E Magazine

1. ARE WE LOSING
WINTERS?
HOW GREEN IS
YOUR DATA CENTRE?
SOLAR ENERGY:
THE WAY FORWARD
w w w . p l a n e t e a r t h - i n d i a . c o m
earth
P L A N E T
february 2009rs. 100
War in the
MakingClimate change is one phenomenon that has brought
man down to his knees. Food and water crisis
loom large, leaving man with no option but to fight…
launch
issue
COUNTDOWN TO
COPENHAGEN

3. 03
04
Countdown to
Copenhagen
Can science
save the world?
The hydra-headed
challenges of food
supply, energy and
finance are all linked
and breaking a
dependence on them
is far from possible.
The answer lies in
working together and
the present financial
crunch will help us
understand its
consequences better.
The pressures of our
planet have been
created by our
lifestyles. The world
over, we spend over $
7 trillion every year on
energy and its related
infrastructure. While
the current research
and development
efforts may not
combat the climate
change challenge,
individual measures
on our part may help.
For the past few
years, climate change
has been discussed
at all the world
conferences and
across coffee tables.
But winter already
feels the heat; it
happens to be one of
the first victims of
climate change with
one season merging
into another
08
20
NEWS
Are we losing
winters?
27
28
In an economy that is
based on
hydrocarbons, an
initiative that
warrants zero-carbon,
zero-waste ecology,
Masdar city true to its
meaning is a source
or initiator of a new
era, writes Mukta
Rohra
India has been
punching above its
weight in renewable
energy sector. India
started early but
other countries have
started running, if
India has to keep
pace we need to
Masdar
the source
Winds of
change
sprint. Also the
industry needs a clear
policy framework by
the government says
Dr Sivaraman in a
candid interview with
T P Venu
Every ambitious
country or business
house wishes to cash
30 Plan Well For
Better Credits
in on the benefits
offered by CDM
projects and earn
carbon credits. But be
warned that it is
environmental
compassion and not
equipment and
emissions reduction,
what will turn in
greater rewards, says
risk analyst
Swaminathan
Krishnamurthy
GREEN TECHNOLOGY
WAR
IN THE
MAKING
33
12
Run out of fuel? Consider coffee18
Longer shelf life, zero-
emissions and aromatic
exhaust fumes, are just
a fraction of the
qualities that coffee
biodiesel discovered by
Dr Manoranjan Misra and his team promise,
writes Sheetal Vyas
CONTENTS
INNOVATION
A PEOPLE
UPROOTED BY
NATURE
22 SOLAR ENERGY
THE WAY FORWARD
24

4. Responding to changes
reening the environment is perhaps the
most conspicuous area of concern today.
GThe governments are under pressure to
adopt ‘carbon targets’, the scientific community
is working over vehemently to find ways to adapt
to climate change and industries are embracing a
greener approach. Right from the policy makers
to newspapers, international meets to individual
discussions, environment and greening is the
buzzword. Sustainability and sustainable
development have replaced development and
growth.
While a lot has been said about saving our limited
resourcesandcappingthedamagewehavealready
donetotheenvironment,actionandcompassiontrail
miles away. Similarly to believe that our role ends
with just talking about global warming, warming
seas, breaking ice-lines and depleting water
resources,wouldbeimprudentonourpart.
Today, the reality of climate change and man’s
contribution in blistering the Earth has crossed
thelineofpossibilitytobecomeafactoflife.Now,
as we race towards an age that will mark the tail-
end of fossil fuel reserves and look up to
alternative energy utilisation, there is a critical
need to sensitise people, share knowledge and
endeavour to thin the lines between research,
conceptandreality.
With breakthrough scientific research,
sustainability drives, eco-friendly living on one
hand, and resource availability issues,
environmental concerns and programme
implementations one the other, receiving less-
than-deserved reportage, there is a pressing
need to address these issues. To give these
issues the deserved attention, Gateway Media
has introduced Planet Earth, an exclusive
magazineonEarthSciences.
The monthly periodical explores environmental
policies, Earth care issues and responsibilities like
pollution control, waste management, energy
efficiency, green living, conservation and eco-
friendly buildings and related technology
breakthroughs. Features such as Climate
Connection, explore the possibilities of a region’s
ecological balance and lifestyle being disturbed
by subtle, yet powerful climatic changes. Survival
weighs the dilemmas of environmental damage,
whichhasbeencoveredinthisissue.
Our objective is transparent, to develop a scientific
understanding of Earth’s system and its response
to natural or human-induced changes, and to
become a ready reference to the common man
seekinginformationabouttheworldaroundhim.At
the same time we believe that your suggestions
and ideas will help us improve and prioritise our
content because as compassionate residents of
theEarth,weseektomakeadifference.
Ramprasad
PublicationDirector
ramprasad@gatewaymedia.in
w w w . p l a n e t e a r t h - i n d i a . c o mvol 1 issue 1 february 2009
publications director ramprasad
associate editor sheetal vyas
online editor mukta rohra
copy editor srinivas reddy g
Design masa vijay, lakshmi d, yogesh dhabale, srinivas
web upender reddy v
head - business & events wilson rajan
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circulation sri narayana
Dr Shailesh R Nayak
Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences
Government of India
TO OUR READERS
Mr Kartikeya Sarabhai
Director, Centre for Environment Education
Nehru Foundation for Development
Dr Harsh Gupta
President of Geological Society of India &
Raja Ramanna Fellow, NGRI
Maj Gen (Dr) R Sivakumar
CEO, NSDI & Head NRDMS
Prof B N Goswami
Director, Indian Institute of
Tropical Meteorology
Dr Prem C Jain
Chairman, Indian Green Building Council and
CMD Spectral Services Consultants Pvt. Ltd.
Dr S R Shetye
Director, National Institute of
Oceanography
Mr Mahesh Babu
Managing Director & CEO
IL&FS Ecosmart Ltd.
Mr C S Bhaskar
Managing Director and CEO
Naturol BioEnergy Ltd.
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5. COMMENTARY
Gro Harlem Brundtland, Ricardo Lagos,
Festus Mogae, And Srgjan Kerim
THE FINANCIAL CRISIS
has been uppermost in the
minds of most world
leaders. Yet, however high
the price of a global bail-
out, we know one thing: it
pales next to the enormous
costs – and profound
human consequences – of
delaying action on climate
change.
There is a sort of beauty in
this predicament: if we act
wisely, we can tackle both
crises at once. Climate
change negotiations over
the next year offer an
unprecedented
opportunity to build a
more profitable, safer, and
sustainable global
economy.
Today’s challenges –
finance, food, and energy,
for example – are many.
Yet they share a root cause,
whereby speculative and
often narrow interests have
superseded the common
interest, common
responsibilities,
and common sense.
This same short-
term thinking
characterises
the world’s
dependence
on fossil fuels.
We cannot
break that
Countdown to Copenhagen The hydra-headed
challenges of food supply, energy and finance are all linked and breaking a
dependence on them is far from possible. The answer lies in working together
and the present financial crunch will help us understand its consequences better.
planet earth | | February 0903
dependence overnight. Yet
we recognise that
continuing to pour trillions
of dollars into carbon-
based infrastructure and
fossil-fuel subsidies is like
investing in sub-prime real
estate. In essence, we are
mortgaging our children’s
future to pay for an
inherently unsustainable
and inequitable way of life.
The greatest risk we face
lies in continuing down
this path. So, how do we
begin to tackle the massive
challenge of retooling our
global economy,
preserving the planet, and
lifting billions out of
poverty?
The answer is to deal
seriously with climate
change. And this is the
time to do it – not in spite
of the financial crisis, but
because of it. As the saying
goes, a crisis is a terrible
thing to waste.
The climate
change conference
in Poznan was an
important step.
We have only
12 short
months to
hammer out
the elements of
a global
climate change
accord before world
leaders convene next
December in Copenhagen.
If we work together,
guided by a sense of
urgency and common
destiny, these negotiations
can help steer the ship of
the global economy toward
less turbulent, greener
waters and into a safe
harbor.
We believe that the best
investment in our
collective future is to scale
up the green, low-carbon
economy. It is an
investment with enormous
potential for prosperity and
profit. But it requires us to
put in place a new climate
change agreement now –
one that all countries can
accept. It must be
comprehensive and
ambitious, and it must set
clear targets for emission
reductions, adaptation,
financing, and technology
transfer.
Developed and developing
nations must find a shared
vision of how this will
work, striking a deal
whereby rich countries
lead by example in cutting
emissions while providing
the developing world with
resources and know-how
to ramp up their own
climate change efforts.
Energy investment
decisions made today will
lock in the world’s
emissions profile for years
Former US Vice President Al Gore speaks during the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Poznan.
UNITED NATIONS
CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE
POZNAN 2008
POLAND
200
8

6. to come. Meanwhile, the
clock is ticking. Potentially
catastrophic consequences
await, not just for polar
bears, but for millions of
people.
Adaptation must be a vital
part of the negotiations. So
must mitigation. In the
cruel calculus of disasters,
those least responsible for
causing climate change
will suffer first and worst
from its inevitable effects.
Developing nations will
need increased financial
support to protect the
poorest and most
vulnerable.
Reaching an accord in
Copenhagen is critical. But
the route to a greener,
lower-carbon future
already is being forged in
countries from Brazil to
Bangladesh, Denmark to
Indonesia. From
investments in renewable
energy and flex-fuel
vehicles to reforestation,
countries everywhere are
realising that green is not
an option, but a necessity
for recharging their
economies and creating
millions of jobs.
For example, with the right
investments, tropical
countries could
significantly reduce
emissions from the forestry
sector while also creating
green jobs. De-forestation
currently accounts for
roughly a fifth of all
greenhouse-gas emissions.
Last month, China
announced a $ 586 billion
economic stimulus
package, some 25 per cent
of which is to help bolster
conservation,
environmental protection,
and renewable energy
efforts. We hope that the
new stimulus package
helps to move China
toward greener
development, and that
countries follow suit.
The United States has also
signaled a fundamental,
abrupt shift in its global
climate policy. In his first,
post-election public
address, Barack Obama
declared that his
presidency “will mark a
new chapter in America’s
leadership on climate
change that will
strengthen our security
and create millions of new
jobs.”
In marrying the issues of
economic revitalisation,
energy security, and
climate change, Obama
has articulated clearly the
benefits of any Green New
Deal. We welcome US re-
engagement in global
climate negotiations and
await its leadership in
transforming words into
concrete policies that
promote global green
growth.
As the US, China, and
many other nations now
realize, climate change is
much more than an
environmental issue. It is
an energy, finance, and
security issue. Indeed, it is
a Head of State issue. We
urge other world leaders to
join us in forging a shared,
long-term vision for
cooperative action that is
realized at next year’s
conference in
Copenhagen.
Global cooperation has
been key to managing the
financial crisis. It is no less
vital to managing climate
change, for which the
stakes are far higher.
Together, we must invest in
the safest, surest option –
the green economy.
Gro Harlem Brundtland is a
former Prime Minister of
Norway, Ricardo Lagos is a
former President of Chile,
Festus Mogae is a former
President of Botswana, and
Srgjan Kerim is a former
President of the UN General
Assembly. They are the UN
Secretary-General’s Special
Envoys on Climate Change.
© Project Syndicate, 2008.
www.project-syndicate.org
Can science save the world? The pressures of our
planet have been created by our lifestyles. The world over, we spend over $ 7
trillion every year on energy and its related infrastructure. While the current
research and development efforts may not combat the climate change
challenge, individual measures on our part may help.
FOR MOST PEOPLE,
there has never been a
better time to be alive than
now. The innovations that
drive economic advances –
information technology,
biotech, and nanotech –
can boost living standards
in both the developing and
the developed world. We
are becoming embedded in
a cyberspace that can link
anyone, anywhere, to all
the world’s information
and culture – and to every
other person on the planet.
Martin Rees
Twenty-first century
technologies will offer
environmentally benign
lifestyles and the resources
to ease the plight and
enhance the life chances of
the world’s two billion
poorest people. Moreover,
the greatest threat of the
1960s and 1970s – nuclear
annihilation – has
diminished. This threat
could recur, however, if
there is a renewed standoff
between new superpowers.
And there are other risks
planet earth | | February 0904

