Research Papers
Livelihood of Forest Dependent Communities and Sustainable Forest Management
Nayak B P, Chandra N, Goel R K and Sharma J V
| 2013
In the forested landscapes of India, the livelihood of the people living close to forest and within the forests are inextricably linked to the forest ecosystem. People depend on a variety of forest products for food, fodder, agriculture, housing, and an array of marketable minor forest produces. Forests are not only a source of subsistence income for millions of poor households, but also provide employment to the poor in these hinterlands. This makes forests an important contributor to the rural economy in these regions.
Knowledge Access using DL Platform: A TERI Research Library Case Study
Sharma Reeta, Ganguly Shantanu
| 2013
It is a constant endeavour of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)—Library and Information Centre (LIC) to cater best information services to the users community, which comprises of research professionals working in the fi eld of energy, environment and sustainable development. Understanding the consumer of data, information and knowledge to accomplish the projects, is becoming increasingly important in relation to the appropriate designing and development of information products and services ‘tailoring’ to the needs of these users.
Influence of land use/land cover (LULC) changes on atmospheric dynamics over the arid region of Rajasthan state, India
Kharol S K, Kaskaoutis D G, Badarinath K V S, Sharma A R, Singh R P
| 2013
The present study examines the long-term effects of land use/land cover (LULC) changes in Rajasthan state, India on land-atmosphere fluxes and, possibly in precipitation and aerosol loading. By comparing the satellite observations from Landsat MSS (1972e73) and IRS-P6 AWiFS (2006e07) considerable LULC changes are observed, an increase in crop-land and vegetated areas of w57% in the eastern and w68% in the western Rajasthan.
Indoor air quality in the rural India
Gautam S K, R Suresh, Sharma V P and Sehgal M
| 2013
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to assess the exposure of cooks in rural India (55 households) to the indoor air pollution levels emitted from burning of different fuels, i.e. cow dung, wood, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and propane natural gas(PNG) kerosene for cooking purposes. Design/methodology/approach - Indoor air quality was monitored during cooking hours in 55 rural households to estimate the emissions of PM10, PM2.5, CO, NO2, VOCs and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
Impact of regulated pH on proto scale hydrogen production from xylose by an alkaline tolerant novel bacterial strain, Enterobacter cloacae DT-1
Subudhi S, Nayak T, Kumar N R, Vijayananth P, Lal B
| 2013
A hydrogen producing facultative anaerobic alkaline tolerant novel bacterial strain was isolated from crude oil contaminated soil and identified as Enterobacter cloacae DT-1 based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. DT-1 strain could utilize various carbon sources; glycerol, CMCellulose, glucose and xylose, which demonstrates that DT-1 has potential for hydrogen generation from renewable wastes. Batch fermentative studies were carried out for optimization of pH and Fe2+ concentration. DT-1 could generate hydrogen at wide range of pH (5-10) at 37 °C.
Glaciers in Ganges basin: an assessment of their dimensions through inventories
Dkhar Nathaniel B, Tayal Shresth
| 2013
The objective of this paper is to analyse the data available in the glacier inventories published by Geological Survey of India and International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development and make a comparative assessment of the distribution and extent of Himalayan glaciers in the Ganges river system of Indian and Nepal Himalaya.Some interesting conclusions for this assessment were that majority of the estimated glacial ice volume towards the Ganges river system was from the Nepal Himalayas.
From Alage to Biofuels: Engineering Aspects
Pattarkine V M, Kannan D C
| 2013
Algae are considered the most promising third-generation biofuel feedstock, because algae can grow on wasteland, wastewater, and waste gas. Thus, they do not compete with any resources needed for other useful purposes. Understanding how to engineer algae-to-biofuel systems is critical if we have to succeed in meeting our future transportation fuel demands. This chapter presents the engineering fundamentals of the algae-to-biofuel process and also draws attention to the challenges we must overcome.
Fostering Sustainability through Education, Research and Practice: A case study of TERI University
Jain S, Aggarwal P, Sharma N, Sharma P
| 2013
This paper reflects the philosophy of TERI University of intrinsically building the concept of sustainable development (SD) through higher education and research. This has been illustrated by taking up an example of its flagship postgraduate program in Environmental Studies and Resource Management.
Forest fragmentation in India
Roy P S, Murthy M S R, Roy A, Kushwaha S P S, Singh S, Jha C S, Behera M D, Joshi P K, Jagannathan C, Karnatak H C, Saran S, Reddy C S, Kushwaha D, Dutt C B S, Porwal M C, Sudhakar S, Srivastava V K, Padalia H, Nandy S and Gupta S
| 2013
Assessment of, and mapping the extent of forest fragmentation is one of the key requirements for undertaking any eco-restoration work. Using a moving window approach on high-resolution geospatial data on vegetation, a fragmentation index was computed across the entire Indian landscape. On the basis of the index, the forests areas were categorized as high, moderate, low or intact. It was observed that almost half of the forested land is intact in spite of tremendous population pressures, indicating effective protection.
Experimental study for energy efficient cooking devices based on solid biomass fuel and its sustainability for rural India
Singh V K, Suresh R, Farzana S F
| 2013
Biomass fuelled cooking in traditional mud stoves is a widespread phenomenon especially across rural India.