Energy and Emission Reduction Potential for Bank ATM Units in India

With the growing economy of India, banking sector growth has led to installation of thousands of Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) throughout the country. ATMs provide 24 × 7 services as well as operate at low-temperature ranges of cooling, hence have high operating energy costs. Insulating an ATM’s envelope is not a prevalent technique in India. In the present study, an effort has been made to determine the optimum insulation thickness for three different insulation materials for the typical ATM envelope in four different climatic zones of India. Life cycle savings and payback periods for various insulation materials are also evaluated. Further, these optimally insulated ATM envelopes can be integrated with grid connected rooftop solar PV systems. The energy saving and emissions reduction potential due to these two interventions have been estimated on the national basis. Altogether in the four selected climate zones, energy saving of 17% - 30% provides the annual economic benefit of Indian National Rupees (Rs.) 3570 million with annual carbon reduction potential of about 0.60 million tCO2. From this study, it is observed that properly insulated ATMs integrated with rooftop solar PV systems, can significantly reduce the energy costs as well as carbon emissions in India’s context.

The biochemical pathways of central nervous system neural degeneration in niacin deficiency

Neural degeneration is a very complicated process. In spite of all the advancements in the molecular chemistry, there are many unknown aspects of the phenomena of neurodegeneration which need to be put together. It is a common sequela of the conditions of niacin deficiency. Neural degeneration in Pellagra manifests as chromatolysis mainly in pyramidal followed by other neurons and glial cells. However, there is a gross lack of understanding of biochemi- cal mechanisms of neurodegeneration in niacin deficiency states. Because of the necessity of niacin or its amide derivative NAD in a number of biochemical pathways, it is understandable that several of these pathways may be involved in the common outcome of neural degener- ation. Here, we highlight five pathways that could be involved in the neuraldegeneration for which evidence has accumulated through several studies. These pathways are： 1） the trypto- phan-kyneurenic acid pathway, 2） the mitochondrial ATP generation related pathways, 3） the poly （ADP-ibose） polymerase （PARP） pathway, 4） the BDNF-TRKB Axis abnormalities, 5） the genetic influences of niacin deficiency.

Life Cycle Energy Analysis of a Multifamily Residential House: A Case Study in Indian Context

The paper presents life cycle energy analysis of a multifamily residential house situated in Allahabad (U.P), India. The study covers energy for construction, operation, maintenance and demolition phases of the building. The selected building is a 4-storey concrete structured multifamily residential house comprising 44 apartments with usable floor area of 2960 m2. The material used for the building structure is steel reinforced concrete and envelope is made up of burnt clay brick masonry. Embodied energy of the building is calculated based on the embodied energy coefficients of building materials applicable in Indian context. Operating energy of the building is estimated using e-Quest energy simulation software. Results show that operating energy (89%) of the building is the largest contributor to life cycle energy of the building, followed by embodied energy (11%). Steel, cement and bricks are most significant materials in terms of contribution to the initial embodied energy profile. The life cycle energy intensity of the building is found to be 75 GJ/m2 and energy index 288 kWh/m2 years (primary). Use of aerated concrete blocks in the construction of walls and for covering roof has been examined as energy saving strategy and it is found that total life cycle energy demand of the building reduces by 9.7%. In addition, building integrated photo voltaic (PV) panels are found most promising for reduction (37%) in life cycle energy (primary) use of the building.

Assessment of bone condition by acoustic emission technique: A review

The paper deals with the review of acoustic emission technique in biomedical field. The re-view is done with the aim to provide an overview of the use of AE technique in biomedical field, mainly concentrated on the AE behavior of bone under different loading conditions, its depend-ence on strain rate, in osteoporosis, monitoring the fracture healing process of bone. The over-all conclusion from the review was that almost all the studies in bone indicated that the initial AE occurs only in the plastic region and just prior to yield. That means the use of AE tech-nique for clinical application cannot be consid-ered as a safe technique, but the early occur-rence of AE events from callus promises the application of AE technique for monitoring the fracture healing process. The negligible effect of soft tissues on AE response of bone prom-ises AE to become a non-invasive method for assessment of bone condition.