7. planet earth | | February 0905
needs for decades to come.
If that continues, the
concentration of CO will2
rise to twice the pre-
industrial level by 2050,
and three times that level
later in the century.
The world spends nearly
$ 7 trillion a year on
energy and its
infrastructure; yet our
current research and
development efforts are
not up to meeting the
challenge of climate
change. There is no single
solution, but some
measures, like better
insulation of buildings,
would save rather than
cost money.
Efforts to economise on
energy, storing it, and
generating it by “clean” or
low-carbon methods
deserve priority and the
sort of commitment from
governments that were
accorded to the Manhattan
Project (which created the
atomic bomb) or the Apollo
moon landing.
The top priority should be a
coordinated effort by
Europe, the United States,
and the other G-8+5
countries to build
demonstration plants to
develop carbon capture and
storage (CCS) technology.
This is crucial, because
whatever technical
advances there may be in
solar and other renewable
energy sources, we will
depend on coal and oil for
the next 40 years. Yet,
unless the rising curve of
annual emissions can be
reversed, the CO2
concentration will
irrevocably reach a truly
threatening level.
Mankind must also
confront other global
“threats without enemies”
that are separate from
(though linked with)
climate change. Loss of
biological diversity is one
of the most severe such
threats. The extinction rate
stemming from humanity’s
greater collective impact
on the planet, and from the
growing empowerment of
individuals.
Soon after World War II,
physicists at the University
of Chicago started a
journal called the Bulletin
of Atomic Scientists to
promote arms control. The
logo on the Bulletin’s cover
is a clock, the proximity of
whose hands to midnight
indicates the editors’
judgment of the
precariousness of the
world situation. Every few
years, the minute hand
shifted, either forwards or
backwards. It came closest
to midnight in 1962 during
the Cuban Missile Crisis.
When the Cold War ended,
the Bulletin’s clock was put
back to 17 minutes to
midnight. But the clock has
been creeping forward
again. We are confronted by
proliferation of nuclear
weapons (by, say, North
Korea and Iran). Al-Qaeda-
style terrorists might
willingly detonate a nuclear
weapon in a city center,
killing tens of thousands.
Even if the nuclear threat is
contained, the twenty-first
century could confront us
with grave new global
perils. Climate change
looms as this century’s
primary long-term
environmental challenge.
Human actions – burning
fossil fuels – have already
raised the carbon dioxide
concentration higher than it
has ever been in the last
500,000 years, and it is
rising by about 0.5 per cent
a year.
More disturbingly, coal,
oil, and gas are projected
to supply most of the
world’s growing energy
is 1,000 times higher than
normal, and is increasing.
Biodiversity is a crucial
component of human well-
being and economic growth.
We are clearly harmed if fish
stocks dwindle to extinction.
Less evidently, there are
plants in the rain forest
whose gene pool might be
useful to us.
The pressures on our planet
depend, of course, on our
lifestyle. The world could
not sustain its 6.5 billion
people if they all lived like
present-day Americans. But
it could if even prosperous
people adopted a
vegetarian diet, traveled
little, and interacted
virtually. New technology
will determine our lifestyle,
and the demands that we
make on energy and
environmental resources.
Nevertheless, our
problems are aggravated
by rapid growth in the
human population, which

8. is projected to reach eight or even
nine billion by 2050. If the increase
continues beyond 2050, one cannot
help but be gloomy about most
people’s prospects.
There are now, however, more than
60 countries where the fertility rate is
below replacement level. If this were
true of all countries, the global
population would start to decline
after 2050 – a development that
would surely be benign.
All of today’s developments – cyber,
bio, or nano – will create new risks of
abuse. The American National
Academy of Sciences has warned
that, “Just a few individuals with
specialized skills…could
inexpensively and easily produce a
panoply of lethal biological
weapons.…The deciphering of the
human genome sequence and the
complete elucidation of numerous
pathogen genomes…allow science to
be misused to create new agents of
mass destruction.”
Not even an organised network
would be required; just a fanatic with
the mindset of those who now design
computer viruses. The global village
will have its village idiots.
In our increasingly interconnected
world, there are new risks whose
consequences could be widespread –
and perhaps global. Even a tiny
probability of global catastrophe is
unacceptable. If we apply to
catastrophic risks the same prudent
analysis that leads us to buy
insurance – multiplying probability
by consequences – we would surely
prioritize measures to reduce this
kind of extreme risk. The decisions
that we will make both individually
and collectively in the foreseeable
future will determine whether
twenty-first century science yields
benign or devastating outcomes.
Lord Rees is Britain’s Astronomer Royal,
President of the Royal Society, Master of
the University of Cambridge’s Trinity
College, and Professor of Cosmology and
Astrophysics.
© Project Syndicate/Europe’s World, 2008.
www.project-syndicate.org
www.europesworld.org
ndia, as
described by
IPrime Minister
Manmohan Singh
in his National
Climate Change
Action Plan release
speech, has an
ancient legacy,
which has forever
revered nature as a
source of life and
not as a force that
needs to be overpowered in order
to meet our ends. A climate
change action plan forwarded by
such a country should look at
possibilities that will help
mobilise the nation’s energy in
facing the challenge. For a
careful strategy devised, will go a
long way in ensuring that we
sustain the development we have
made and not allow climatic
changes to reverse it.
The challenge according to him,
lies in encompassing the interests
of both present and future
generations and nurture a world,
“which should continue to inspire
the human imagination with the
immensity of the blue ocean, the
loftiness of snow-covered
mountains, the green expanse of
extensive forests and the silver
streams of ancient rivers.”
Elaborating on the primary
causes that have contributed to
the accumulation of greenhouse
gas emissions, he suggests that
we refer to our basic traditions, in
order to set people in the country
on the path of ecologically
sustainable development. While
a lot of discussion has been
initiated in terms of
compromises we
may have to make
on our growth in
the process of
achieving
ecologically
sustainable
development, the
Prime Minister
believes that the
achievement of
economic growth
need not be affected by
ecological policies.
A broader perspective on
development is what is required,
he says. And this should be
inclusive of the quality of life. The
plan will have the national
energies being focussed on eight
national missions – Solar Energy,
Enhanced Energy Efficiency,
Sustainable Habitat, Conserving
Water, Sustaining the Himalayan
Ecosystem, Creating a “Green
India”, Sustainable Agriculture
and Strategic Knowledge Platform
for Climate Change – that are to be
pursued as key components of the
sustainable development strategy.
A gradual shift from economic
activity based on fossil fuels to
one based on non-fossil fuels and
from reliance on non-renewable
and depleting sources of energy
to renewable sources of energy,
is what India requires. Not
sidelining the role India will
play in a collaborative effort to
bring about a change, he
believes that the wisdom,
creativity and enterprising nature
of the Indian population will help
in achieving this.
India’s stand on
climate change
planet earth | | February 0906

9. NEWS YOU CAN USE
cent post-consumerotorola, seeking
M recycled paper into capitalise on
addition, a postage-the trend towards
paid recyclingmore environmentally
envelope in boxfriendly products, has
makes it easy tounveiled the first
return previous mobilemobile phone made
phone for recycling atfrom recycled water
no cost.bottles, The MOTO
W233 Renew.
The phone was
previewed at the
annual Consumer
Electronics Show (CES)
opening in Las Vegas.
"Not only is the plastic
Through an alliancehousing of Renew
with Carbonfund.org,made from plastics
Motorola said, “itcomprised of recycled
offsets the carbonwater bottles and 100
dioxide required topercent recyclable,
manufacture,but it is also the
distribute and operateworld's first carbon
the phone throughneutral phone,"
investments inMotorola said. Care
renewable energyhas been taken that
sources andtotal packaging is
reforestation.”printed on 100 per
Mobile phone from
recycled water bottles
obiMonster, a company based in New Delhi when phone is fully charged or when Bluetooth and
Mhas developed a first of its kind eco-friendly WLAN are switched on but not being used.
software for Series 60 Mobile Devices that
The company is in the process of evaluatingenables to reduce your carbon footprint while
carbon footprint related numbers of severalincreasing your charger and battery life by
devices. It informs that if used at its optimummanaging several features of a series 60 device
level, the software could save up to US$ 10 persuch as Backlight, Charger, WLAN and Bluetooth.
year in electricity charges, and a reduction in
The software alerts the user to remove the charger carbon emissions
A mobile application that reduces your carbon footprint
gribusiness giant Monsanto announced the
Aworld's first drought-tolerant corn, a
development it says will "reset the bar" in
farming productivity.
"Drought-tolerant corn is designed
to provide farmers yield stability
during periods when water
supply is scarce by mitigating
the effects of drought or water
stress within a corn plant," Monsanto said.
Trials of the corn conducted last year in drought-
prone areas of the American Midwest "met or
exceeded the 6 per cent to 10 per cent target
yield enhancement," according to the company.
It advanced the yield by up to 10 corn bushels
per acre (six quintals per hectare) beyond the
average maximum of 130 bushels per acre (82
quintals per hectare).
The corn is the first in a series of crops planned
by Monsanto to address the affects of high food
prices and climate on agriculture-based cultures
around the world by reducing the need for water.
World's first 'drought-tolerant'
corn ready by 2010: Monsanto
Monitoring greenhouse
gases from space
cientists at the University of California, Berkeley describe a
Smethod for using microalgae for making biofuel by genetically
modifying the algae. This will minimise the number of chlorophyll
molecules needed to harvest light without compromising the
photosynthesis process in the cells and instead of making more sugar
molecules, the microalgae could be producing hydrogen or
hydrocarbons.
The scientists want to divert the normal function of photosynthesis from generating biomass to
making products such as lipids, hydrocarbons, and hydrogen. Tasios Melis, one of the paper's co-
authors uses the phrase “cellular optics” to describe this general effort to maximise the efficiency of
the solar-to-product conversion process.
Besides getting the algae to convert more sunlight to fuel, another issue that needs to be addressed
is how to configure bio-culture tanks in a way that sunlight can penetrate the outer layer of algae so
that lower-down layers can participate in the photo-conversion too.
Engineered algae to make fuel instead of sugar
surface, the Japan Equipped with two sensors,
Aerospace GOSAT will track infrared
Exploration Agency rays from the Earth, which
japanese (JAXA) said. will help calculate the
Aspace agency densities of the two
"To fight climate change, wewill launch a satellite to greenhouse gases, because
need to monitor the density ofmonitor greenhouse gases they absorb the rays at
greenhouse gases in allaround the world, hoping the certain wavelengths. The
regions around the world anddata it collects helps global satellite is set to be in orbit
how their levels change but atefforts to combat climate for five years, will collect
the moment, there are verychange. The Greenhouse data once a month, with
few observation sites on landGases Observing Satellite preliminary data from the
and they are concentrated in(GOSAT) is expected to satellite
certain areas,” said Takashienable scientists to calculate expected to be
Hamazaki, manager of the 35the density of carbon dioxide ready for
billion yen ($372.9 million)and methane from 56,000 researchers in
JAXA project.locations on the Earth's April or May.
planet earth | | February 0907

10. Naturalindigodyeingbecomeseco-friendly
esearch Scientist Anne Vuorema of MTT Agrifood
RResearch Finland proves in her doctoral
dissertation that glucose can serve as a reducing
agent of indigo there by making the process less
energyconsumingandsafe.
Plant derived indigo needs to be reduced to a water-
soluble leuco-form before dyeing, a process highly
time consuming and unsafe, making natural indigo
unpopular. Blue synthetic textile dye is produced from
oil, in a process which wastes non-renewable natural
resources and burdens the environment with
syntheticchemicals.
Anne Vuorema’s research can transform the process
ofextractionofindigofromtheleavesofdyer’swoad(IsatistinctoriaL.).Thenewprocesswillmake
the dyeing process more eco-friendly and enhance the energy efficiency of the process. As per the
scientist,thisnewglucosedyeingseemstosuitplant-derivedfibres,suchascottonandflax.
14 per cent drop in coral growth
he biggest and most robust corals on the
TGreat Barrier Reef (GBR) have slowed their
growth by more than 14 per cent since the
"tipping point" year of 1990, say scientists Glenn
De’ath, Janice Lough and Katharina Fabricius of
Australian Institute of Marine Science, in a
science paper titled “Declining coral calcification
ontheGreatBarrierReef.”
The researchers analysed the growth rates of
328 coral colonies on 69 individual reefs that
make up the 1,250 mile-long Great Barrier Reef, off north-east Australia. They found that the rate at
which the corals were laying down calcium in their skeletons dropped by 14.2 per cent between
1990and2005,asuddendeclineinatleast400years.
They say that the evidence is strong that the decline has been caused by a synergistic combination
of rising sea surface temperatures and ocean acidification. This happens when large amounts of
atmospheric carbon dioxide enter seawater; the resulting chemical changes effectively reduce the
abilityofmarineorganismstoformskeletons.
Reefcoralscreatetheirhardskeletonsfrommaterialsdissolvedinseawater.Scientistsbelievethat
just like corals are impacted, all calcifying organisms that are central to the function of marine
ecosystems and food webs will be affected. Corals form the backbone of reef ecosystems. Their
complexity provides the habitat for the tens of thousands of plant and animal species associated
with the reef. Looking at the sudden change, steep changes in the biodiversity and productivity of
theworld’soceansmaybeimminent.
n an effort to make IIT Mumbai campus
Ienergy-efficient, an energy audit of the
institute was recently conducted to identify
and suggest measures for conservation. The
audit was conducted by MTech students
from the Department of Energy Science and
Engineering (DESE), as a part of their course,
under the guidance of Professor Rangan
Banerjee. “We have compiled a list of
possible actions to conserve and efficiently
utiliseourresources.Thenextstepwouldbe
to prioritise their implementation,” Banerjee
said. The said recommendations if
implemented would bring about a total
saving of around Rs1.75 crore per year, the
report said. “The audit was aimed at giving
the students a feel of the practical problems
and difficulties in carrying out such
exercises. It has a big impact if students are
able to apply what they learn in practical life.
Also, the idea is to make the campus an
opendemonstrationfacility,”saidBanerjee.
An important recommendation is the use of
biogasplantforfoodwasteprocessing.“The
study showed that around 450 kg food (for
900people)wasgettingwastedperday.So,
we've suggested the use of biogas plant for
collecting all the wasted food and
converting it into fuel supply. This, in turn,
will reduce LPG usage,” said Mel George, an
MTech student, who was involved in the
study. Besides replacement of lighting and
regulators, the report suggests use of
computersindifferentsettingsormodes.
IIT Mumbai campus
planning to be
energy-efficient
NEWS
planet earth | | February 0908

11. Ancient global cooling affected plankton numbers
ccording to a new study, diatoms, the oceanic plankton that absorb carbon dioxide from the
Aair, may have witnessed a sudden increase in species numbers before they abruptly declined
almost 33 million years ago. The Cornell study, which was published in the January 8, 2009 issue of
thejournalNature,suggeststhatthesetrendscoincidedwithsevereglobalcooling.
The research findings question the earlier theory that diatoms’ success was related to an increase
in the nutrients received by the oceans from the neighbouring grasslands about 18 million years
ago. The study headed by graduate student Dan Rabosky of the Department of Ecology and
Evolutionary Biology at Cornell and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, provides new evidence
that takes into account a widespread paleontological problem which suggests that younger fossils
areeasiertofindthanolderones.
“We just tried to address the simple fact that the number of available fossils is colossally greater
from recent time periods than from earlier time periods. It's a pretty standard correction in some
fields, but it hasn't been applied to planktonic paleontology up till now,” Science Daily quoted
Raboskyassaying.
e-wastemanagementinitiativebyNokia
okia India has launched a campaign where customers can drop
Ntheir old handset in the company's stores and win gifts. It is a
step towards promoting recycling of electronic waste and greening
the environment. The project will be rolled out in phases across the
country, it added. The Finnish handset major, in turn, will plant a tree
for every handset dropped into these bins. According to a survey
conducted by the company in 13 countries, only 3 per cent said they
had recycled their old phone. Also, 50 per cent of those surveyed
didn't know phones could be recycled, with awareness being the
lowestinIndiaat17percent.
“As responsible leaders, we want to drive best practices in our industry,” Nokia India VP and
managingdirectorDShivakumarsaid.
Biochar for soil replenishment and to combat global
warming
ormer inhabitants of the Amazon Basin enriched their fields with charred organic materials and
Ftransformed one of the Earth's most infertile soils into one of the most productive. Now,
scientists, environmental groups and policy makers forging the next world climate agreement see
biocharasanimportantwayforcombatingglobalwarmingaswell.
Christoph Steiner, soil scientist at University of Georgia says that almost any kind of organic material –
peanut shells, pine chips and even poultry litter – can be burned in air-tight conditions, a process called
pyrolysis. The byproducts are biochar, a highly porous charcoal that helps soil retain nutrients and water,
and gases and heat that can be used as energy. He now investigates the global potential of biochar to
sequestercarbon.HealsoservesasaconsultanttotheUNCCD,asisterprogrammetotheclimatechange
convention.
lack carbon, the component of soot that
Bgives it its colour, is thought to be the
second largest cause of global warming
after carbon dioxide. It is formed through
incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, wood
and vegetation. Nasa claims that, cutting
down on the pollutant, can have an
immediate cooling effect – and prevent
hundreds of thousands of deaths from air
pollutionatthesametime.
Soot contains up to 40 different cancer-
causing chemicals which also cause
respiratory and heart diseases. It is
estimated to cause two million deaths in the
developingcountrieseachyear.
The soot is spread around the globe by wind,
and heats the atmosphere by absorbing and
releasing solar radiation. When it settles
down, it darkens snow and ice, at the poles
or high in mountains, reducing its ability to
reflect sunlight resulting in faster melts and
even more absorption of sunlight by the bare
snowfreeland.
Soot falls immediately unlike carbon dioxide
that remains in air for hundereds of years.
This is hazardous to health and is heating the
Earth. Scientists believe that cutting down
on soot emissions is the fastest way to
reduce air pollution related deaths and
reducetheglobalwarmingdramatically.
They further suggest that proper vehicular
and industrial pollution control measures
and use of solar cooker and biogas for
cookingcanreducethesootemissions.
Soot reduction could
help to stop global warming
planet earth | | February 0909

12. Rating the desirability of 11 possible future energy
sources
study published in the journal Energy and
AEnvironmental Science that claims to be the
first comparative evaluation of alternate energy
solutions to global warming, air pollution, and
energy security compared nine electric power
sources and two liquid fuels for the purpose. It
considered their effects on water supply, land
use, wildlife and resource availability and indirect
effects on energy security, nuclear proliferation,
mortalityandunder-nutrition.
Wind power, as a source of electricity for battery
vehicles, performed best. In the second group
were battery vehicles using electricity from solar
power and from geothermal, tidal and wave
sources.
While the third level included battery vehicles
driven by hydropower, nuclear, and coal from
plants using carbon capture and storage, ethanol
use was found to cause the most climate damage, air pollution, damage to land and wildlife, and
chemicalwasteasperthisnewstudy.
Climate change
threatens Pacific,
Arctic conflicts
nvironmental stress has increased the
Erisk of conflicts in the Pacific over
resources and food. As per revelations of a
summaryofthe report"ClimateChange,The
Environment, Resources and Conflict", as
theArcticmelts,drillingunderseaoilandgas
deposits, becomes a commercially viable
process. Rising sea levels would affect
nations and islands with low-lying
coastlines, and may lead to increase in
refugeesfromvulnerablePacificislands.
“Environmental stress, caused by both climate change and a range of other factors, will act as a
threat multiplier in fragile states around the world, increasing the chances of state failure," states
thesummary.Risingsealevels,increaseinrefugees,moreillegalimmigrationandfishingarefewof
theconflictareasmentionedinthereport.
NEWS
Polarised light pollution
causes animals to miss
natural light cues
collaboration of ecologists, biologists
Aand biophysicists in the journal
Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment,
has shown that cues from polarised light
can trigger animal behaviours leading to
injury and often death.
Human-made light sources can alter natural
light cycles, causing animals that rely on
light cues to make mistakes when moving
through their environment. The research
shows that environmental cues, such as the
intensity of light, that animals use to make
decisions, occur at different levels of
severity in the natural world. When cues
become unnaturally intense, animals can
respondunnaturallystronglytothem.
Artificial light that occurs at unnatural times
or places – often called light pollution – can
attract or repulse animals, resulting in
increased predation, migrating in the wrong
direction, choosing bad nest sites or mates,
collisions with artificial structures and
reduced time available to spend looking for
food,justtonameafew.
NEWS
planet earth | | February 0910

