to provide safe drinking water in villages like Bhakharpur, Kawas, Guda, Jogasar, Aakdada and Baytu to benefit 22,000 people.
99% of Sweden’s waste is now reused
Around 99% of Sweden’s garbage is now recycled and the country is so efficient at managing waste that it is importing it from other European countries! The Scandinavian country has 32 waste-to-energy (WTE) plants, where garbage is incinerated to produce steam, which in turn is used to run generator turbines and produce electricity.
Swedes generally waste as much as people in other countries — around 461 kg per person each year — but only 1% of that is ending up in landfills, the Huffington Post reported. Sweden incinerates over two million tonnes of trash per year.
Recycling old car batteries into solar panels
Researchers have proposed a system that recycles materials from discarded car batteries — a potential source of lead pollution — into new, long-lasting solar panels that provide emissions-free power, according to the journal Energy and Environmental Science.
The system is based on a recent development in solar cells that makes use of a compound called perovskite. But by using recycled lead from old car batteries, toxic material can be diverted from landfills and reused in photovoltaic panels. The lead from a single car battery could reportedly produce enough solar panels to provide power for 30 households.
Ozone pollution in India killing crops: Study
Calling for new ozone pollution standards in India, researchers point out that surface ozone pollution owing to rising emissions in the country damaged six million metric tonnes of India’s wheat, rice, soybean and cotton crops in 2005, according to IANS. This could have fed 94 million people – about a third of the country’s poor, it has been estimated.
Ozone pollution damaged 3.5 million metric tonnes of wheat and 2.1 million metric tonnes of rice in 2005. Ground-level ozone, a plant-damaging pollutant, is formed by emissions from vehicles, industry and burning of wood, plant or animal matter.
