Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Baipatra: Domestic Energy Management Tool

Baipatra: Domestic Energy Management Tool: The Domestic Energy Management Tool can be utilized for selection of a plan of energy use by the domestic consumers implementing which wil...

Monday, April 15, 2013

News : Chainpur Seti Hydro Power Project license is cancelled

The Chainpur Seti Hydro Power Project license is cancelled.Jindal Power promoter of the project does not submit the progress report and enhanced fee demanded from them.

""According to Pantha, the Ministry's secretary level meeting annulled the license citing that the project failed to renew and submit its latest progress reports despite asking the project to do so from time to time. The project failed to renew as per the increase in the rate of renewal charges, he added.""..Read for more details.

News : Investor in Small Scale Hydropower Plant will receive 12.48 to 15.98 pence/kWh sold from UK govt

In UK a Feed in Tariff scheme is in place for encouraging the renewable energy producers.Recently the 100-500kW hydropower producer is included in this scheme and will receive 12.48 -15.98 pence/kWh.

This step will surely encourage even small scale investors to invest in small scale hydro-power plants.This scheme is introduced to achieve UK's target of renewable energy share within all kind of energy sources: 15% by 2020.

For more details please give a visit to Renewable Energy World

MCDM and Energy Loss Prevention

It is important to take a comprehensive, agglomerative, logical,mensurable mitigation measure for compensating the energy overuse so that the measures can be optimally allocated, applied and also evaluated.

Multi Criteria Decision Making can be utilized to identify and select the better mitigation measure among the available options.The MCDM can also be used to select suitable locations for applying the selected measures.Overall the applications of MCDM will help the engineers to take an optimal measure to compensate the energy loss due to massive and uncontrolled use of fossil fuels for satisfying the growing requirements of luxury.

New Research Idea:Evaluation of Energy Saving Measures Employed in High Voltage Electrical Accessories by Analytical Hierarchy Process and PROMETHEUS Method

Idea : Evaluation of Energy Saving Measures Employed in High Voltage Electrical Accessories by Analytical Hierarchy Process and PROMETHEUS Method

The energy saving measures employed by various high voltage electrical devices has to be evaluated to ensure the reliability of the claims made by their manufacturer.The adopted measures can be evaluated based on various multicriteria decision making methods like AHP and PROMETHUS.After the related and relevant crtiria were identified the AHP and PROMETHUSThe methods may be utilized to give weightage to the selected attributes based on its importance on conservation of energy.

Some instruments of same quality may be taken to analyze their capability of conserving energy based on these weighted parameters.

Tools Utilized : AHP and PROMETHUS decision making methods

Keywords : MCDM,AHP,PROMETHUS,HVAC devices,energy conservation

How to earn carbon and energy credits by Home Afforestation ?

Afforestation will yield carbon credits.After maturity the plants can be sold against its wood value.Nowadays afforestation schemes are undertaken and encouraged by the government.Such afforestation schemes serves two purpose : conserve nature and provide an alternative livelihood to the local people.The afforested area can be used as a tourist place which will create another stream of income for the local people.

But due to the skepticity of the people(Kassioumis et.al.,2004),absence of awareness(Kassioumis et.al.,2004),lack of commitment(Morris,1997),incoordination between government and cultivators(Madsen,2002),availabiltiy of inadequate investment(Balooni and Singh,2007) and absence of large areas for forestation Chaudhuri,1997){A satellite study in India has revealed that it had lost pastures,groves,multiple tree types by 10.87 million ha within 1950-51-1986-87)} has induced many afforestation schemes to fail.The medium or small scale schemes utilize the available land and yield profit for the cultivators but the impact on the nature is offcourse minimal.Recently such schemes are extremely successful and thus many people are now adapting this practice of afforastation as an alternative livelihood.

As midscale schemes of afforestations are successfull, govt can think about micro-afforestation or home afforestation so that an attempt can be made to conserve nature in the urban places and also it could provide the domestic people an opportunity for pertime income .Moreover micro-afforestation will also ensures conservation of energy if suitable specie/s are used.In such schemes the backyard of residential houses are utilized for artificial forestation.

Once the backyard is utilized for plantation, the surrounded area will be protected from incoming solar radiations and air pollutants.If suitable species is used the adaptation of artificial forestation scheme can also reduce humidity from the incoming air.

