1. Examples of recent incidence (Case Study):
* Forest fire in Indonesias Sumatra Is. (June,2013)
* Blame on land clearing operations by plantation owners & accidental peat fire
* Residents to live indoors as haze from forest fire reach unhealthy levels
* Cases of respiratory infection on the rise
* Pollutant index shot up to 293
* Above 200 is considered very unhealthy
* Singapore & malaysia too badly affected
* Singapore: air pollution level reached harzardous mark for the first time in the countrys history
* Malaysia: haze cover in kaula Lampur
* Intense smog in Chinese cities, Jan 2013
* Prompted govt. to pledge fresh emission curbs
* Suspend work in 58 factories
* Prompted public outcry
* Criticism of Chinas growth policy
* PM2.5
* Air-borne particulate matter with a dia of 2.5 microns or less
* WHO: above 100 g/m3 is unhealthy for sensitive groups
* 993 in Beijing
* Air Quality Index: reached 500
* Cancer mortality rates on the rise in China
* Lung cancer no.1 major cause
* Lung problems related to air pollution
* Fourth Highest Mortility rate: Respiratory disease, to a big extent related to air quality
* Effect on Tourism:
* One of the most visited countries in the world
* Worlds no. 3 destination for international travel after France & US
* Sharply fewer tourist this year
* Partly due to air pollution
* Following Januarys eye-shearing levels of smog
2. Emissions from coal-fired power plants
* Taking a heavy toll on human life across large parts of India
* Premature death & asthma cases from exposure to PM10
* 2011-12: 111 coal-fired power plants with total generation capacity of 121 GW huge quantum of PM2.5, SO2,Nox, CO, VOCs, CO2
* Huge burden on health cost
* Largest impact in Delhi, Harayana,Maharashtra, MP, Chattisgarh, Indo-gangetic plain, central-east India
3. Indoor Pollution
* Cooking & heating with solid fuels- coal, wood, dung, farm residue- continues across the globe
* 70% people India use these fuels
* 75% in rural
* 22% in urban
* 80% of household energy consumption in India
* Inefficient burning- mix of pollutants, primarily CO & particulate matters
* WHO,2009: 2 million death
* Worst hit:
* poorstay-at-home women & children
* SEA & SubSaharan Africa
* GOIs Action
* Several initiatives in the past to develop, produce & distribute improved cookstove or chulhas throughout rural India
* National Program on Improved Chulhas (NPIC) by the Min. of New & Renewable Energy
* These initiatives unable to deliver promises
4. WtE (Waste to Energy) Incineration
* Touted as answer to municipal waste accumulation
* Emit toxic gases-volatile organic gases & heavy metals
* Among the top five emission of dioxins worldwide
* incinerators in Okhla, New Delhi:
* Air samples around : life threatening levels of particulates & toxic chemicals
* Residents around: evidence of linking incidence of cancer & low birth-weight to incinerator emission
* Power generation through mixed waste generation fails
* energy recovery from urban & industrial waste of the MNREs flagship program (to generate 84MW of power from waste) fails to contribute even a single unit of power to the grid
* For energy generation, incinerators are very expensive & inefficient
* Not climate-friendly:
* USEP: incinerator releases 2.5 more CO2/MW than coalfired power plants
* Europe committed to ending of landfilling & incineration of recycleble waste by 2020
5. Dioxins
* one of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) that causes cancer even in low dose
* Insoluble in water
* When settled on land/water bodies, absorbed by terrestrial & aquatic vegetation
* Travel up the food chain to animals & fish, to man
* Living organisms cannot metabolise them
* Present in high conc. In milk, egg, meat
* In humans, impairs the functioning of liver, immune & reproductive system & cause cancer
* US Env.Protection Agency in 1994: most poisonous substances known to man
* Finland: govt. shut down an incineration plant when dioxin level in surrounding vegetation was found high
* Delhi govt. continues despite dioxin & furan levels high
6. Way out to garbage problem- Gasification
* Incomplete combustion of organic matter with the release of CO & H2 instead of CO2 found in usual combustion
easily synthesized into dimethyl ether, a superior diesel substitute & a complete substitute for LPG
* Eliminates dioxin threat
* High temperature breaks down dioxin & furan into their basic elements
* Cities & municipal corporations around the world begun to switch to gasification
* Prospect of Gasification in India
* Rising no. of Indians living in cities growing garbage generation
* Volume of transport fuel that can be replaced
* Saving in foreign exchange (reducing oil import)
* Free domestic prices from the yoke of international oil prices
* Save fuel subsidies
Submitted by:
MOIRANGTHEM REAGAN SINGH