13. Japan to start exploring rare elements on seabed
apan is believed to have plentiful resources under the sea not previously exploited due to the
Jprohibitivecosts.Alongwithraremetals,Japanisestimatedtohave5,000years'worthofgold,silver
andcobaltinitsseabedalongwith100years'worthofmethanehydrate,atcurrentratesofusage.
There is an increasing demand for mineral
resources around the world, which has pushed
prices higher. Japan plans to start exploring its
seabed to harvest rare earth elements used in
electronics, hoping to reduce its heavy reliance on
Chinese imports and would also try to develop its
capacity to extract badly needed energy resources
such as oil, gas and methane hydrate in the project,
which eyes test exploration by the 2018 fiscal year.
It is not yet known whether Japan's plan would
involve parts of the East China Sea where Japan
andChinadisputeunderseagasfields.
Cooling by volcanoes may
have been masked by
global warming
limate researchers of Tree Ring Lab at
CColumbia University’s Lamont-Doherty
Earth Observatory have shown that big volcanic
eruptions over the past 450 years have
temporarily cooled weather in the tropics
because volcanic particles reflect sunlight back
into space; but they suggest that such effects
may have been masked in the 20th century by
rising global temperatures.
1816, the year following the massive Tambora
eruption in Indonesia, became known as “The
Year Without a Summer,” as low temperatures
caused crop failures in northern Europe and
eastern North America. “This is significant
because it gives us more information about how
tropical climate responds to forces that alter the effects solar radiation,” said lead author Rosanne
D’Arrigo, lead author of the published paper. Along with tree rings, the researchers analysed ice
cores from alpine glaciers, and corals, taken from a wide area of the tropics. When things cool, not
onlydotreestendtogrowless,butisotopesofoxygenincoralsandglacialicemayshift.Allshowed
thatlow-latitudetemperaturesdeclinedforseveralyearsaftermajortropicaleruptions.
“Particularly warm decades may have partially overridden the cooling effect of some volcanic
events,” This study provides some of the first comprehensive information about how the tropical
climatesystemrespondedtovolcanismpriortotheinstrumentalperiod,”saidD’Arrigo.
Electronics makers get
green grades from
Greenpeace
n its second greener products survey,
I"Green Electronics: The Search
Continues," the environmental activist
group assessed the progress made by
consumer electronic companies in
greening their products over the past year.
The Greenpeace survey was released at
the annual Consumer Electronics Show
(CES) in Las Vegas.
It says that consumer electronics
manufacturers are making greener products
than a year ago but more progress needs to
be made before they can claim a truly
environmentallyfriendlyproduct.
For the survey, Greenpeace said 15
companies submitted 50 new products they
considered their greenest for evaluation:
mobile and smart phones, televisions,
computer monitors, notebook and desktop
computers,andgameconsoles.
The products were graded on use of
hazardous chemicals, energy efficiency,
innovation, promotion of environmental
friendliness and life cycle – whether they
canberecycledandupgraded.
planet earth | | February 0911

14. COVER STORY
A crisis ends in victory for one party and defeat for
the other. But the human conflict induced by climate
change, with food shortage pulling at one hand and
water shortage plucking the other, is likely to leave
us all defeated unless we become more
compassionate towards nature, writes Sheetal Vyas
IN THE MAKING
WAR
The rising sun over
Ethiopia’s horizon, gives
out a pink light against the
backdrop of blowing dust. Umpteen
number of unruly cattle wander in
groups, painting the brown field.
Merging with the thorny Acacia
trees, they try to nibble on dead grass
and dust. The herdsman, with bones
poking his skin from all corners,
walks cautiously, fearing attack from
fellow humans, and directs them to a
watering hole, miles away. He
wishes to avoid the camel herd
coming form the opposite direction
and make sure his cattle satisfy their
thirst before competition pours in.
This is but one frame of the kind of
life people in the conflict-torn
Ethiopia are leading, starving, thirsty
for water and hoping for a small
amount of compassion from the well-
provided for world.
Choosing the violent way
Given a choice between starvation
and plundering food, man will
choose the latter. War is not new to
mankind, but in the recent years, a
new dimension has been attached to
wars, and violence, which may not
necessarily be an outcome or
political disturbance or the hunger
for power. These are wars that have
been triggered by the consequences
resulting from climatic changes,
which though invisible to the eye,
work at a brisk pace in altering the
very sources that sustain human life:
food and water.
The planet has been unsettled by
tsunamis, record hurricane seasons,
floods, tremors and the less
glamorous droughts and water
pollution and freshwater resource
depletion, which have largely led to
the present conflict. The hydra-
headed conflict arising out of such
environmental stress and global
warming is the product of a gradual
deterioration in the capacity of
natural resources to meet the ever
bourgeoning demands of the human
population. As a consequence, the
resources take
a reverse step
leading to tragic human conflict.
Military analyst and writer, Gwynne
Dyer, in his recently published book,
Climate Wars warns that in the next
five years there will be such a
shortfall in food crops that sustaining
even a fraction of the increasing
human population would be difficult,
because the crop sustaining rains are
pulling back each year. Scientists
believe that this could lead to
stronger versions of the pasta panics
in Italy, tortilla wars in Mexico,
bread riots from Haiti to Cairo and
rice shortages from India to
Bangladesh to the Philippines in
addition to the already burning
African countries, witnessed recently.
The conditions are so bad in Sudan
that the United Nations World Food
Programme is expressing concerns
The percentage of income from the poor
in developing countries used to purchase
basic food.
75
planet earth | | February 0912

15. conflicts with the result that more
than four billion people have been
displaced in Colombia alone.
Similar is the situation in Haiti,
Gaza, Ivory Coast, Cameroon,
Mauritania, Sri Lanka, Mozambique,
Senegal, Uzbekistan, Bolivia,
Indonesia, Middle East, Pakistan and
Bangladesh, where riots have
become the order of the day. While in
places like Sudan, Chad and Central
Africa, war and conflicts between
people have become a way of life.
Close to 25,000 farmers in India took
their own lives, burdened by farming
debts and severe grain shortage.
Australia, which has been a very self-
sufficient nation, witnessed its
biggest drought period in 150 years
and China reported a grain harvest
drop of over 10 per cent.
In the case of Darfur, a semi-arid
land with moist areas dotting it, the
nomadic lives of the communities
staying here has received the worst
stroke. In the recent years their total
rainfall has dived low and is
becoming more unpredictable with
each passing year. The chaos
resulting out of this has caused them
to seek the moist lands and the
competition was such that they
fought amongst themselves to grab a
piece of cultivable land. In the last 10
years, the country has witnessed the
loss of more than 300,000 human
about the possibility of the present
food crisis taking a new turn in
combination with the poor cereal
turn out and the increase in prices of
basic food, sorghum in particular. “It
is sometimes difficult to imagine how
so much misery exists in the world.
As some of the waste disposal units
work in Sudan, people often attack
the officers who oversee the
operations and burrow through piles
of rubbish in the hope that they will
find a half-eaten fruit, scrapings from
a food can or in times of desperation
a box of shoe polish,” says a member
of the peacekeeping force in Sudan,
who wished to remain anonymous.
The sad part is that global recession
has also caused the funding agencies
to cut down their funds.
Colombia, a country always known to
produce an excess of food till
recently, is constantly fearing food
scarcity and riot outbreak. The
decrease in crop production
combined with the steep incline in
food prices, which were a result of
economic policies that turned food
trade into a profitable business, has
hit poor farmers the most. In order to
balance their food requirements and
be able to pay for food grains, they
have switched to biofuel farming.
This has given rise to internal
Un peace keeping force in
Sudan stays on alert
for possible attacks
planet earth | | February 0913

16. lives. There are other countries
where tourists are often advised not
to venture out at night because they
are likely to be attacked by severely
starved people who will do anything
for food.
The plight of civilians in the Gaza
strip is such that they have food
reserves to sustain them only for a
month. Unless a ceasefire is
announced, trucks carrying food
loads will not enter the region for
fear of security.
Climate against crop
Global warming induced climate
change cannot be ignored as a fact.
While depleting forest cover, warming
oceans, erratic rain and unpredictable
storms and droughts are all linked to
climate change, food and water crisis,
it is the behaviour of the crops that
has surprised researchers. Climate
alone cannot be blamed for the food
crunch we are facing. It works hand-
in-glove with conditions created by
man to bring about changes of such a
serious nature.
With every small increase in global
temperature, the likelihood of
climate change and crop production
variation increases. This could be
attributed to various conditions such
as flooding, lack of rain, hurricanes
like Katrina and the more recent
Gustav, and cyclonic storms like
Nargis, which left vast stretches of
agricultural land submerged under
water. “While it is believed that
hurricanes and storms do not travel
far after landfall, but the Orissa
cyclone in 1999 and Katrina proved
that wrong. They crossed kilometres
of land before weakening,” points
out Dr A N V Satyanarayana,
assitant professor, Centre for Ocean,
Rivers, Atmosphere and Land
Sciences, IIT Kharagpur.
Global warming has changed the
nature of the climate, making it more
unruly and unpredictable. Why else
would Rajasthan, a desert be flooded
all of sudden. How farmers wish they
had a steady flow of water and didn’t
had to depend on seasonal rains to
irrigate their agricultural lands.
However, the truth being otherwise,
increasing instances of either too
severe or too scanty rainfall, have left
agriculturalists high and dry. This is
made worse by storms, typhoons,
hurricanes and cyclones, which
increase the salinity of soil,
rendering it uncultivable. Water
shortage also plays on the
cultivator’s mind when he plans a
crop. Certain crops like rice, require
the land to be flooded with water in
order to produce a healthy crop. But,
with water shortage looming large
over continents, it is not possible to
flood the fields. This has caused rice
production to drop.
Scientists have often insisted that
natural surroundings and their
carbon sequestering qualities
contribute towards enhancing the
produce of a region. A good forest
cover ensures sufficient moisture,
thus inviting healthy rains. But our
greed for wood and land has
destroyed massive forest cover in
major forest-rich areas, especially the
Amazon and the rainforests of Africa.
These areas act as carbon sinks and
maintain the temperature and
moisture levels of the planet. It is
believed that an acre of forest cover
will absorb over 75 tonne of carbon
dioxide over a 20-year period.
According to Dr V Vinod Goud,
project coordinator for World Wide
Fund for Nature International & The
International Crop Research Institute
for the Semi-Arid Tropics
(WWF&ICRISAT) projects, earlier,
there used to be alternating periods
of draughts and rain. “It would rain
adequately for four-five years and as
a breather, there would be draught
for two years. People made money
during the rain-fed years and be
prepared for the succeeding
droughts. However, these days,
droughts extend for years, giving
little change to the cultivators to
think of alternatives,” he says.
Natural changes aside, the biggest
contribution to food crisis and the
conflicts arising out of it comes from
man, who constantly looks for
change and comfort. Despite wars
and natural calamities, human
population continues to grow, adding
more number of mouths to be fed
than can possibly be supported the
total cultivable land available in the
world.
In the recent years, a shift has been
noticed in the food habits of people
across the world. The commercial
value of crops, time taken to prepare
and the yield, play an important role
in helping the farmers decide what
they wish to grow. Since rice is easy
to grow and gives better yield
compared to millets and pulses, most
farmers in some parts of Andhra
Pradesh have stopped cultivating
ASIA S.AMERICA N.AMERICA AFRICA EUROPE OCEANIA
15%
8%
11%
13%
8%
13%
5% 1%
36% 26%
6%
60%
Glass half empty
Population and water distribution don’t always correspond, often
leaving highly populated regions with little access to water. This is
most true in Asia, which has to support 60% of the world’s
population with only 36% of the world’s water.
– Percentage of global water supply
– Percentage of global population
planet earth | | February 0914

