Ramesha Chandrappa

Greenhouse Gas Inventory

The “greenhouse effect” is the warming of the Earth due to the presence of GHGs. The name “green house” is borrowed from phenomenon used in greenhouses to raise temperature capturing long wave radiation within the green house. Solar radiation from the sun absorbed by the surface of the Earth and then radiated back to the atmosphere in the form of long wave infrared radiation.

Waste Quantities and Characteristics

Waste management is one of the important services provided by most urban authorities. Solid wastes need to be characterized by sources, generation rates, types of wastes produced, and composition in order to monitor and control prevailing waste management systems while improving the existing system. These data will help to make financial, regulatory and institutional decisions. But population explosion and invention of new materials have kept the quantitities and characteristics changing every day. As per the conservative estimation done by the World Bank in 1999, the municipal solid waste (MSW) from urban areas of Asia would raise from 760,000 tonnes/day in 1999 to 1.8 million tonnes/day in 2025. With the increasing income in the countries of Asia, the solid waste management would be more challenging in the coming days in the continent.

Solid Waste Management

Waste quantities and characteristics.- Storage and collection.- Materials recovery and recycling.- Disposal.- Biomedical waste.- Hazardous waste.- Waste from electrical and electronic equipment.- Waste from industry and commertial activity.- Radio active waste.- Health and safety issues.- Environmetal issues.- Issues in disaster affected area.- Solid waste and livelihood.

Waste From Electrical and Electronic Equipment

Waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) implies discarded electrical and electronic equipment (EEE). While WEEE includes non-electronic goods, E-waste includes waste from only electronic goods. Some literature does not make differentiation between the two.

The History of Climate

The term climate change refers to noticeable change in the Earth’s regional or global climate system over a longer period of time. The time scale can range from a decade to several million years. From the view point of policy makers, the ‘climate change’ is usually referred only to the changes in recent climate pointing out rising average temperature of earth known as Global Warming which is caused by human activities. For the variations caused by non-human influence, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), uses the term ‘climate variability’.

Health and Safety Issues

World is not a safe place to live. All human activities carry some risk of injury. To be safe, people should think about their job and plan well for possible hazards. To avoid injury or death, people must understand and recognize hazards. The simplest way for safe living is: (1) recognize hazards, (2) evaluate hazards, and (3) control hazards.

Wastes From Industrial and Commercial Activities

In general, waste quantities are an indication of the loss of resources and the hazardous fraction in the wastes indicate the priorities and challenges for efficient waste management strategies. The specific challenges for waste management for municipal and industrial wastes are both similar, and yet uniquely different. Compositions of wastes within each category vary enormously, but as a general rule, industrial waste streams contain a wider variety and more concentrated form of hazardous materials requiring special technologies and handling procedures for them.

Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation in Asia

Global climate change is a tangible reality and already, showing devastating effects on humankind and nature in the world. Change in temperature in space and time show evidence of human influence on the climate system (Thomas et al. 2006). Climate change and disasters are serious risk to poverty reduction and erodes wealth built by individuals and nations. Nearly half of the climate related disasters happen in Asia and unless adapted to venerable impacts, people and nations will lose wealth and have to create it again. The international efforts to reduce GHG emissions are already happening to avoid the worst-case scenarios at the end of this century. Climate change is bound to continue regardless of how well those efforts succeed, due to the GHG already emitted, will stay in the atmosphere for a long time. Therefore, there is no choice but to deal with these changes by “adaptation”. Adaptation will work best if strategies to reduce climate-related risks are incorporated in ongoing development activity. This comprehensive approach to manage the rising risks is called “climate risk management”. The planet’s crises – rapid climate variation, degradation of ecosystem, increase in human population, scarcity of resources are affecting the people worldwide. International community seems to be concerned less about climate change than failing financial institutions (CCCD 2009).

Air Pollution and Disasters

Many disasters lead to air pollution and vice versa. This chapter elaborates major air pollution issues due to earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption, epidemics, extreme temperature, insect infestation, mass movement, wars, and fire accidents.

Sustainable Industrial Air Pollution Management

Gone are the days wherein industries are considered as main culprits of air pollution. The industries chimneys with emissions are hardly symbol of development and most of the air pollution equipments are available at competent prices with good service backup. Apart from end of pipe pollution control equipment this manufacturers are adopting new methods. This chapter discusses extended producers responsibility, extended polluters responsibility, zoning atlas for siting industries, green technologies, green belt, environmental impact assessment and solutions in some important air polluting industries.