Speaking from experience: preferences for cooking with biogas in rural India

Biogas has the potential to satisfy the clean energy needs of millions of households in under-served and energy-poor rural areas, while reducing both private and social costs linked to (i) fuels for household cooking, (ii) fertilizers, (iii) pressure on forests, and (iv) emissions (e.g., PM 2.5 and methane) that damage both household health and global climate. While the literature has focused on identifying these costs, less attention has been paid to household preferences for biogas systems — specifically what attributes are popular with which types of households. We conduct a discrete choice experiment with 503 households in rural Odisha, India, to better characterize preferences for different attributes (smoke reduction, fuel efficiency, and maintenance) and for different cooking technologies (biogas and an improved biomass cookstove). We find that on average households value smoke reduction and fuel efficiency. Willingness to pay (WTP) a premium for the improved biomass cookstove is low, while willingness to pay a premium for biogas is high. Nonetheless, WTP varies by the type of previous experience with biogas (e.g., good or bad experience) and with time and risk preferences of households. While risk-averse and impatient respondents have lower WTP for the improved cookstoves, previous experience with biogas attenuates this gap. These findings suggest that biogas uptake and diffusion could be improved by complementing existing subsidies with technology trials, good quality products, maintenance, and customer services to reduce uncertainty

Energy intensity and carbon market for climate justice

Climate change and global warming is a major concern. Future generation will suffer if the low carbon development strategy is not adopted by nations today. The Conference of Parties (COP21) recognizes the menace of global warming, emissions and also emphasizes the differentiation between the responsibilities of developed and developing nations. This legally binding agreement also gives a boost to carbon market in the interest of climate justice to transfer mitigation outcomes. This paper analyses the linkage of development of the states and the carbon market. The result show significant correlation between carbon market development and development of a state. It also tries to provide insights whether there is a possible pathway to achieve climate justice at the sub-national level (between developed and developing states in India) or in the sectoral scopes. The paper uses macro data and some case studies to emphasize the idea of climate justice at the sub-national level

Translating the concept of climate risk into an assessment framework to inform adaptation planning: Insights from a pilot study of flood risk in Himachal Pradesh, Northern India

Climate risk assessments provide the basis for identifying those areas and people that have been, or potentially will be, most affected by the adverse impacts of climate change. They allow hot-spots to be identified, and serve as input for the prioritization and design of adaptation actions. Over recent years, at the level of international climate science and policy, there has been a shift in the conceptualization of vulnerability toward emergence of ‘climate risk’ as a central concept. Despite this shift, few studies have operationalized these latest concepts to deliver assessment results at local, national, or regional scales, and clarity is lacking. Drawing from a pilot study conducted in the Indian Himalayas we demonstrate how core components of hazard, vulnerability, and exposure have been integrated to assess flood risk at two different scales, and critically discuss how these results have fed into adaptation planning. Firstly, within a state-wide assessment of glacial lake outburst flood risk, proxy indicators of exposure and vulnerability were combined with worst-case scenario modelling of the outburst hazard. At this scale, first-order assessment results are coarse, but have guided the design of monitoring strategies and other low-regret adaptation actions. Secondly, an assessment of seasonal monsoon and cloudburst-related flood risk was undertaken for individual mapped elements exposed along the main river valleys of Kullu district, drawing on innovative techniques using dendrogeomorphology to reconstruct potential flood magnitudes. Results at this scale have allowed specific adaptation strategies to be targeted towards hot-spots of risk. A comprehensive risk assessment must integrate across disciplines of physical and social science, to provide the necessary robust foundation for adaptation planning

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Not AvailableEmamectin benzoate (EB) premix top-coated onto feed is extensively used to treat ectoparasitic crustacean infestations in aquaculture. This study evaluated the safety of EB-dosing in Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus at the recommended dose and dosage of 50 μg/kg biomass/day for 7 consecutive days (1X) and compared with control and 10 times the recommended dose (10X). Depletion of EB-residues in the edible muscle of 1X-dosed Nile tilapia was also studied. Mortality, behavioural changes, feed consumption, biomass, EB-residue depletion, and histopathological alterations in the kidney, liver and intestine were determined at slated intervals. Significant dose-dependent reduction in feed intake and biomass and insignificant mortalities were noted in 1X and 10X EB-dosed fish. In 1X EB-dosed fish muscle, the residues peaked on day 7 EB-dosing (9.72 ng/g) and decreased subsequently. Nevertheless, the residue levels were within the acceptable limit of the European Commission and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency even during the EB-dosing period. Histologically, tubule degeneration in the kidney, mild glycogen vacuolation in the liver, and loss of absorptive vacuoles, inflammation and disintegration of the epithelial layer in the intestine of Nile tilapia fed the 1X EB-diet were observed. The fish reverted back to their normal functions with time upon termination of oral-EB-dosing. This work contributed scientific data on the safety of EB particularly on the feed intake, growth reduction, mortality, histopathological alterations, and EB-residue levels in the edible tissues of Nile tilapia fed at the recommended dose and dosage, which suggested that EB-therapy might be reasonably risky in a tropical climate.Not Availabl

Change in the Affinity of Ethylene Glycol Methacrylate Phosphate Monomer and Its Polymer Anchored on a Graphene Oxide Platform toward Uranium(VI) and Plutonium(IV) Ions

The complexation behavior of the carbonyl and phosphoryl ligating groups bearing ethylene glycol methacrylate phosphate (EGMP) monomer and its polymer fixed on a graphene oxide (GO) platform was studied to understand the coordination ability of segregated EGMP units and polymer chains toward UO₂²⁺ and Pu⁴⁺ ions. The cross-linked poly­(EGMP) gel and EGMP dissolved in solution have a similar affinity toward these ions. UV-initiator induced polymerization was used to graft poly­(EGMP) on the GO platform utilizing a double bond of EGMP covalently fixed on it. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) of the GO and GO–EGMP was done to confirm covalent attachment of the EGMP via a −C–O–P– link between GO and EGMP. The extent of poly­(EGMP) grafting on GO by thermal analyses was found to be 5.88 wt %. The EGMP units fixed on the graphene oxide platform exhibited a remarkable selectivity toward Pu⁴⁺ ions at high HNO₃ conc. where coordination is a dominant mode involved in the sorption of ions. The ratio of distribution coefficients of Pu­(IV) to U­(VI) (<i>D</i>_Pu(IV)/<i>D</i>_U(VI)) followed a trend as cross-linked poly­(EGMP) (0.95) < EGMP in solvent methyl isobutyl ketone (1.3) < GO–poly­(EGMP) (25) < GO–EGMP (181); the <i>D</i>_Pu(IV)/<i>D</i>_U(VI) values are given in parentheses. The density functional theory computations have been performed for the complexation of UO₂²⁺ and Pu⁴⁺ ions with the EGMP molecule anchored on GO in the presence of nitrate ions. This computational modeling suggested that Pu⁴⁺ ion formed a strong coordination complex with phosphoryl and carbonyl ligating groups of the GO–EGMP as compared to UO₂²⁺ ions. Thus, the nonselective EGMP becomes highly selective to Pu­(IV) ions when it interacts as a single unit fixed on a GO platform