Earth Sciences

BIOFUELS PRODUCTION AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVE:
ENERGY PLANTATION DEMONSTRATION CENTRE

ASHWANI KUMAR
Department of Botany, Univeristy of Rajasthan, Jaipur 302004
Kumar, A. Laticifers as potential bioremedients for wasteland restoration (1994) J. Environment and Pollution 1 : 101-104.

Abstract

BIOENRGY PERSPECTIVES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
1. INTRODUCTION
It is estimated that biomass covers currently up to 15% of the world energy demand, almost 1/3 of all energy consumption in the Less-Developed Countries. This rate was over the last years rather constant, with increasing overall demand bioenergy consumption increased in absolute terms.
Table 1 : World Energy Consumption pattern 1997 (ref 1)
Biomass Share
Total World 9.6 Bio TOE 1-1.5 Bio TOE 11-15%
Asia 2.3 Bio TOE 0.6-0.8 Bio TOE >30%
Africa 0.4 Bio TOE 0.2-0.27 Bio TOE >50%
Lat. America 0.4 Bio TOE

 Following up their 2000 discovery of an ancient reptile commonly referred to as SuperCroc,  paleontologists from the University of Chicago and McGill University today unveiled key fossils of five previously unknown or poorly understood crocodile species. Most of them walked "upright" with their arms and legs under the body like land mammals, with their bellies touching the ground. The discoveries are reported in the latest issue of ZooKeys.

The five new species, dubbed BoarCroc, RatCroc, DuckCroc, DogCroc and PancakeCroc by University of Chicago Paleontologist Paul Sereno, lived roughly 100 million years ago and ultimately survived the dinosaurs.

A new study of Antarctica's past climate reveals that temperatures during the warm periods between ice ages (interglacials) may have been higher than previously thought. The latest analysis of ice core records suggests that Antarctic temperatures may have been up to 6°C warmer than the present day. The study also found that during the last warm period, about 125,000 years ago, the sea level was around 5 metres higher than today.

The findings, reported this week by scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the Open University and University of Bristol in the journal Nature could help us understand more about rapid Antarctic climate changes.

A study published today in Nature Geoscience says that increasing atmospheric CO2 emissions continue to outstrip the world's natural ability to absorb carbon and claim that drastic cuts in fossil fuel emissions are the only way to mitigate climate change.

The authors report that over the last 50 years the average fraction of global CO2 emissions that remained in the atmosphere each year was around 43 per cent - the rest was absorbed by the Earth's carbon sinks on land and in the oceans. During that time the fraction has likely increased from 40 per cent to 45 per cent, suggesting a decrease in the efficiency of the natural sinks. The team also offers evidence that the sinks are responding to climate change and variability.

The Associated Press, that bastion of scientific knowledge, shares with us a list of "pests that are benefiting or could benefit from global warming", starting with:

_Ticks that transmit Lyme disease are spreading northward into Sweden and Canada, once too cold for them.
_Giant Humboldt squid have reached waters as far north as British Columbia,
threatening fisheries along much of the western North American coast.

A potentially dangerous level of carbon dioxide and methane gas haunts Lake Kivu, the freshwater lake system bordering Rwanda and the Republic of Congo.

Scientists can't say for sure if the volatile mixture at the bottom of the lake will remain still for another 1,000 years or someday explode without warning. In a region prone to volcanic and seismic activity, the fragility of Lake Kivu is a serious matter. Compounding the precarious situation is the presence of approximately 2 million people, many of them refugees, living along the north end of the lake.

The siltstones, sandstones, mudstones and conglomerates of the Chuckanut Formation were laid down about 40-54 million years ago during the Eocene epoch, a time of luxuriant plant growth in the subtropical flood plain that covered much of the Pacific Northwest.

Agrtotechnology OF CROPS FOR BIOFUELS AND BIOENERGY

Dr. Ashwani Kumar
Professor of Botany
Hon Director, Life Sciences
Energy Plantation Demonstration Project Center,
Department of Botany, University of Rajasthan,
Jaipur, 302004.

Phone 00 91 141 654100 Fax 00 91 141 565905 Email. msku4@hotmail.com

Summary:

Beneficial Biofuels: The Food, Energy and Environment Trilemma.

Dr. Ashwani Kumar
Professor of Botany (Emeritus) Former
Hon Director, Life Sciences and Head Department of Botany,
University of Rajasthan,
Jaipur, 302004.

Phone 00 91 141 654100 Fax 00 91 141 565905 Email. msku4@hotmail.com

Summary: