Be Cool !!

I found a very interesting article the other day on the 'Lighting Energy Efficiency Project'. I thought it would make an interesting read. Before I discuss the article as such, it would not be a bad idea to discuss what are called Carbon Credits. The Kyoto Protocol laid down norms for the use of carbon credits in a way analogous to currency. Every country has a 'cap' on how much carbon (thats greenhouse emissions) it can spew into the atmosphere annually. So business organization like refineries, chemical factories, fertilizer plants and thermal power station within these countries have got set quotas of how much emissions they can afford to have, measured in terms of metric tonnes of C02 (or its equivalent). They have to stay within the allocated quota even with increased demands. Unused quota can be traded those organizations that have exceeded their quota. Thus, carbon credits are an effective means of keeping the worldwide emissions within bounds, irrespective of the pressures of increasing demand.

This article titled "Carbon is now bread & butter business" describes a project by Hyderabad-based technocrats — Nityanand J Agrawal and Gopal Amin. They propose to replace regular bulbs with CFLs for a paltry Rs 10 each; 10 million of them across households in AP and another 2 million in Chattisgarh. Not only does it save power in these households, it reduces greenhouse emissions. The retail price of the bulbs is around Rs 200. So they go to environmental agencies and claim carbon credits for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The article says that ... "The country’s potential with such projects, say industry analysts, is roughly around 9 million carbon credits per year, which, at current prices, can earn around Euro 90 million per annum...".


Talking of energy conservation, Blackle is worth a mention. Their motto? Blackle.com - Saving energy one search at a time. I quote from the site - Blackle saves energy because the screen is predominantly black. "Image displayed is primarily a function of the user's color settings and desktop graphics, as well as the color and size of open application windows; a given monitor requires more power to display a white (or light) screen than a black (or dark) screen. They claim that by having a black google homepage the world could be saving 750 MW of power!!

Just remember. At the end of the day, saving energy is as simple as switching of the lights n fan before leaving the room. Kick global warming. Be cool !!