17. millets, which are akin to the dry
areas and are rich in nutrients. As a
result, millets which are sold cheaper
in the market, have taken a back seat
in cultivation. “Cotton is another
crop which is hijacking the
agricultural land meant to grow food
crops. It also leaves the soil unfit to
cultivate other crops,” says Dr Goud.
The rich dividends that crops such as
jatropha, palm, maize and sorghum
promise in terms of monetary returns
are very high compared to food
crops. Under such circumstances, it
is but natural for farmers to switch to
biofuel crops, thus creating a
foodgrain shortage. Moreover, the
introduction of genetically modified
varieties of crops, such as GM
foodgrains has been a serious
concern for farmers. The step
received a lot of flak from farmers all
over the world, for its invasive
nature. In fact, agitations have been
carried out to ban the brand in
countries like Zambia and India.
Farmers complain that GM varieties
often cross-pollinate with the native
grain variety, thus increasing their
presence, which may spell doom for
the native varieties.
They say food and housing go
together and one cannot co-exist
without the other, so also are the
corresponding problems.
Construction activity, though often
portrayed green, still continues to
plant concrete jungles, reducing land
space. The construction material
used by companies can be varied in
nature and may have different
radiation absorption capacities. Even
this causes hot and cold zones to be
created, which affect the temperature
of a place and its surrounding areas.
City skylines, often dotted with
buildings, create micro and macro
temperature zones. During the day
earth heats up and the energy is
taken and transported to the soil. The
soil then releases radiation at night.
This creates mini temperature zones
in and around the cities. Depending
on the humidity levels, it could cause
unseasonal rainfall or bring scanty
rain to the surrounding agricultural
fields. This disrupts the natural crop
cycle, affecting yield.
Crisis rooted in water
While there may be several reasons
cited for the present food crisis, the
crux of the problem is the fast
depleting water resources and the
impending great world water crisis.
Water is being described as the new
oil and may be the primary cause for
the outbreak of the Third World War.
This is so because we may live
without food, but not without water.
Pictures of women balancing huge
barrels of water on their heads, have
been flashed all over the world
earlier, but it was for the sheer grace
and ability to balance the pitchers
that they were used. However, today,
this may be the case in many parts of
the world. While the pictured women
had the luxury of balancing more
than one pitcher, people in countries
with water scarcity have to make do
with a mugful of water.
Man’s role in aggravating the
changes that climate is undergoing
has caused several countries to
intimidate other water-rich nations
with threats of war. While water wars
have been common place in India,
with states fighting with each other
to harness river sources, such wars
are a relatively new concept for
water-rich nations like Latin
America, Spain, Bolivia, Ireland,
Kenya, Pakistan, New Zealand,
Northern China, Portugal and the US
where 36 states are looming under
severe water shortage.
The impact of climate on water
resources has been treacherous. While
hurricanes, storms and heavy rains
bring in a good supply of water, it
cannot be used by man because there
is no proper system in place to reclaim
it. Increasing global warming levels
have invited severe droughts, causing
rivers and lakes to dry up. Even the
glaciers and aquifers that fed the
rivers are depleting at a very fast rate.
Such is the situation in the US that it
is warring with Canada to get access
to the great lakes that supply fresh
water to the country. Latin America,
an extremely water-rich nation seems
to have been surrounded with dry
rivers and bare lake beds. A 40 per
cent fall in rainfall in Spain has put its
water resources in peril. The
Government sought to divert water
from the river Segre, a tributary of the
gigantic Ebro, to Barcelona, which is
facing severe crisis, but was met with
severe opposition and conflict from
the Government of the Aragon
through which the Ebro flows. The
Irish economy too is suffering due to
water conflicts arising out of the
climate change induced water
shortage. The region has received
inadequate rainfall and may have
reduced winter water flows. Climate
change is believed to have reduced
the moisture content of the soil in the
region, which could affect agriculture
and accelerate the erosion of
peatlands. China’s shortage is unique
in that it has more than adequate
reserve in the south but very little
water in the north, which in turn has
doomed rice production. The biggest
threat that the water problem could
pose is countries declaring war with
one another and uncontrolled human
conflicts.
Research carried by various institutes
and data collected by Nasa shows
that glaciers all over the world are
receding. This has caused the melt
water flow into the rivers to fall
during the summer months. Since
most nations depend on rivers to
supply them with fresh water, this is
one of the primary causes for water
conflicts. Almost the entire
Chacaltaya glacier, which was a
source for several rivers in Bolivia
The number of residents in the
Liaoning province of China are
without drinking water
670,000
planet earth | | February 0915

18. planetearth||February0916
ZIMBABWE
ZAMBIA
YEMEN
VIETNAM
VANUATU
UZBEKISTAN
U. K.
U.A.E.
UKRAINE
UGANDA
TURKMENISTANTURKEY
TONGA
KIRIBATI
TOGO
THAILAND
TANZANIA
TAJIKISTAN
SYRIA
SWITZ.
SWEDEN
SWAZ.
SUDAN
SRI LANKA
MALDIVES
SPAIN
SOUTH AFRICA
SOMALIA
SOLOMON ISLANDS
SLOVENIA
SLOVAKIA
SINGAPORE
SERBIA
MONT.
SAUDI ARABIA
SAO TOME & PRINCIPE
RWANDA
RUSSIA
ROMANIA
QATAR
POLAND
PHILIPPINES
PAPUA NEW
GUINEA
PALAU
PAKISTAN
OMAN
NORWAY
NIGERIA
NIGER
NEW ZEALAND
NETH.
NEPAL
NAMIBIA
MOZAMBIQUE
MOROCCO
MONGOLIA
MOLD.
MAURITIUS
MALTA
MALI
MALAYSIA
MALAYSIA
MALAWI
MADAGASCAR
MAC.
LUX.
LITHUANIA
LIBYA
LES.
LEBANON
LATVIA
LAOS
KYRGYZSTAN
KUWAIT
SOUTH
KOREA
NORTH
KOREA
TAIWAN
KENYA
KAZAKHSTAN
JORDAN
JAPAN
ITALY
ISRAEL
IRELAND
IRAQ
IRAN
INDONESIA
INDIA
INDIA
HUNGARY
GREECE
GHANA
GERMANY
GEORGIA
GABON
FRANCE
FINLAND
FIJI
ETHIOPIA
ESTONIA
ERITREA
EQUATORIAL GUINEA
EGYPT
TIMOR-LESTE
DJIBOUTI
DENMARK
CZECH REP.
CYPRUS
CROATIA
COTE
D'IVOIRE
CONGO
DEM REPUBLIC
OF CONGO
COMOROS
CHINA
CHAD
CENTRAL AFRICAN REP.
CAMEROON
CAMBODIA
BURUNDI
BURMA
BURKINA FASO
BULGARIA
BRUNEI
BOTSWANA
B-H
BHUTAN
BENIN
BEL.
BELARUS
BANGLADESH
BAHRAIN
AZERB.
AUSTRIA
AUSTRALIA
ARM.
ANGOLA
ALGERIA
ALBANIA
AFGHANISTAN
SAMOA
U. K.
UKRAINE
TUNISIA
SWITZ.
SWEDEN
SPAIN
SLOVENIA
SLOVAKIA
SERBIA
MONT.
ROMANIA
POLAND
NORWAY
NETH.
MOROCCO
MOLD.
MALTA
MAC.
LUX.
LITHUANIA
LEBAN
LATVIA
ITALY
ISRA
IRELAND
HUNGARY
GREECE
GERMANY
FRANCE
FINLAND
ESTONIA
DENMARK
CZECH REP.
CYPRUS
CROATIA
BULGARIA
B-H
BEL.
BELARUS
AUSTRIA
ALGERIA
ALBANIA
PORTUGAL
VENEZUELA
URUGUAY
FALKLAND ISLANDS
UNITED STATES
SURINAME
SIERRA LEONE
SENEGAL
PERU
PARAGUAY
PANAMA
NICARAGUA
WESTERN
SAHARA
MEXICO
MAURITANIA
LIBERIA
ICELAND
HONDURAS
GUYANA
GUINEA
GUINEA-BISSAU
GUATEMALA
GREENLAND
THE GAMBIA
FRENCH GUIANA
EL SALVADOR
ECUADOR
COSTA RICA
COLOMBIA
CHILE
CAPE VERDE
CANADA
BRAZIL
BOLIVIA
BELIZE
ARGENTINA
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
JAMAICA HAITI
DOM.
REP.
CUBA
BAHAMAS
BERMUDA
ST VINCENT & THE GRENADINES
ST LUCIA
ST KITTS & NEVIS
PUERTO
RICO
GRENADA
DOMINICA
BARBADOS
ANTIGUA & BARBUDA
TUNISIA
Conflict hot spots
Nations facing increasing risk of armed conflict as a result of climate change
Countries under risk of political instability as an off-shoot of climate change
Clear data unavailable
This map indicates the conflict prone zones in the world that have
been affected by food & water wars as a result of climate change.
Source: International Allert

