Publications

Effect of internal woven roller shade and glazing on the energy and daylighting performances of an office building in the cold climate of Shillong

Research Paper
| January 11, 2018

The energy and visual performances of the façades are defined by many parameters including façade size, properties of glazings and shadings, and their arrangements as well as control strategies. In this study, a number of combinations of internal woven roller shades and four double glazings have been proposed and assessed in integrated manner in order to improve the energy efficiency and visual comfort in new or existing office buildings.

Effects of Passive Hydration on Surface Water and Groundwater Storages in Drained Ranchland Wetlands in the Everglades Basin in Florida

Research Paper
| January 11, 2018

Pre-(1 year) and post-(2 years) passive hydration data were used to evaluate the effects on spatiotemporal storages at two pastoral wetlands in the Lake Okeechobee (LO) watershed within the Everglades basin, Florida, United States. To partially restore the predrainage wetland storage and hydroperiod, passive hydration was implemented by raising the discharge elevation using a culvert structure with removable boards at the end of the drainage ditch that drained the wetland/upland system.

Emerging perspectives on environmental burden minimisation initiatives from anaerobic digestion technologies for community scale biomass valorisation

Research Paper
| January 11, 2018

This paper provides an extensive review of anaerobic digestion(AD) systems,witha specific focus on community scale digesters for urban applications, processing either municipal organic waste exclusively or as mix feed. Emphasisis placed on reducing the systems scale environmentalimpact of AD technologies, including pre-and post-treatment stages, alongside biogas production. Developments to-date in AD system research in Europeand in the Asia region have been compared, providing a comprehensive evaluation of current practice, elucidating the areas of further potentials.

Energizing rural India using micro grids:The case of solar DC micro-grids in Uttar Pradesh State, India

Research Paper
| January 11, 2018

Traditionally AC mini-grids have been implemented to provide electricity services in many un-electrified habitations in India, which are not covered through the main grid. However, with the advancement of LED technology and lowering cost of PV panels, the DC microgrids seem to be coming up in a significant way to enhance energy access. Many initiatives, both in private and public sector, are now taking DC micro-grid route to provide energy for basic lighting and mobile charging.

Energy and material flows of megacities

Research Paper
| January 11, 2018

Understanding the drivers of energy and material flows of cities is important for addressing global environmental challenges. Accessing, sharing, and managing energy and material resources is particularly critical for megacities, which face enormous social stresses because of their sheer size and complexity. Here we quantify the energy and material flows through the world’s 27 megacities with populations greater than 10 million people as of 2010. Collectively the resource flows through megacities are largely consistent with scaling laws established in the emerging science of cities.

Enhancing viability of biofuel-based decentralized power projects for rural electrification in India.

Research Paper
| January 11, 2018

Decentralized power generation, using locally available biofuels from nonedible oil seeds, is an option for rural electrification in many developing countries. However, due to prevailing high price of non-edible oil seeds, such as Jatropha curcas, the cost of electricity generation is very high. This paper provides detailed financial analysis of straight vegetable oil (SVO)-based decentralized power project and proposes an innovative model for enhancing their financial viability.

Environmental Policy in a Federation with Special Interest Politics and Inter-Governmental Grants

Research Paper
| January 11, 2018

The paper explores the potential effect of intergovernmental grants (IGG) on subnational (local) environmental policy in a federal structure. In the model, a politically-inclined local government receives campaign contributions from the polluters’ lobby in return for lower pollution taxes.Abenevolent federal government uses IGG as an incentive to reduce the resulting distortion in the local pollution tax.

Estimating biomass and carbon mitigation of temperate coniferous forests using spectral modeling and field inventory data

Research Paper
| January 11, 2018

Realizing the importance of forest carbon monitoring and reporting in climate change, the present study was conducted to derive spectrally modeled aboveground biomass and mitigation using Landsat data in combination with sampled field inventory data in the coniferous forests of Western Himalaya. After conducting preliminary survey in 2009, 90 quadrats (45 each for calibration and validation) of 0.1 ha were laid in six forest types for recording field inventory data viz. diameter at breast height, height, slope and aspect.

Estimation of outcrossing rates in interspecific backcross plants of Jatropha curcas (L.) using AFLP and SSR markers 

Research Paper
| January 11, 2018

In this paper, we report the estimates of outcrossing rates using open-pollinated progeny arrays of 40 BC1 individuals of Jatropha developed as a result of interspecific hybridization between J. curcas and J. integerrima. For analysis PCR-based dominant AFLP and codominant SSR markers were used. The multilocus outcrossing rate (tm) estimated from AFLP markers (0.892 ± 0.112) are almost in the same range with SSR (0.884 ± 0.293) markers which indicate a high level of heterozygosity.

Factors influencing Spatio-temporal Variation of Methane and Nitrous oxide Emission from a Tropical Mangrove of Eastern Coast of India

Research Paper
| January 11, 2018

We have studied the seasonal and tidal variation of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emission from the intertidal sediment of Bhitarkanika mangrove in the east coast of India. Seasonal variability study was conducted at five sites (three replicate of each site) inside the core area of the national park during three different seasons (summer, monsoon and winter) whereas tidal variation was studied at three different sites outside the core area during monsoon and winter season.