Its not really green to change to CFL's if you dont properly dispose lamps by R P Rammohan

In my view replacing incandescent bulbs with CFLs is not a perfect energy efficiency measure as that could further degrade the environmental quality substantially and as that could further jeopardize public health severely especially in India because of weak environmental norms and because of next to nothing enforcement of the environmental norms.

According to a report published by the Central Pollution Control Board, Government of India, in India the used CFL lamps are thrown in the garbage bins and finally into the municipal garbage dump-sites, contaminating air, water and soil. Most of the used lamps are broken either at transit solid waste bins
(provided by local civic authority) or broken during the transport to the final disposal site. A portion of the mercury, in vapor form, is released into the air; whereas rest of the mercury is released onto the soil with further possibility of getting into the surface and / or ground water bodies through the leachate from soil.


Typical Mercury concentration in CFLs varies considerably depending on the
manufacturer, the manufacturing year, the manufacturing country.

Mercury content
(mg/lamp) Country/Region
5 EU
10 Canada
12-30 Russia


Mercury is very toxic and linked with a wide range of health effects including irreversible damage to the human nervous system.

Inhalation:

Mercury vapor is highly toxic via inhalation. It can cause severe respiratory tract damage. Symptoms of mercury toxicity include sore throat, coughing, pain, tightness in chest, breathing difficulties, shortness of breath, headache, muscle weakness, anorexia, and gastrointestinal disturbance, ringing in the ear, liver changes, fever, bronchitis and pneumonitis. Mercury can be absorbed through inhalation with symptoms similar to those appearing after ingestion.

Ingestion:

Ingestion (through mouth) of mercury may cause burning of the mouth and pharynx, abdominal pain, vomiting, corrosive ulceration, bloody diarrhea.Ingestion may be followed by a rapid and weak pulse, shallow breathing, paleness, exhaustion, tremors and collapse.

Skin Contact:

Contact of mercury with skin causes irritation and burns to skin. Symptoms include redness and pain. It May cause skin allergy and sensitization. Mercury can be absorbed through the skin with symptoms parallel to ingestion.

Eye Contact:

Contact of mercury with eye causes irritation and burns to eyes. Symptoms include redness, pain, blurred vision; may cause serious and permanent eye damage, also depending upon exposure.

Chronic Exposure:

Chronic exposure of mercury through any route can produce central nervous system disorders. It may cause muscle tremors, personality and behavior changes, memory loss, metallic taste, loosening of the teeth, digestive disorders, skin rashes, brain damage and kidney damage. Mercury can cause skin allergies and accumulate in the body. Repeated skin contact with mercury can cause the skin to turn gray in color. Mercury is a suspected reproductive hazard; may damage the developing foetus and decrease fertility in males and
females.

Governments in my view should encourage CFLs usage more and more in the country only if and when the proper recycling facilities are created and closely monitored and only if and when they ensure that the millions of fused/used CFLs do not end up in the garbage bins and landfills and only if and when all the open burnings of trash and garbage are totally and strictly banned during the night and day.


R P Rammohan
Energy Management Consultant
608, Block 18, Raintreepark, KPHB, Hyderabad-500072 India
Phone: +91-40-23851868, 66881868, +91-9440710899
www.linkedin.com/in/rprammohan
rammohanrp@yahoo.com

Is it economical to change Incandescent light bulbs to CFL's?

Economic sense: It shows on your electricity bill when you change Incandescent light bulbs to either to CFL. In the US market the cheapest CFL can be bought for as low as 92 cents in Wal-Mart but the first question that comes in your mind is in how much time is the payback. Calculating the Payback lies in knowing how much time do you turn the lights on, does the local utility have a rebate program, is the rebate available to energy star light bulbs only (in which case the cost might be a little higher), cost of electricity, labor costs and shipping costs incurred.