19. has disappeared. Dr Rasik Ravindra,
director, National Centre for
Antarctic and Ocean Resaerch, while
admitting that green house gases
emission have increased global
temperatures, says, “Numerous
changes in climate have been
observed. These include changes in
Arctic temperatures, decrease in sea
ice cover in the Arctic region and the
breaking of ice shelves in western
Antarctica, droughts, heavy
precipitation, heat waves and
tropical cyclones. While glacial
interglacial cyclic episodes have
been witnessed in Earth’s history in
part, the present interglacial or
warmer period through which we are
passing has shown perceptible
warming trend including rise in sea
surface temperatures. Most of the
observed increase in global average
temperature is apparently due to
increase in greenhouse gas
concentration.”
The changing seasonal patterns, with
winters being affected the most, have
disturbed the snow build up. The
snow that is melting is not being
replenished during the winter
months, which in turn affects river
flows. Sometimes the melt waters
that collect in lakes below the glacial
mountains, burst, flooding the
agricultural lands. These lakes are
also a source of drinking water.
According to Dr Satyanarayana, a
process called evapo-transpiration is
causing ground water levels to fall.
In this process, certain plants with
big pores absorb excess water from
the soil and release it in the
atmosphere. This in the long run can
change the water table levels.
Often described as the Blue Planet,
Earth is covered with 75 per cent
water, why then is there such a
dearth of safe drinking water? It is
possible that changing climate is
stealing us of our freshwater
resources, but the situation may not
have been so bad had man on his
part not added to the water
siphoning process. Population
explosion is the primary reason why
we are experiencing water shortage.
The resources aren’t enough to meet
the demand and our irresponsible
use of water adds to that. Not
surprisingly, it is the more densely
populated countries that are under
threat. The declining water resources
have caused communities to seek
water deeper into the ground,
digging deeper still. While the
activity may bear water in one area
but only after it has dried the
surrounding well. River Dawa in
Ethiopia has dried up for this very
reason.
Food cultivation uses up most of the
water and it is maintained at the
expense of perennial rivers, such as
the Yellow River in China, the
Ganges and Brahmaputra in India,
Indus in Pakistan and the Nile in
Egypt. The Colarado river too is
under threat of drying up. Almost
three-fourths of naturally available
water is used for crops. Besides,
certain plant varieties require more
water for cultivation, biofuels crops,
cotton and rice for instance. Serious
resource depletion is being done by
bottled water plants which sip-dry
groundwater, which is then treated
and exported as bottled water.
Refugees from water-tight nations
increase the burden on other nations,
thus widening the crisis.
Water crisis cannot be isolated from
pollution, which has reached the
deepest layers of the earth, rendering
groundwater and aquifiers unsuitable
for drinking. At times grey water
blends with drinking water supplies,
causing serious health concerns. It is
also a matter of worry, says Dr Goud,
that construction activity has blocked
catchment areas and covered the soil
in a hard layer of tar and concrete,
which makes it difficult for rainwater
to seep in. Moreover, environmental
drives urging people to harvest
rainwater fall on deaf years. A lot of
research is being done to tackle the
water shortage crisis. The
WWF&ICRISAT project has resulted
in the development of a rice variety
that doesn’t require flooding and
gives better yields.
Nature’s water cycle of evaporation
and rainfall, ensures that a steady
and required amount of freshwater is
supplied to humankind, but we have
tampered the natural cycle on such a
scale that some of the great rivers of
the world are running dry. It is
setting in a related food and water
shortage cycle. The gurgling sound
of water is music to ears when
available in abundant supply, but
one can only hope that a situation
doesn’t come when we become water
refugees and increase our burden on
the ecosystems. “Cutting down
emissions is the only solution and the
only way out,” scientists warn.
Conflict, climate role reversal
t was a day marked with strangeness in January 2008, when snow fell in the war-torn Baghdad,
which reportedly halted all armed conflict and gave the media global warming fodder during their
Iwar coverage in Iraq. The incident was strange because it was the first time in the living memory of
Baghdad that soft snow instead of rain had descended from the skies. Could it have been global
warmingspreadingitspresenceorwasitanafter-effectofwar?
While we have witnessed conflict instigated by climate change, particularly over the sharing of
natural resources, war is also adding its bit to the already sprinting global warming phenomena.
Extensive coverage has been given to the war, but none of the reports talk about emissions
associated with the war in Iraq, which is not surprising because a report by Oil Change International
and Nikki Reisch and Steve Kretzmann, more often than not, military emission are not included in the
national greenhouse gases inventories maintained by industrialised nations under the United Nations
FrameworkConventiononClimateChange.
Accordingtothereport,thewarhasproducedaminimum of141million metrictonsofcarbondioxide
equivalent since March 2003, while fuel consumption for Operation Iraq Freedom has released 100
million metric tons of carbon dioxide. Another practice often noticed in Iraq is the burning or oil and
gas wells which emit several metric tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Add to that
thepollutionresultingoutofgunpowderandbombs,sufficienttoaltertheclimateofthelandmass.
planet earth | | February 0917

20. INNOVATION
It is one thing to sit back and enjoy your morning
cup of coffee sip by sip, quite another to brew it
stronger and use it to run your car. Professor
Manoranjan Misra’s serendipitous discovery of
coffee’s fuel potential will perhaps enable you to do
so. When he left in a hurry from his lab, leaving behind a
steaming hot mug of strong Starbucks coffee on his work
desk, little did Dr Misra, echo-logic professor and
director, Center for Materials Reliability Metallurgical
and Materials Engineering, University of Nevada, Reno
know that this negligence on his part could result in an
important discovery. “I had
made a very strong cup of
Starbucks coffee and it
slipped my mind to consume
it. It remained so overnight
and the next day I noticed a
thin film of oil floating on the
top. I got very curious and
wanted to explore where the
oil came from,” says Misra
recalling the chain of events
that led to the discovery in
2006.
To satiate his curiosity,
Misra, along with two of his
students, Dr Susanta
Mohapatra and Dr
Narasimharao Kondamudi,
collected about 50 gm of
discarded coffee grounds
from the Starbucks outlet in
the university. These were
then brewed, processed and
tested. The resulting data
revealed that the brew
contained 10 to 15 per cent
of very high quality
triglyceride. A chemical
analysis established it as a
fact that the dark coloured
thick oil, which was as
aromatic as freshly ground
coffee beans, was indeed
high quality triglyceride. Spirited by this find, Misra and
his team assessed the possibilities of its application. “It
struck us that if it is triglyceride, it would make sense to
produce biodiesel out of it through transesterification. It
was a very simple process that we worked on in my
garage. The process involves the addition of alcohol to
the liquid and blend it with hydrous oxide. Once they are
combined thoroughly, all you need to do is heat it up and
your biodiesel is ready,” says Misra matter-of-factly.
It is necessary to note that oil as such doesn’t run a car. It
needs a trigger or booster which will help it burn and
ignite the engine to run a car. The triggers are often
described in terms of C10 and O10 numbers.
Transesterification does the trick.
With the green mantra attracting an increasing number of
companies, laboratories and countries, there is no dearth
of biodiesel in the market and new research turns out
varied results every single day. In fact, India has been
involved in quite a few biodiesel research projects on
jatropha, palm and shorgum at various levels. But what
sets coffee biodiesel apart from its contemporaries is its
lifespan. “Unlike biodiesel extracted out of jatropha, palm
and the likes, coffee biodiesel is very stable. Others need
to be used as soon as they are made, because any rise or
fall in the temperature or moisture content breaks them
because they do not contain
anti-oxidants. Whereas this
aromatic biodiesel contains 3
to 5 per cent anti-oxidants,
which gives more stability
and a longer shelf life of
between six-seven months.
There are no issues about
variety either because all
varieties of coffee yield
similar results,” explains 59-
year-old Misra.
The result has been
patented, but it will be some
time before the actual coffee
biodiesel hits the market for
commercial use. Misra who
originally belongs to
Bhuvaneshwar in Orissa,
India, has been working at
the University of Nevada for
almost 20 years. His area of
research concentrates on
environmental engineering,
water purification, extraction
of Hydrogen from water and
sunlight ad green energy.
However, his shift to
biodeisel research has been
very recent. Giving reasons
for this change, he says, “I
had often observed and read
that everybody is shifting to making biodiesel from food
crops, thus giving more priority to fuel that we use to run
equipment over our own body fuel, i.e. food. We need
food to survive, we can’t waste it on vehicles. I told my
group that it is about time that we looked at waste matter
to generate fuel energy instead of food. We are also
attempting to make gasoline from carbon dioxide, which
is abundant.” It is not surprising then that his team
preferred to use discarded and waste coffee grounds
instead of fresh ones. The team is presently looking at
chicken feather and fat to extract oil in addition to other
cellulose matter that could yield oil.
Misra describes his work environment as lively and
cheerful, where his students discuss the most unusual
Longer shelf life, zero-emissions
and aromatic exhaust fumes, are
just a fraction of the qualities that
coffee biodiesel discovered by
Dr Manoranjan Misra and his team
promise, writes Sheetal Vyas
Run out of fuel?
Consider coffee
planet earth | | February 0918

21. ideas and set about implementing them. He believes his
coffee biodiesel team to be a good mix, with two chemists
and an engineer who revel in carrying out complicated
experiments and analysing weird concoctions.
Feeding the pilot plant which the university plans to set
up in a few months, will not be a problem because Misra
and his team have ensured a steady supply through the
coffee roasting plant near the university, where nearly
250 million pounds of coffee is roasted per year. “They
use forward logic to distribute coffee to the stores, our
objective is to use reverse logic. Apparently, they pay to
discard the defective coffee which cannot be roasted or
coffee that has been over-roasted. The bulk of the coffee
from the roasters, which goes to the garbage will be used.
We are trying to device a method which will collect and
bring back used coffee. Since it is the most popular drink,
we have a big amount of waste coffee, which will make a
great number of galleons of biodiesel,” says Misra who
nurtures a deep passion for the environment.
The after birth of this process, the used coffee grounds
are also used. They are compressed, pelletised and used
in wood burning fireplaces to heat the room in countries
like the US. These are even better than wood pellets,
claims Misra.
With a zero-emissions tag and great smelling tanks,
coffee biodiesel could be the future fuel option. However,
before it is used in cars, they will have to be retro-fitted.
Diesel cars can readily speed on coffee biodiesel. Despite
his path-breaking research in the field, Misra, however,
feels that biodiesel will not solve the energy problem.
Portraying the seriousness of the problem, Misra says,
“Almost 29 million gallons of oil is consumed globally per
day. If we use all the land we have to grow only biodiesel
plants, it will give only 14 per cent of the oil required. It is
not the solution but a stopgap measure until we find an
alternative. Biodiesel is a good option because we know
how to make it. But the trouble is that it is time-
consuming.”
“It feels good to convert an out-of-the-box
idea of Professor Misra to a breakthrough
research. Our research objective is very
simple, to look for alternate fuel from
non-food sources which will decrease the
world’s fuel deficiency as well as check
global warming. While coffee biodiesel
produces only around a small fraction of
the current world’s fuel demand.
However, we need to realise that nothing
alone is going to replace the petro-fuels
which are being made by nature from
millions of years. Every bit helps.”
Dr Mohapatra, Assistant Professor, University
of Nevada, Reno, has a PhD degree from Indian
Institute of Technology, Bombay, Mumbai.
“Our project is based upon the idea of
taking everyday waste products, like used
coffee grounds, and turning them into
various forms of renewable fuels such as
biodiesel, bio-ethanol, fuel pellets and
low molecular hydrocarbons. We
succeeded partially and a lot more is to be
done in this direction. An observation is
one of the most important aspects of
scientists. At the time of research, our
only goal is to make it feasible and
nothing else and it is paid off well.”
Mr Narasimharao Kondamudi, PhD scholar,
University of Nevada, Reno, has a Masters
degree from Indian Institute of Technology,
Roorkee.
Coffee biodiesel production process
planet earth | | February 0919

