Generation of plastic

Mumbai: If the state government has its way, citizens who use thin plastic carry bags could fined up to Rs 5,000. A second default will lighten the aam aadmi’s pocket by Rs 10,000 and a third violation will mean a fine of Rs 25,000 and a threemonth imprisonment.
“We found that the implementation of the ban has not been very encouraging and so are thinking of various new measures to make it more effective. We will soon be inviting objections and suggestions from the public to incorporate certain new rules in the 2006 Act,’’ said Valsa Nair-Singh, secretary, environment.
The changes if any will be incorporated only after the general elections when the Model Code of Conduct ends.
Environmentalist Rishi Agarwal is very sceptical that it will work. “I am not against it but the fines need to be realistic. There has to be some deterrence, otherwise people will not stop using it. But implementation is quite suspect. They could take a cue from the traffic police who have done a good job in deterring drunk driving,’’ he said.
Nair-Singh said one of the chief reasons for the failure was the inability to stop
the manufacture of plastic thinner than 50 microns. “Most of this variety of plastic comes from Gujarat where the act is not applicable,’’ she said. The BMC also does not stop the entry of the plastic at its octroi nakas. A senior civic official said most of the plastic comes via the train route. “If the BMC were to stop its entry at the naka it would ensure that it is not available in the city,’’ said the official.
Since 2006 the BMC has collected over Rs 1.5 crore in fines from 2,960 stockists, hawkers and seized nearly 96 metric tonnes of plastic. The seized plastic is shredded and used in the manufacture of plastic articles. The administration has deployed two vans, each armed with two policemen, two security guards, one inspector each from the licence, market and shops and establishment departments and a senior inspector.
“While one van has been permanently deployed outside the Ram Gopal industrial estate at Mulund where such plastic is manufactured, the other van moves across the city,’’ said the official. Though the act was modified in 2007 allowing the BMC to shut down manufacturing units so far not a single unit has been shut down by the civic body

India to observe 'Earth Hour' on March 28

Mumbai: India will join rest of the world by observing ‘Earth Hour’ to save energy as well as environment on March 28 , The people will be observing the Day by switching off all the lights and electrical appliances for an hour from 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm.

Began with one hour switching off lights at Sydney in Australia two years back, the 'Earth Hour'was observed in 35 countries last year in an attempt to reduce the carbon footprint, the World Wide Fund for Nature (India) Education officer Dr Goldin Quadros said.

This year India, especially Delhi and Mumbai will participate, he said adding that WWF was getting support from the government as well as the corporate houses.

Lights would be switched off or dimmed at 11 PVR cinemas in Delhi and Mumbai and corporate offices.

As per WWF this year, 50 lakh citizens of 377 cities from 74 nations are participating in this initiative.

Kick-starting the 'Earth Hour'campaign at the at green technology festival of the Chemical Engineering department at IIT `Azeotropy' , Mumbai Mayor Dr Shubha Raul said it was important to cut down carbon level and the municipality will be keen to help in the endeavour.

She has called for a meeting of all the corporators to brief them about the `Earth hour'on Monday and WWF will have a video show for them.

Delhi Metro

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Metro, which is the first railway project in the world to be registered for carbon credits by the United Nations, has been certified to have

prevented over 90,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere by reducing its power requirement in three years, an official said Sunday.

Registering the Delhi Metro's contribution, the Germany-based validation organization TUVNORD conducted an audit on behalf of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) and gave its certificate.

"During the audit the organization found that the DMRC (Delhi Metro Rail Corporation) has stopped the emission of 90,004 tonnes of carbon dioxide from 2004-2007 by adoption of regenerative braking systems in the Delhi Metro trains," DMRC spokesman Anuj Dayal said.

Under the regenerative process whenever trains on metro network apply brakes, three phase-traction motors installed on these trains act as generators to produce electrical energy, which goes back into the overhead electricity (OHE) lines.

"The regenerated electrical energy that is supplied back to the OHE is used by other accelerating trains in the same service line, thus saving overall energy in the system as about 30 percent of the electricity requirement is reduced," Dayal added.

The DMRC saved 112,500 megawatt hours of power generation by restricting and reusing power on its trains through regenerative braking and in turn saving the emission of 90,004 tonnes of carbon dioxide. It is estimated that 39,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide were prevented in 2008 from being emitted and this figure will increase to over 100,000 tonnes per year once phase-II of the Metro project is complete.

DMRC can claim 400,000 carbon credits for a 10-year crediting period beginning December 2007 when the project was registered by the UNFCC.

"The money available from sale of carbon credits will be used to offset the additional investment and operation costs incurred due to the implementation of the project, to stimulate research and development activities by DMRC to develop technology to reduce emission of green house gases and to give extensive training to train operators for optimum regeneration," Dayal added.

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Golden Bamboo

well this is the first time i m blogging and the reason behind it obviously being our great subject and and our own professor ghorpade who has made it mandatory for all of us to form a blog and join in the class of bloggers. i dont think i would be able to devote cent percent of mine to this blog but though will definitely try my best to hang around with it.........lets see how much i m able to........well to start with it i would like to inform that as per the course plan i have selected "Golden Bamboo" as my plant,tree, shrub, herb what ever u guys want to call it u may call it. by the way for ur kind information it falls under shrub category and its botanical name is phyllostachys aurea..... i know i know it must be a bouncer for all u guys, not to worry same is the case with me. i hope u guys to are done with ur part of assignment till now,well guys as a beginner this must be more than sufficient meet u guys in a shortwhile............c ya n take care.