Thermal Load Reduction with Green Building Envelope

Various studies have confirmed that high thermal resistance in roof & wall can reduce the heat transfer load of the buildings. In this study, experimental investigation of the effects of some sustainable features (such as green roof, reflective coated roof & Fly ash brick (FAB) etc.) on the building has been conducted in the Indian context. For the purpose, two scaled building models i.e. Model I (conventional design) & Model II (green design) have been examined with different design configurations. The sensible heat transfer (SHT) load of the building is reduced by 21% - 29% through the use of FAB with cavity wall in place of Fired clay brick (FCB) wall. The load reduction increases to 26% - 44% by using FAB cavity wall with reflective coating on the roof. This reduction further increases to 64% - 68% with FAB cavity wall along with green roof. In this final scenario, the monthly electrical energy saving for air-conditioning is approximately 5.1 kWhe/m2 per unit envelope area, with associated reduction in GHG emissions up to 6.36 kg CO2eq/m2 per unit envelope area, assuming continuous operation of HVAC systems.

Energy Conservation Opportunities in Pulp &Paper Industry

Industrial sector is the largest user of energy in India and in many parts of the world. The pulp and paper industry accounted for 6% of total global industrial energy consumption, being the fourth largest energy consumer worldwide. For India, energy audit of a paper carton manufacturing unit was earlier reported with the following results. The specific electrical and thermal energy consumption was estimated as 91.85 kWh/ton and 1619 MJ/ton paper respectively. Annual energy saving potential was found to be 5.9% of the total annual energy consumption. With a view to identifying energy conservation and CO2 mitigation opportunities in writing, tissue, and craft paper production, this article presents energy auditing of a paper industry (Orient Paper Mills) in Amlai, Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh, India. The specific energy consumption of the typical paper industry in India was evaluated as 34.3 GJ per ton paper and specific CO2 emissions as 3.4 tons CO2 per ton paper. Some energy conservation opportunities for this industry were identified with significant energy saving (nearly 3.5%) and money saving potential with payback periods not exceeding 2 years in general.

Impact of Industrial Symbiosis on Sustainability

This paper quantitatively examines the impact of industrial symbiosis on sustainability. The quantitative approach, as developed by the authors, is based on the concept of Industrial Sustainability Index (ISI), which represents the socio-economic benefit of an industry per unit of its carbon emissions. The ISI was evaluated for a chemical production plant both in independent and symbiotic modes with different energy technologies. The ISI value for the chemical production plant in independent mode was found to be 6 units. This was three times more than in the case of the existing symbiotic mode with an adjacent pulp & paper industry having coal fired CHP plant. With the adoption of more energy efficient technologies e.g. natural gas based combined cycle power plant and solar PV electricity generation;the ISI in the modified symbiotic mode can be increased to 18 units. The results indicate that industrial symbiosis can help in sustainability improvement when the technologies used by the industries are energy efficient.

Industrial Sustainability Index and Its Possible Improvement for Paper Industry

This paper proposes a new index for assessing sustainability of the industrial sector i.e. the Industrial Sustainability Index (ISI) and demonstrates its utility by applying it to an energy intensive industry. The proposed index incorporates all the three major dimensions of sustainability viz. economic, environmental, and social. It represents the socio-economic benefit of an industry per unit of its carbon emissions. The specific energy consumption or energy intensity (with commensurate carbon emissions), which is usually reported as a measure of environmental impact of various industries, does not include the social and economic parameters. The proposed ISI also overcomes the difficulties in assessing specific energy consumption such as allocation in case of multiple products and its variability with the type and scale of production. To illustrate, the proposed index has been evaluated for a typical paper industry in India. Further, opportunities for its improvement by fuel substitution and repowering through combined cycle power generation have been examined. With existing ISI of 16 units to an improved ISI of 78 units, approximately five times improvement in ISI was observed, indicating a potential for significant improvement in industrial sustainability through such measures.

Life Cycle Energy of Low Rise Residential Buildings in Indian Context

Life cycle energy of the building accounts for all energy inputs to the buildings during their intended service life. Buildings need to be constructed in such a way that energy consumption in their life cycle is minimal. Life Cycle Energy (LCE) consumption data of buildings is not available in public domain which is essentially required for building designers and policy makers to formulate strategies for reduction in LCE of buildings. The paper presents LCE of twenty (20) low rise residential buildings in Indian context. LCE of the studied buildings is varying from 160 - 380 kWh/m2 year (Primary). Based on the LCE data of studied buildings, an equation is proposed to readily reckon LCE of a new building.