As you all people Know, India is a large country both in terms of its area and population. This fact itself says
a) how much pollution was/is being generated from our country (India is the 4th largest contributor of green house gases). and
b) how much contribution we can make to reduce the extent of pollution and thus Protect our Environment.
The major sources of pollution are :
A) Industries/ organizations
B) Transport Vehicles
C) Household pollution
Now, lets ask ourself 'what can we, as individuals do to deal with pollution.
Most of us are not so closely associated with industries. So, let's concentrate on Vehicles and Household pollution.
Coming to the transport vehicles, preliminary thing is that we need to realize the importance of public transport vehicles in reducing the amount of greenhouse gases emitted. Instead of going to your office alone in a car or on a bike, prefer to go by a bus. Next, think of using Electric Bikes & cars so that we can reduce our green house emissions. Even in the generation of electricity there is an element of pollution, but it is to an extent less compared to the use of fossil fuels. Employing Solar Energy, Wind Energy and Wave Energy will eliminate the pollution from electricity generation.
Domestic/ Household emissions are no less to emissions from the vehicles and industries. Green house gases do come out from our houses, ex: our gas stoves. Now you may ask , can we avoid Gas Stoves from our Homes. My answer is yes. But, i have a point to make clear to you. We cannot avoid it completely. We can avoid gas stoves in situations like cooking rice etc.
We can use CFL Bulbs instead of the tube lights/ Incandescent bulbs as the CFL bulbs are energy efficient i.e consume less electricity. It obviously means that less electricity needs to be produced and thus less amount of green house gases will be released during its production.
Some problems come to the surface in the Metropolitans. They include the above, and in addition other problems like Sewage Treatment, Solid waste management. We can treat our sewage right in our homes, We can Treat Some of our Solid waste as well. If we can do this, it will be a great job. These are just a few situations and we can bring a lot of Change if we all are committed to the cause of protecting the Environment.
Once we all can bring a change, even the industries / organizations will come forward to work for the cause of 'Protecting the Environment'.
So, Lets Say Together ,"We Indians will do our part to Protect the Environment".
IF WE CAN DO IT !!!
INDIA & ENERGY SECURITY
A nation can be prosperous & stable only when it is 'energy secured'. If we think about india in the current scenario, we should say that india is not energy secured. I have strong reasons to support what I feel
- India is at present meeting a major proportion of its crude oil needs through imports.
- Major proportion of our power needs are met through the thermal energy from coal.
The Oil Situation :
We have the oil reserves & definitely there isn’t a need to import as much as we are at present. The only problem is that we are not making sincere efforts to find the reserves and to make a produce from them.
Only 20 % of the country is surveyed in search for the crude oil/natural gas reserves. In that 20 %, the reserves found are not being exploited. It was in 1960’s when the presence of the reserves was indicated in Krishna – Godavari basin. But even by now (2008) production has not started. This is the situation in our country. “Policy makers who lack a proper commitment & vision”, this the biggest problem india has been facing. The trend has never changed and is becoming even worse with the progress of time. Lets put behind the politicians.
Ofcourse we cant completely rely on Oil, gas resources in our country even, as our needs have increased & will increase further drastically. We have to search for other alternative sources like biodiesel powered, electricity powered, water powered vehicles to reduce our dependence on imports from other countries.
The Electricity situation :
We all know about the nuclear deal. Our government is rushing for this deal to come into existance. I feel that there isn't a need for the rush to give our nation the 'nuclear energy'.
There are other sources such as :
- wind energy
- solar energy
- wave energy
The above three mentioned are renewable and have great potential. Their potential combined is greater than the potential needed to be met world wide.
It was in 1940s/1950s when nuclear energy was first used to produce electricity. At present only 6% of the worlds energy needs are being met by nuclear plants. The disadvantages associated with nuclear power are :
- The construction of nuclear reactors takes a long time (from now) within which a great leap can be achieved in the renewable energy technologies (solar,wind,wave energies).
- When accidents happen they will have a huge impact on the lives of the present & future generations as well.
- The waste coming out has to safely discarded. The waste continues to emit radiation for thousands of years. We should remember that we have no rights to poison our future generations.
- They are not economical as well. They require heavy subsidies from the government.
India at present is having the capacity of 140 giga watts. It has to increase to 1000 giga watts in order to meet the increasing needs of the nation. So we need to make a step in making developing & making use of sustainable energy forms. Only then can we become energy secured & develop into a prosperous nation.
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THE FIRST HYBRID CAR IN INDIA
The first Hybrid Car in India, Civic Hybrid was launched earlier today by Honda. Its priced at Rs 21.5 lakh.
The car is powered by a 1.3 litre petrol engine and electric motor. India is the 33rd country where Honda has launched its Civic Hybrid.
using the hybrid cars can help a lot in reducing pollution in the Metros.