22. Be it the saffron farmers of
Kashmir or the sugar maple
tappers of Vermont, several
regions have been bitten by
the melting winters. Apple and
mango trees are blossoming in
January, some plants are flowering
more than once in a year and their
has not been a white Christmas in
Shimla since 1991.
These unexpected seasonal
variations have been predicted by
most of the climate change models.
But it is the traditionally cold regions
that are feeling the heat.
The actual time period for snowfall
has also undergone a change with
December and January receiving
scant or no snow while February and
March witness heavy snowfall. In
most of the areas of Jammu and
Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh in
India, the snowfall months have
reduced from four months a year to
only two. Some of the Himalayan
regions are being flooded because of
untimely snowmelt.
Similar reports come from UK as well
as Canada. The spring now arrives
almost a month early and autumn is
longer. Winter months have shrunk
and it doesn’t snow as it used to.
Weather patterns are becoming
unpredictable and the lines between
the seasons are thinning.
Loosing some exotic aromas and
winter sports
One can hardly imagine some of the
exotic Indian dishes without the
aroma of saffron, but we are losing its
crop fast. As per On the Brink: A
Report on Climate Change and its
Impact in Kashmir, saffron yield in
Kashmir has decreased to almost half
since the last 10 years. Farmers say
that in the past 20 years, land that
yielded 1.5 to 2 kg saffron is now
yielding barely 200 gm.
All this is because of changing
pattern in snowfall shorter winter
and receding glaciers.
Not just India, due to unpredictable
weather pattern and shorter winter
New England once a leader in the
production of sugar maple has been
hit rather badly by climate change.
The sap tapping season has
effectively been shortened by at least
three days. Further, maple being a
highly climate sensitive tree, the
production of sap in the tree is
affected by erratic climatic changes
that the region is going thorough.
Experts believe that although
currently Canada’s maple industry is
growing the fall is not far.
Snow lines have receded; the spring
snow melt is coming earlier than
ever before. It’s the same
everywhere, the Poles, North
America as well as for the Himalayas
that form largest snow cover outside
the poles.
Higher temperatures and shorter
winters mean less time for skiing.
Winter sports a major tourist
attraction and an important
economic asset of snow capped
regions are looking for alternate
recreations to compensate the loss
due to reduced skiing months.
“Snow sports in Washington State
are potentially vulnerable to the
projected shift in winter precipitation
Are we losing
winters?
CLIMATE CONNECTION
For the past few years, climate change has been
discussed at all the world conferences and across
coffee tables. But winter already feels the heat; it
happens to be one of the first victims of climate
change with one season merging into another
Mukta Rohra
planet earth | | February 0920

23. from snowfall to rain as average
temperatures warm. Some ski areas
based at low elevations, including
destinations that are among the
state’s most popular, may experience
direct climate change impacts,” says
a report on impacts of climate
change by Washington State
Department of Ecology.
Himalayan ski resorts in
Kashmir and Himachal
Pradesh are in for the
same fate. Trekkers
favourite, Pindari glacier
reportedly melts 130
metres every year. There
are over 5,000 glaciers
in the Himalayas. They
are all retreating and
some of the smaller
glaciers in Himalayas
have actually vanished
leaving the mountains
bare with increased danger of
landslides.
Himalayan glaciers feed 10 river
systems and all of them have scarce
water primarily due to glacial retreat
and early melt. The Gangotri glacier
lost one-third of its 15 mile length in
the last 50 years. It loses 18 metres
every year.
Warmer temperature has lead to
shortage of water in the region and
more paddy fields are being
converted into rain fed orchards.
Lives of the locals who depend on
farming and tourism have become as
unpredictable as nature.
Not just the locals living there for
generations, lives of
nomadic communities in
these high altitude
regions have become
even more difficult. Due
to this unexpected rain,
snow and dry spells their
fixed ways of grazing the
cattle in high altitude in
winters and lower. It is
becoming difficult for
them to sustain
themselves and keep the
cattle healthy, specially
the pashmina goat as their pastures
are fast drying up.
The thought of a non-existant winter
is scary because ingrained with it
will be cancelled so many traditions,
a Lohri bonfire and a vacation in
snow-capped Gulmerg, the aroma of
saffron and the warmth of pashmina.
Well, they are all a part of the
endangered list.
saffron yield in Kashmir has decreased to almost half since the last ten years
Winter Shivers
The ten hottest years ever
documented have all occurred since
1990
Global temperatures have risen by
over 0.7C since the 1700s with 0.5C
of this warming occurring during the
past 100 years.
Since the mid-1970s the average air
temperature measured at 49 stations
of the Himalayan region rose by 1°C
with high elevation sites warming the
most
Sixty-seven percent of glaciers are
retreating in Himalayas
The Khumbu Glacier, a popular
climbing route to Mt Everest, has
retreated over 5 km from where Sir
Edmund Hillary had crossed it
The Gangotri glacier lost one-third of
its 15 mile length in the last 50 years.
It loses 18 metres every year.
Average arctic winter temperature
has already increased by 11 degrees
Fahrenheit. Arctic ice is rapidly
disappearing, and the region may
have its first completely ice-free
summer by 2040
Average global sea levels have
increased by between 0.1 and 0.2
meters over the last 100 years
Montana's Glacier National Park now
has only 27 glaciers, versus 150 in
1910.
Rice, the world’s most significant
grain crop, yield has fallen by 10% for
each degree of warming
The World Health Organization
estimates that climate change is
already responsible for an estimated
150,000 deaths per year.
In 1998 alone, 650 deaths occurred in
Orissa due to heat waves.
planet earth | | February 0921

24. ENVIRONMENT
As the shadows of palm trees stretch along the shores
and the orange-red sun melts into the sea, the picture
perfect island nations belie the fact that each
passing wave is questioning their existence and
only time will tell whether they will sink or swim,
writes T P Venu
A people
uprooted by
nature
smail Hassan sits in his jolhi
fathi (In the Maldivian language
IDhivehi, it means an easy chair
made out of coconut trunk and husk)
and waits for the birds of far away
lands to descend on his little island
Komandoo, in the Maldives. It is
June and still there is no trace of the
birds. It is the first time that the birds
have not come. Thanks to the
changing climate. Life for the
islanders, be it Maldives or Marshall
islands, Tonga or Trinidad, is
becoming difficult as climate
changes. Seasons no longer stick to
schedule, rain which would start in
June but now it only does in
December and melting glaciers are
changing the geography as well as
the lifestyles of islanders.
Schools of fish are no longer seen at
the locations that they were
supposed to thrive on, sea birds seem
to thin in number and prefer to spend
their winters elsewhere and rising
sea levels are eating away the heart
of the islands slowly but effectively.
Given the current rate of degradation
with global warming, whole coastal
communities will be wiped out and
along with it the indigenous cultures
which date back to centuries. Time is
ticking!
Living on the edge
We have seen war refugees and for
the first time we will have to confront
environmental refugees. Sample this:
Trinidad is losing almost four yards
of land per year, Maldivian islands
are just 1 metre above sea level,
Tuvalu 15, Kiribati islands 2 metres
and Marshall Islands less than six
and a half feet above sea level. One-
third of Palau’s reefs are lost due to
changing weather patterns. Coral
bleaching is for real and none can
escape it right from Fiji, Cook
Islands, Samoa, Tonga and Palau.
Fifteen per cent of Fiji’s reefs are
dead. These people who are living on
the edge of oceans are in jeopardy of
losing their homelands forever.
According to Dr B N Goswami,
Director of Indian Institute of
Tropical Meteorology, “Sea levels
would rise between 20-50 cm by the
end of the century and depending on
planet earth | | February 0922

25. the topography of islands some are
more vulnerable than others and all
are at risk.”
Changing lifestyles, disappearing
cultures
Islanders no longer hunt as before
nor fish as they used to and their
ability to predict weather is lost.
They no longer produce elegant
handicrafts out of coconut leaves;
farming techniques are changing;
they are not able to grow traditional
food crops. Their ancient cultures of
subsistence lifestyle is taking a
beating; and these once self-
sufficient people are being reduced
to borrowers of aid as their islands
are being swallowed by water. Sea
levels are rising by 3.3 millimetres
per year and projections are that by
2100 it would touch 18 cm.
The coconut palm is considered as the
tree of life for islanders all over the
world, but with salt water intrusion
these palms are dying. Coconut palms
are an inseparable part of island life
as every part of the tree is used in
building boats, its leaves for thatches
and the fruit itself forms an integral
part of island cuisine.
People in Pacific islands can no longer
grow their staple food Taro due to
continuous infiltration of sea water.
Now, they grow them in buckets, tin
containers and jars. Wells are getting
contaminated with sea water and
islanders have to be at the mercy of
rain gods to collect water. Houses are
built with slanting roofs and tanks are
fixed adjacent to them. People are
finding ways to save themselves and
the Dutch have found a novel way by
building floating houses which
become buoyant when it floods and
remain above water.
Food for thought
Lives of the islanders are tied to the
sea and fish is their main diet. There
was a time when islanders joked that
they could sail over fish backs such
was the abundance, but now if
someone said so it would be termed
as being rude and mocking at their
plight. For, they are finding it
difficult to catch fish due to
acidification of oceans. Rising
temperature is destroying coral reefs,
plankton and commercial fish
species. Fishermen are no longer
sure of locations of fish schools.
Many a time, islanders get content
with breadfruit but even breadfruit
trees are vanishing fast. Climate
change is making it difficult to
sustain fish catch. The effect of
global warming is showing in
dwindling fish numbers. Tuna, the
sought after fish of Papua New
Guinea, Maldives, Philippines,
Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, Taiwan
and other nations, is harder to find
because water is getting warmer and
the ideal temperature for Tuna is
27-29 degrees centigrade. So, they
go deeper into the oceans resulting
in low catch.
People in flight
Already people from lohachara and
Ghoramara islands in the
Sunderbans have been relocated to
Sagar. More than 4,000 Tuvaluans
now live in New Zealand, over 1,600
residents of Papua New Guinea’s
Carteret Islands have moved out,
another hundred residents of Tegua
had to be evacuated. The number is
rising as each wave kisses the shores
of islands. Dr K Krishna Kumar of
Indian Institute of Tropical
Meteorology, says “Danger to islands
depend on factors such as ocean
basin dynamics, morphology, the
topography and ocean currents. They
all affect the life span of islands. The
health of coral reefs which surround
the islands act as a wall from storms
in mitigating natural disasters.” He
further adds that stringent measures
including a world wide check on
global emissions are needed and
advices strengthening of banks and
building sea walls as alternative
measures, which though temporary
will help small island nations to
create a stop gap.
Uncertain future
“Man is nature’s sole mistake,” said,
W S Gilbert and man has not
disappointed. Today, thousands of
islanders across the globe live in
perpetual fear. They do not know
when a tsunami, a hurricane, a storm
or a flood would hit them. All
islanders love their land and some do
not want to accept the fact that their
islands are in peril and it’s only a
matter of time. If they do not want to
budge they will die. But, if they
leave, some part of them will die as
they are deeply connected to the
islands, its waters, and way of life.
Nothing can be sadder than talk
about ones own nation’s death, and
this is the predicament faced by
many. What is ironical is that these
small island nations which have
contributed least to carbon footprint
are the hardest hit. Meanwhile,
Ismail Hassan fills the bird bath with
water and waits for the elusive birds
that have been making his island
their home for a couple of months of
the year, for centuries. Will they
come? Is anybody’s guess, for now
Ismail lives in hope.
planet earth | | February 0923

26. The capital moat in solar energy production may have been plugged
with government subsidies and tax incentives, but technology
improvement and consumption subsidies are areas that need to be
addressed, writes Jagadeesh Napa
Solar energy
The way forward
BUSINESS BYTES
planet earth | 24 | February 09