For example, let us say in your house you want to change the light bulb in your bathroom. So first you need to think how many hours do you turn the light on in the bathroom, I will say around two hours for a family of four. So you typically use the light for 700 hrs a year. So depending on the energy costs in your area the payback will be around 1.2 years. But in case you are changing the light in your hall and say you turn the light for 6hrs a day then the pay back will be fast  approximately in 146 days. And if you have the light turned on 24hrs a day the pay back is in 36 days. So it always makes economic sense to change to CFL’s depending on usage and cost of electricity. If you have a rebate program in your uility the payback might be faster. If you know your local utility costs and want an exact payback time for your situation leave a comment

I will write about the environmental sense in my next post

*All the calculations are based on the electricity rates in Montana which are energy rate is at 0.06 /kWh and demand rate is 9.01/kW-month.

How to forecast weather without gadgets

Interesting article showing how we forgot to read and understand nature.. Click on the pic to read it

Worst Oil spills in history

Bicycle Rush Hour Utrecht (Netherlands) I

The following video offers a look into a beautiful fantasy land called Utrecht, Holland, where transit is clean, efficient, and safe. Translation: Everyone rides bikes and uses public transit.

Morning rush hour in the 4th largest city in the Netherlands. Streets look like this when 33% of ALL trips are made by bicycle!

This is an ordinary Wednesday morning in April 2010 at around 8.30 am. Original time was 8 minutes that were compressed into 2 minutes, so everything is 4 times faster than in reality. The sound is original.

This is one of the busiest junctions in Utrecht a city with a population of 300,000. No less than 18,000 bicycles and 2,500 buses pass here every day. And yet Google Street View missed it. Because private motorized traffic is restricted here.

These cyclists cross a one way bus lane (also used by taxis and municipal vehicles), two light rail tracks and then a one way street that can be used by private vehicles.

Behind the camera is a railway (you can hear the squeaking sounds of the trains passing) and the main railway station is very close too. A number of rental bikes from the station pass and many of the cyclists will have come by train for the first part of their commute.

Imagine all these people in cars now

Home Energy Audit Podcast episode 1

This is my first podcast on my blog. I will try and add a lot of other posts in the future which are more relevant to everyday practices.

Episode 1.mp3

Home Energy Audits

To save energy at home you first need to know what you should do to reduce it. Home energy audit is the first step to assess how much energy your home consumes and to evaluate what measures you can take to make your home more energy efficient. Small changes like changing light bulbs can make a difference in your energy bills. But to know the pay back period and if there is significant difference in the actions you take at home a energy audit is a must. Check out the links below for more information

Do it yourself 

http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/energy_audits/index.cfm/mytopic=11170

Details on how energy audits are conducted in a more technical sense.
http://www.energyadvantage.com/blog/2010/04/the-difference-between-ahsrae-level-1-2-3-energy-audits/

The Story of Bottled Water

Interesting story on how bottled water indirectly causes pollution unseen to the eye.. I always used to say no to bottled water because of the disposal of plastic but came to know a lot of other facts with this video. And am really glad my fiance said that she will not drink bottled water again :)

what i felt interesting was the fact it shows how much of energy is used to produce bottled water compared to tap water. Check out the video below

The story of bottled water

Comparison of carbon dioxide emissions

	Country	Total Emissions(Million metric tons of CO2)	Per Capita Emissions(Tons/capita)
1.	China	6017.69	4.58
2.	United States	5902.75	19.78
3.	Russia	1704.36	12.00
4.	India	1293.17	1.16
5.	Japan	1246.76	9.78
6.	Germany	857.60	10.40
7.	Canada	614.33	18.81
8.	United Kingdom	585.71	9.66
9.	South Korea	514.53	10.53
10.	Iran	471.48	7.25
11.	Italy	468.19	8.05
12.	South Africa	443.58	10.04
13.	Mexico	435.60	4.05
14.	Saudi Arabia	424.08	15.70
15.	France	417.75	6.60
16.	Australia	417.06	20.58
17.	Brazil	377.24	2.01
18.	Spain	372.61	9.22
19.	Ukraine	328.72	7.05
20.	Poland	303.42	7.87

The picture that emerges from these figures is one where in general developed countries and major emerging economy nations lead in total carbon dioxide emissions. Developed nations typically have high carbon dioxide emissions per capita, while some developing countries lead in the growth rate of carbon dioxide emissions. Obviously, these uneven contributions to the climate problem are at the core of the challenges the world community faces in finding effective and equitable solutions. 

