Suresh Jain

Environmental management systems for educational institutions: A case study of TERI University, New Delhi

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to put forth a model for implementation of an environmental management system (EMS) in institutes of higher education in India.Design/methodology/approach – The authors carried out initial environmental review (IER) and strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis to identify the major environmental concerns in the university. This was followed by preparation of environmental policy and plan based on ISO 14001 guidelines.Findings – The key concerns in the university have been identified as energy consumption, waste generation, transportation, etc. The SWOT analysis shows that the university is doing satisfactorily in energy efficiency and water conservation while there is scope for improvement in case of waste management, transportation and landscaping. The environmental management plan has been prepared keeping in mind the gaps observed through the IER and SWOT analysis.Research limitations/implications – Carbon footprint and water footprint anal...

Estimation of Organic and Elemental Carbon Emitted from Wood Burning in Traditional and Improved Cookstoves Using Controlled Cooking Test

Emission of various climate- and health-related pollutant species from solid biomass burning in traditional cookstoves is a global concern. Improved cookstoves serve as a possible solution to mitigate the associated impacts. However, there is a need to intensify the efforts in order to increase the data availability and promote revision of existing metrics of cookstove testing. In this study, the effect of different phases of a cooking cycle of Northern India on emission factors of OC and EC (char and soot) was assessed for four cookstoves (advanced, improved, and traditional) using Acacia nilotica. Lowest EFs for OC (0.04 g/MJ) and EC (0.02 g/MJ) were observed in case of the forced draft cookstove; while the traditional and natural draft top feed cookstove emitted the highest OC (0.07 g/MJ) and EC (0.09 g/MJ), respectively. Variation in terms of EFs for OC and EC (char and soot) within the cooking cycle was also found to be significant.

Predicting violations of national ambient air quality standards using extreme value theory for Delhi city

Type I asymptotic distribution of extreme values was used for making predictions of the expected number of violations of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for 24–hour average sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and suspended particulate matter (SPM), monitored at the four National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring (NAAQM) stations run by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for Delhi city. The parameters of the distribution were estimated using Gumbel’s method. A comparison of the predicted violations of NAAQS and the exceedance of the maximum pollution concentration with that of the observed data indicates that Type I asymptotic distribution adequately fits to the observed extreme value data. The application of extreme value theory as a tool for managing urban air quality was highlighted.

Application of Multivariate Statistical Techniques in Determining the Spatial Temporal Water Quality Variation of Ganga and Yamuna Rivers Present in Uttarakhand State, India

Primary monitoring of 18 water quality parameters for rivers Ganga and Yamuna of Uttarakhand State was carried out to study the seasonal variation of these parameters, identify potential sources of pollution, and clustering of monitoring stations with similar characteristics. Wilcoxon signed-rank test, Paired t test and multivariate statistical techniques—principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) were used to analyse the collected data. Separate analyses were conducted for summer and winter periods. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test and paired t test revealed seasonal variability in the data set with high pollution levels during summer period as compared to winter period. The CA grouped 15 monitoring stations of river Ganga and 5 monitoring stations of river Yamuna into 2 clusters of similar characteristics. The PCA resulted in the identification of four major sources of pollution for river Ganga, and three for river Yamuna. The findings of the study provide useful information in interpretation of complex datasets and for water quality assessment, identification of pollution sources/factors and understanding of temporal and spatial variations of water quality for effective river water quality management.

Environmental benchmarking practices in Indian industries

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand whether the adoption of environmental management practices and firm characteristics influence the environmental benchmarking in Indian firms. It further looks into the impact of environmental benchmarking practices on firms’ environmental performance. Design/methodology/approach – The study conducts a research survey to obtain the practitioner’s responses on the different aspects of environmental benchmarking. The survey data of 104 firms provide an empirical basis to investigate different research hypotheses using statistical techniques. Findings – The results indicate that the firms which implement environmental management practices are more likely to adopt environmental benchmarking in one or more areas of their operations. The findings signify that firms which benchmarks for environmental purposes are more likely to have better environmental performance. The study confirms that large firms have significant chances of having environmental benchmarkin...

Asymptomatic posterior cervical myelomeningocele with tethered cord in an adolescent: a rare form of spinal dysraphism with rare presentation

Abstract Unlike lumbar spinal dysraphism, cervical spinal dysraphism with or without tethered cord are rare lesions. These lesions are generally asymptomatic at birth, but with progression of time symptoms develop. These may be associated with various other anomalies. Not much have been reported in literature about cervical myelomeningocele (MMC) in adults or adolescents. We report a case of a 17 years old adolescent boy with cervical myelomeningocele with tethered cervical cord, who was completely intact neurologically even at this age and was without any associated anomaly. He came to us only for cosmetic reasons. The tethering band, which was evident on imaging was confirmed intra-operatively.