"Plants breathe in carbon dioxide, which is a big pollutant, and emit oxygen. They also absorb other air pollutants, such as ozone, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, according to the Colorado State University at Boulder".."On average, a tree can absorb about 141 lbs. of carbon dioxide a year, according to Colorado State University at Boulder."(Johnson,2012)

Although presence of forest and carbon dieoxides released from them in the night may raise the temperature in the night but the shades provided by them in the day will be influential in saving a lot of energy as the consumer will not require to switch on his/her electrical devices to reduce the room temperature.The decrease in air pollutants and moisture in the incoming air will also reduce the room humidity and thus prevent the use of dehumidifiers.

The selection of species for afforestation will be very important for acquiring maximum benefits from such schemes.

There are many species of plant which absorbs moisture from the air(Orchids).Such plants can be used in the buffer region of the artificial forest and the house.Some species of plants absorb pollutants from the air.Thus a house surrounded by various species of tree which can absorb pollutants and moisture from the air,does not attract insects,provide shades and has certain amount of wood value will become an ideal choice for home afforestation.Along with these major requirements species,that can be afforested in the backyard has to fullfil the following conditions :

It must be able to adapt to a variety of sites
It must grow fast and be economically viable
It must yield an end product that minimizes waste in the production process
It needs to be resistant to freeze, drought, diseases and pests
It must not have a large spread or require a large space to grow


Mixing of different species capable of performing the objectives can also be implemented.As their are lot of options available, proper decision making approaches should be adopted to select the species for afforesting the backyards for maximum benefits against minimum cost.

Some examples are given below :

Eucalyptus with Orchids
Common Bamboo with Orchids
Jackfruit with Orchids


The entire backyard can be divided into two parts.The perifery can be reserved for afforestation by Eucalyptus or Common Bamboo.The orchids(which absorbs water from air) can be planted within them as orchids are known for their symbiotic food collection systems.The insectivorous plants can be planted just beside the house so that insects from the afforested species can not enter the house.

The importance of afforestation schemes even as small as the backyard can be represented by this simple fact : "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that planting one acre of trees on marginal land would sequester 0.6 to 1.6 metric tons of carbon annually in the first five years of growth. Assuming that planting one acre of trees in the Southeast will sequester about 1.0 ton of carbon each year (slightly less than the median of the EPA estimated range), and that 1.0 ton of carbon is contained in 3.67 tons of CO2, then one acre of trees planted on marginal land will sequester (save, reduce, or prevent from escape to the atmosphere) about 3.67 tons of carbon dioxide each year during the first five years."(Keeping Forest in Forests,2012).This rate of absorption varies with climate,shape and size of tree,local environment and other related factors.But more or less if this rate is taken as a reference then it can be said that one square feet of afforestation will sink 76.43 grams of Carbon dioxide.On the other hand according to USEPA(EPA 2012) a single family home in US used 19.43 metric tons CO2 per home per year to satisfy their energy needs(including Carbon dioxide generated for production of electricity and burning natural,liquid petroleum gas,fuel oil and kerosenes).According to USEPA calculations, for afforesting on 100 square feet of land absorbs 7643 grams of CO2 which will mitigate atleast some part(0.13%) of the 6.68 metric tons of CO2 generated due to the utilization of only electricity to satisfy daily needs.If suitable species of tree are utilized and as discussed earlier home afforestation will reduce the electricity requirement of households, then sufficient amount of CO2 can be reduced which is why micro-afforestation schemes are required to be encouraged for mutual benefit : nature and mankind.


Arthur Morris,Mountain Research and Development,Vol. 17, No. 1 (Feb., 1997), pp. 31-42,Published by: International Mountain Society,Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3673911.

Kassioumis, K., K. Papageorgiou, Ath Christodoulou, V. Blioumis, N. Stamou, and Ath Karameris. "Rural development by afforestation in predominantly agricultural areas: issues and challenges from two areas in Greece." Forest Policy and Economics 6, no. 5 (2004): 483-496.

Madsen, Lene Møller. "The Danish afforestation programme and spatial planning: new challenges." Landscape and Urban Planning 58, no. 2 (2002): 241-254.

Balooni, Kulbhushan, and Katar Singh. "Prospects and problems of afforestation of wastelands in India: A synthesis of macro-and micro-perspectives." Geoforum 38, no. 6 (2007): 1276-1289.

CHAUDHURI, JAYASRI RAY. "Concept of Sustainable Development and Social Forestry in India." Geography and Environment 1 (1997): 130.

Hollan Johnson,2012,Effects of Air Pollution on Plants,Retrieved from http://www.gardenguides.com/86160-effects-plants-air-pollution.html

Keeping Forest in Forests,2012,How much CO2 can a Tree Store?,Retrieved from http://www.mensetmanus.net/windpower/tva-foia/green-claims.shtml#Documentation

USEPA,2012,Home energy use,Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-resources/refs.html.