The Competition World

Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission National Solar Mission : The NAPCC aims to promote the development and use of solar energy for power generation and other uses with the ultimate objective of making solar competitive with fossil-based energy options. The plan includes: Specific goals for increasing use of solar thermal technologies in urban areas, industry, and commercial establishments; A goal of increasing production of photovoltaics to 1000 MW/year; and A goal of deploying at least 1000 MW of solar thermal power generation. Other objectives include the establishment of a solar research center, increased international collaboration on technology development, strengthening of domestic manufacturing capacity, and increased government funding and international support. National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency : Current initiatives are expected to yield savings of 10,000 MW by 2012.  Building on the Energy Conservation Act 2001, the plan recommends: Mandating sp...

Kalpana Palkhiwala * The National Mission for a Green India is one of the eight Missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change. The Green India Mission recognizes that climate change phenomena will seriously affect and alter the distribution, type and quality of natural resources of the country and the associated livelihoods of the people. GIM acknowledges the influences that the forestry sector has on environmental amelioration though climate mitigation, food security, water security, biodiversity conservation and livelihood security of forest dependent communities. The Key Innovations are the focus on quality of forests, ecosystem services, democratic decentralization, creating a new cadre of Community Youth as Foresters, Adoption of Landscape-based Approach and Reform Agenda as conditionality. Total Mission Cost is Rs 46,000 crore for a period of 10 years covering both Centre and States.              ...

Kalpana Palkhiwala * Aerosols influence climate indirectly by changing cloud properties and precipitation and hence can have a profound impact on the hydrological cycle. Among the various aerosol types, black carbon aerosols have greater impact because of the high absorption of solar radiation. Hence it is essential that measurements of black carbon aerosols from ground, aircraft and space are necessary to answer crucial questions related to the impact of black carbon on climate. Several studies have suggested that aerosols may modify global warming by changing the planetary albedo , but the magnitude of the impact of aerosol on climate is still uncertain says IPCC 2007.  Measurement of Aerosols over Indian Region: Current Status      There is a large spatial and temporal variability of aerosols in India and hence several field campaigns were undertaken to characterize the optical, physical and chemical properties of aerosols and their radiative impact. The maj...