27. Sunrise Sunrise (or rather
sunshine), couldn't tempt
us if it tried… If we were to
sing the famous song
popularised by Norah Jones today,
we couldn't be fooling ourselves
more, for it is the very source of
energy that is likely to bail us out of
an energy deficit.
While abundantly available, solar
energy, considered to be one of the
cleanest energy sources, still remains
underutilised. For quite a few years
now, solar power is being promoted by
an increasing number of countries as
an ideal replacement for fossil fuels.
Environmentalists too have blown
their trumpets at full lung capacity to
'go solar' from the time the first solar
cell was invented. Since then, many
efforts have been undertaken to tame
this energy resource and bring it to
the common man.
Cost, say industrial experts, is
perhaps one of the primary reasons
why its wide-scale application could
be prolonged, and it will be some
time before every household
appliance runs on cost-efficient solar
power. However, the proponents of
clean energy are joining hands with
researchers worldwide, and are
striving hard to achieve this goal.
Interestingly, about 30 per cent of the
global investments in renewable
energy development are directed
towards solar energy. India is one of
those few fortunate countries where
a part of its rural population uses
appliances that are powered by solar
energy. Selco India and Tata BP
Solar have attempted to facilitate this
and light up lives of the poor and
downtrodden with solar appliances.
They have succeeded to a large
extent, but the biggest challenge lies
in bringing solar power to society's
midriff; the middle class household.
Incidentally, this happens to be the
biggest consumer market which is
yet to be tapped.
Indian initiative
Investment in this clean alternate
energy is something that all
stakeholders have been advised to
consider. Recognising the need to
develop solar power as the next
generation's energy source, Indian
Government, together with the
Ministry of New and Renewable
Energy has set a target of generating
50 MW of solar power in the current
Five Year Plan 2007-2012.
To achieve the target, a massive
incentive scheme which offers 80 per
cent subsidy to companies investing
in solar power generation that can be
distributed to ordinary households,
has been announced by the
Government. Dr T C Tripathi, advisor
to the ministry on solar energy said,
“The Government has taken an
active initiative in this direction and
is providing up to 80 per cent of the
cost as incentive. This can be a very
big momentum for the industry as it
has garnered the support of the
Government in a big way.”
The cost of generating one unit of
solar energy (which can be fed to the
grid) currently is Rs 15. The central
and state governments have joined
forces to provide a combined
incentive of Rs 12 per unit, while the
private investors have to bear the
remaining 20 per cent that is Rs 3
per unit.
Active research need of the hour
Dr Tripathi asserts that cost is the
biggest obstacle against adopting
this clean energy in large scale.
Production cost for solar power
generation being high, it is not viable
for mass production, in which case
the incentive will attract and
encourage more industrial
investment. However, as a regulator
and a driving force for the industry, it
is also necessary for the Government
to look at ways to reduce the cost of
production. The Government's
endeavour in the long run should be
to actively encourage research in
solar power with this aim.
Research is currently underway the
world over to reduce the overall cost
of solar power generation and
institutions and organisations in
India are also in the league. It is now
time for the government to catalyse
this process. Dr Tripathi suggests the
inclusion of IITs, regional
engineering colleges, existing state-
owned power corporations like NTPC
to meet this end. He says, “Almost all
the IITs and other industry bodies are
into this kind of research and it is
focussed on different technologies
and materials that can reduce the
cost of solar modules.”
There is no dearth of scientific
experimentation in the area.
Researchers at IIT Madras are
working on solar decentralised
power generation and Hybrid
thermo-photovoltaic systems among
1500 Exajoules
1250
1000
750
500
250
Year 2000 2050
Kohle
Oil + NGL
Gas
Hydro
tradit. Bio
Wind
Nuclear
Biomass
Solar
Geothermal
Expected projections of alternate energy output
planet earth | | February 0925

28. other things. A study carried by
Indian Semiconductor Association
(ISA) in September 2008 has
identified that research has to be
focussed basically on two aspects –
cost reduction and improving
efficiency. Ongoing research is in
line with this as it focusses on lower
cost and less energy-intensive
techniques for polysilicon (material
used in the solar cells) production
and a reduction in the usage of this
material. In a single solar cell
module, around 45 per cent of the
cost goes for the silicon wafer and
another 35 per cent for the material
used to assemble the module. With
growing demand for silicon, the
market prices are only expected to
shoot up rather than come down.
Technology holds the key
Conversion of solar energy into
electrical energy has been described
by many (scientists and
industrialists) as one of the greatest
inventions in human history.
Polysilicon is being used to build
solar cells to trap solar energy.
According to the ISA study, usage of
silicon has reduced to 10 g/Wp
(grams per Watt peak) from 13 g/Wp
in the last few years and this is quite
an achievement. But further
reduction of silicon presents a big
challenge for the researchers. The
European Union, which is one of the
pioneers in this field, has set
ambitious targets for the short and
long terms. This includes reducing
the usage of polysilicon to below 5, 3,
2 g/Wp in the short, medium and
long terms respectively.
Incentivise usage
Presently, usage of solar power in
India is restricted to the environment-
conscious business establishments
and households. On the other hand,
NGOs have partnered with companies
manufacturing solar appliances to
distribute domestic solar appliances to
families below poverty line at cheaper
and affordable prices. While this is a
big market for these companies, the
biggest markets – middle class and
upper middle class – are yet to be
tapped. It is necessary to look at these
markets as highly potential
consumption markets of the future.
Thus to attract them to use solar
PV Technologies India Ltd. Solar PV 6000.00
Titan Energy System Ltd Solar PV, Polysilicon 5880.58
KSK Surya Photovoltaic Ventures (P) Ltd. Solar PV 3211.00
Signet Solar Inc.* Solar PV 9672.00
Moser Baer PV Technologies India Ltd* Solar PV 6000.00
Reliance Industries Ltd. Solar PV, Polysilicon 11631.00
Reliance Industries Ltd.* Semiconductor Wafer Fab 18521.00
Phoenix Solar India Ltd. Solar PV 1200.00
Tata BP Solar India Ltd.* Solar PV 1692.80
Solar Semiconductor (P) Ltd. Solar PV 11821.00
TF Solar Power (P) Ltd. Solar PV 2348.00
Lanco Solar (P) Ltd. Solar PV, Polysilicon 12938.00
* These companies have plans to produce solar energy
Company Category Proposed Investment
in crores
power at this early stage, the
Government has to subsidise certain
amount of consumption. For instance,
as it is currently providing 80 per cent
incentive to the industry, a part of
which can be diverted to the
consumer in the form of either a
subsidy or tax exemption incentive. A
direct subsidy of Re 1 per unit can be
also considered or a percentage of the
total amount paid as electricity bills
can be given as tax exemption. This
may not solve the problem altogether,
but could be applied till such time a
better solution is arrived at.
Japanese model
Japan is one country that has
directed its efforts on both focussing
its resources in the research of cost-
efficient solar power as well as
providing incentives to its biggest
consumer markets, in addition to
producers of solar power. It is the
biggest producer of solar energy in
the world and is followed by
Germany. The country had
announced the incentives
programme in 1994 and as a result
has achieved a 75 per cent reduction
in production costs till date. It
targeted the biggest consumer
market – the middle class and upper
middle class groups – for the usage
of solar power and provided
incentives through direct subsidy,
access to easy finance, net metering
etc. Consumers in Japan get a 10 per
cent subsidy on the cost of a standard
solar power system as a result of the
government's attempt to promote
solar power and reduce
environmental pollution.
The way ahead
Given the current active participation
of the Indian Government (through
incentives to the industry) to promote
solar energy, it is expected to churn
out some good results in the near
future. But a big revolution in this
domain can only be expected if the
Government proactively works
towards increasing the R&D work so
as to improve technology and at the
same time encourage the enormous
consumer markets to switch to
alternative energy.
Current usage of Solar PV Modules
Exports
Telecom
Home Lighting System
Solar Pumps
Solar PV Power plantsOthers
Solar Lanterns
Street Lights
225
5.5
7.58.5
11
16.5
39
22
Companies investing in solar energy
planet earth | | February 0926

29. FUTURE ENGINEERING
The city relies entirely on
renewable energy sources,
with a sustainable, zero-
carbon, zero-waste
ecology. The walled city of Masdar is
a minutely planned city being
constructed in Abu Dhabi, United
Arab Emirates.
The new age city is being
constructed 17 kilometres east-south-
east of the city of Abu Dhabi, beside
Abu Dhabi International Airport is an
initiative by the Government of Abu
Dhabi through Mubadala
Development Company designed by
Foster and Partners.
The city will cover 6 square kilometres
on an allotted area of 6.4 square
kilometres in size. Of this, 30 per cent
will be for housing; 24 per cent for the
business and research; 13 per cent for
commercial purposes; 6 per cent for
the Masdar Institute of Science and
Technology; 19 per cent for service
and transportation; and 8 per cent for
civic and cultural pursuits.
It will house 50,000 people. More than
1,500 visionary companies will have
offices, research centres and operations
within the city walls. It is expected that
approximately 40,000 workers will
commute to the city daily. The paradox
is that cars and other automobiles will
be banned within the city.
With a maximum distance of 200m to
the nearest transport link and
amenities, the city will be linked to
the outside world by public mass
transit and personal rapid transit
systems. A pedestrian friendly city
will have open public squares
intercept the shaded streets that will
also funnel breezes.
Masdar City will require
approximately 200 MW of installed
clean power. The construction itself
relies on a 40 to 60 MW solar power
plant on the site. The facility will
later be increased and additional
solar power modules will be placed
on the rooftops to produce 130 mw of
power. A few 20 MW wind farms will
be established outside the city. The
city may also utilise geothermal
power and build the world's largest
hydrogen power plant as well.
The water management plan
proposed is environment friendly.
Water consumption presumption is
stated to be 60 per cent lower than
similarly sized communities which
will be met by a solar powered
desalination plant.
Eighty per cent of the water used will
be recycled, waste water will be reused
as many times as possible and grey
water will be used for crop irrigation
and other purposes. The bio waste will
be used to create nutrient-rich soil and
fertiliser, and as an additional power
source. Industrial waste, such as
plastics and metals, will be recycled or
re-purposed for other uses.
The ambitious project is expected to
cost US$ 22 billion and take some
eight years to build. The first phase
is expected to be complete 2009.
Carbon emissions reduced by
Masdar City will be monetised under
the Kyoto Protocol's Clean
Development Mechanism.
Masdar City is a highly planned,
specialised, research and
technology-intensive project that
incorporates a living environment,
without damaging it.
In an economy
that is based on
hydrocarbons, an
initiative that
warrants zero-
carbon, zero-waste
ecology, Masdar
city true to its
meaning is a
source or initiator
of a new era,
writes
Mukta Rohra
Masdar
the source
Masdar headquarters will be the
greenest building in the world
The first drawings of the green buildings of
Masdar City, that zero-waste city of the future
concept, were made by Adrian Smith and
Gordon Gill who designed Masdar
Headquarters. This building will be the first
that will generate power in order to be
assembled. The power will be acquired with
the help of a solar roof which, of course, is
going to be assembled first.
planet earth | | February 0927