Carbon footprint calculator

This is a good exercise that can be done in the classroom  or any gathering of adults to create awareness of carbon footprint, CO2 release, climate change and its control.

http://www.cleanindia.org/carbon/ClimateChange.htm   - carbon footprint calculator in the Indian context..

I calculated mine for the Indian context and the footprint comes to roughly 13 T for the family..

Imagine there are 300 m families and if each were to produce at least 2T  CO2 every year on an average (upper limit), Indian population would be contributing about six hundred million tonnes of CO2 to the atmosphere every year.

It is said that all over the world about 6 billion tonnes of CO2 is being released every year of which logistics and transportation account for about 3.2 billion tonnes of CO2.

Industries also contribute heavily to the CO2 emissions. Understanding its impact is an uphill task. Industries do take up CO2 capping measures already. Unless we understand that sustainability is the key to our existence and not profits, we cannot expect to make radical changes in the system,.

ge..

MDP on employee engagement, alliance

By prof Ramdoss and team

Are Americans still ready to pay more for Apple than other Chinese products ..?

For years Apple has beguiled the American public bringing issues of prestige, status, pride, nationalism etc to the fore in selling Apple phones to its people saying it is an American product. Especially when manufacturing in US was at a low ebb, Apple helped to bring back patriotism and a false sense of pride that it is not that dark after all ..

But US public has now got to realise that they have been enmasse taken for a ride by Apple and Apple justifiably is having the last laugh, laughing all the way to the Bank.

US public now have come to realise that Apple is as much Chinese as Lenovo, or Huawei or Haier .. With Chinese quality improving and expressing itself impeccably in iphones and ipads, there is no looking back or looking down on brand China.

In my interactions with a person on branding of iphones and how Americans still believe it segregates them from the less advanced people of the world just based on the status and prestige symbol of carrying an apple product, though functionally it is still equal or less than some of the latest and best smart phones in the market, the brand image of Apple is diminishing as the people have come to realise that it is 'also' a Chinese product.

The brand image of a Rolls Royce or a Mercedes still has some image in the eyes of the people, but not the Apple brand, basically because these cars still continue to be handcrafted or manufactured in their country of origin and not in any low cost manufacturing site with a sole intention to boost profits. (It is still not clear whether Americans do believe that they have lost the edge and do not have the manufacturing prowess to make any high-tech product, quality wise or cost wise still in US..)

This short sighted approach of Apple is going to do them damage in the long run.. It does not matter whether one has $ or $1000  or $120 billion as liquid cash. If one has a loss making organisation like Apple in the next few years, the money is going to be a great botheration. From the high pedestal of innovative thinking and high branding, it is going to have fall like a kite, because right from Steve Jobs, their focus was on short term profits and returns.

For a person who is unable to gauge the changing equations and scenario in the world, this writing may look a bit upsetting.  But the truth can never be hidden ..

george..

Carbon credits .. some basics ..

The modern day supply chain has many interesting things to look around for. The most important and most immediately applicable ones are things related to Carbon emission into the atmosphere. We know Carbon emissions (greenhouse gases) lead to a warming of the earth leading to climate change. The least we want to .. A lean supply chain would also look at releasing lesser carbon-dioxide into the atmosphere thereby reducing the impact of global warming and climate change.

We come across some interesting terms in this regard. I thought of putting them for the easy understanding of my friends. They are

Carbon  footprint, Carbon credits, Carbon offsets, Carbon trading, Carbon sinks, Carbon capture, Carbon retirement etc..

Carbon foot print is the amount of CO2 that is released into the atmosphere.

Carbon credits is the final tradable commodity that can purchase off the shelf and continue damaging the environment without worrying about its implications. A carbon credit is a generic term for any tradable certificate or permit representing the right to emit one tonne of carbon dioxide or the mass of another greenhouse gas with a carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO₂e) equivalent to one tonne of carbon dioxide. (wikipedia)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUGVcc02BUM

Carbon offset is the carbon savings we make at one place to be consumed by releasing CO2 at some other place. There is no buying and selling involved , only accounting of the CO2 saved at one place and the CO2 produced at another place. MRF tyres in India have energy farms which generate electricity in South Tamil Nadu which is fed to the power grid, which the company can use in Chennai or Arakkonam or Tirunelveli etc when they need. The Carbon credits gained at the wind farms are offset by the Carbon released at the tyre plants. The beauty is one is free to utilise the main resource, in this case electricity generated and consumed at different places, as also the benefits of Carbon savings accrued from using zero pollution technology of wind power at the source in another place of consumption where such zero pollution technologies cannot be used.

Carbon trading is the process whereby one saves CO2 emissions and create Carbon  credits which is soldl in the market to other players who have no option but to buy them as their pollution potential is more than pollution prevention potential for their organisational / business needs.

Carbon source : anything that generates more carbon than it absorbs

Carbon sinks : anything that absorbs more carbon than it releases

Carbon capture and storage (Carbon capture and sequestration) : is the process of capturing waste CO2 from large sources, transporting it to s site for storage where it will never enter the atmosphere, usually a geological underground formation.

Carbon Retirement : involves taking out Carbon credits from circulation so that there is no way that amount of CO2 will ever enter the atmosphere.

ge..

Shinkari melam in Kerala culture..

Shinkari melam , a traditional South Indian drum / percussion ensemble is played differently in the north and South. In the north it is three or four lines of drummers. Panchari melam is another version of this played in North Kerala around Trichur, Trippunithara etc.. .

Shinkari elam is related to Panchavadyam which has edakka, shudhamadhalam and timila (diff kinds of drums) , elathalam (cymbal) and kombu (trumpet). Sinkari melam does not have the kombu or trumpet..

Shinkari melam at a traditional Orthodox church in South Kerala, Mepral Tiruvalla side http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJhkMabzmuE is played between two teams and gives a sort of competitive spirit and reaching peak of enjoyment. 

Shinkari melam ( called Pancharimelam)  in North Kerala, Irinjalakuda, Trichur at a Catholic church festival ..  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET_wo4H-8Yc

Eventough traditionally it is the drum ensemble at temple festivals, it is very hewrtening to see it being played in church festivals too. It shows how much integrated Kerala culture of 2000 years is with the religious belief.

A Panchari melam with actor Jayaraman and Mattanur Sankaran kutty .. http://www.yuvog.com/play/Arts/Panchari_Melam__Jayaram_With_Perumana_and_Mattannur

ge

PSLV C20 - another great success, another feather on our hat ..

http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/news/fromndtv/266099

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/pslv-launch-asteroidhunter-smartphone-on-board-satellites/1079683/0

Google Nexus one android phone with 4 apps in space ..

Kunhikrishnan in command ..

The proud success story ..

40 years of Indian space story ..

ge..

Rock engravings of Kerala..

As different from other parts of the country, rock engravings in Kerala are rerlatively young. The oldest rock engravings found are in the Wayanad area ( it is not known whether there were engravings in other areas too, but over thousands of years of human growth and civilization all traces have been either lost or destroyed.

Edakkal in Wayanad have rock engravings of the mesolithic age ( ie. 10,000 to 4000 BC).

Here is an image  ..



This was discovered around 1911 AD. This is to be contraseted with the rock engravings done on Laterite rocks in Usgalimal near Rivona on the banks of the Kushawati river which is of the Paleolithic area ( ie 30,000 to 20,000 BC).

The Paleolithis, mesolithic and neolithic are beasically of the stone age ( lithos - stone in Greek) . The Paleolithis was before agriculture started and from mesolithic age, agriculture started. The stone age ends around 4000 BC when the copper age / bronze age / iron age etc started..

ge..