 Its interesting to see how Australia has the highest per capita emissions and they have recently signed Kyoto and are on a massive campaign to reduce their emissions. Hopefully they will get their emissions down. And also note that India has the least per capita but ranks 4th among the total emissions, clearly shows the major disadvantages of population. This charts actually help us think how i counties like Australia and US there needs to be more emphasis on individuals and in India it needs to be on policy and organisations. I don't mean we shouldn't educate individuals in India but policy changes need to be made asap. 

Source for graphs and chart: Union of concerned scientists 

Right to electricity not at the cost of damaging environment

1. 

   
   
   
   1.6 billion people — a quarter of humanity — live without electricity:
   
   
   Breaking that down further:

   Number of people living without electricity

   Region	Millions without electricity
   South Asia	706
   Sub-Saharan Africa	547
   East Asia	224
   Other	101

2. I am sure you will accept with me that they need electricity to keep their homes warm in winter and have atleast an electric fan in summer. Providing electricity is  solving half the problems they have, just imagine how much of energy is needed if we need to provide everyone electricity. And if we continue the same way we produce electricity by burning coal and diverting rivers etc we will only be disturbing the ecology and environment at alarming rates. I do understand that its a really important issue to provide every one with electricity but it also matters how we provide it without causing any harm to the environment.
   I think we can solve these problems by going green and going on massive changes in the way we produce electricity. The policy changes need to take place to make sure that having electricity is a right to everyone but not at the cost of damaging environment.
   ^Source

Car Vs Bus Vs Bicycle

Interesting picture showing how much space mass mode of transportation takes compared to the individual cars. Its not just traffic jams tat cut down but also all the pollution levels and parking spaces and above all u get peace of mind to just sit in a bus and enjoy the view of the city.

Picture source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nblloyd/3399179623/sizes/o/

My experience with "The Green Indian show" on KUOI 89.3 FM

I had the best time doing my edutainment show on KUOI 89.3 FM last year.. It ran almost for an year, i wouldn't have wake up on sunday mornings if i was not provided with the motivation needed. Thanx for the support from my friends, fellow jockeys and last but not the least my fiance and my complete family who woke up every Sunday night India time to listen to my show..

I still remember the first time i did my show, i was really very nervous and tensed to talk, i din know what i was talking and gave long breaks before i played a song.. But it soon changed and i got the flow to talk by the end of my third show.. I experimented a lot both on the entertainment aspect where i tried to play really old classical and relatively new indian music. Played anything and everything Indian from Md.Rafi's classics to Ishq bector's hip hop. I got a chance to explore music from languages i dint know, i played songs from English, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi and Bengali. Loved every minute i was on air.. I even tried to experiment by adding some enviro quotes, sayings and talking once in a while about sustainability,pollution etc.. I always wanted to make my show an edutainment show..

The show has given me confidence to talk and satisfaction of doing something interesting in life.. I had the amazing opportunity to talk about international events happening around campus, interviewed Glenn of International friendship association promoting "Cruise the world". The best part was playing the cupid and passing on love messages with romantic numbers on air.. I loved the way how people i hardly know started requesting songs and the best part was when i used to get calls on my show from people i never spoke saying how they like my show and how they tune in every Sunday to listen to it..

Anyways all good things come to an end, my show did too.. i was told by the radio director that it was one of the most heard shows, which only makes me to revamp and start the show some day..