Daily Current Affairs

Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill 2022 and India’s climate targets

Why in news?

·         In a bid to meet India’s commitment to exceed its Paris agreement climate targets, the Centre plans to table the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill 2022 in the ongoing Monsoon session of Parliament.

·         The Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill seeks to increase India’s demand for renewable energy, thereby reducing the nation’s carbon emissions.

·         The Bill proposes to amend the Electricity Conservation Act 2001, last amended in 2010, to introduce changes such as incentivising the use of clean energy by issuing carbon saving certificates. 

What does the current Energy Conservation Act say?

·         Currently, the Energy Conservation Act, 2001 (amended in 2010) governs the domain in India.

·         The Act empowers the Centre to specify norms and standards of energy efficiency for appliances, industrial equipment and buildings with a connected load over 100 kilo Watts (kW) or a contractual demand of more than 15 kilovolt-amperes (kVA).

·         The Act established the Bureau of Energy Efficiency. The 2010 amendment extended the tenure of the Director General of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency from three to five years.

·         This Bureau can specify qualifications required for energy auditors who monitor and review the power consumption of various industries. The Bureau, which falls under the Central government, appoints its own officers and staff. 

Key provisions:

·         According to the Act, the Centre can issue energy savings certificates to those industries which consume less than their maximum allotted energy. However, this certificate can be sold to customers who consume higher than their maximum allowed energy threshold, providing for a framework for energy trading.

·         The Act allows the Centre to prohibit the manufacture, sale, purchase or import of any particular equipment unless it conforms to specified norms issued six months/ one year before.

·         In case of any violations under this Act, each offence shall attract a penalty of Rs ten lakh with an additional penalty of Rs. 10,000 for each day the offence continues. 

·         Consumers who utilize excess energy will be penalized according to their excess consumption. Any appeals against any such order passed by the Central or state government will be heard by the appellate tribunal already established under the Electricity Act, 2003. 

What are the proposed changes?

·         On October 30, 2021, the Power Ministry issued a statement proposing changes to the Act to enhance the demand for renewable energy at the consumer end, for industries, buildings, transport etc.

·         After four consultation meetings with stakeholders, Union Power Minister proposed the following amendments to the Act:

Ø  Defining the minimum share of renewable energy to be consumed by industrial units or any establishment. This consumption may be done directly from a renewable energy source or indirectly via the power grid.

Ø  Incentivising efforts to use clean energy by issuing carbon saving certificates

Ø  Strengthening institutions set up originally under the Act, such as the Bureau of Energy Efficiency

Ø  Facilitating the promotion of green Hydrogen as an alternative to the fossil fuels used by industries

Ø  Considering additional incentives like carbon credits for the use of clean energy to lure the private sector to climate action.

Ø  Including larger residential buildings under energy conservation standards to promote sustainable habitats. Currently, only large industries and their buildings come under the ambit of the Act. 

Objectives:

·         The main objective of these proposed amendments is to reduce India’s power consumption via fossil fuels and thereby minimize the nation’s carbon footprint. The Centre aims to develop India’s Carbon market and boost the adoption of clean technology.

·         India aims to meet its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), as mentioned in the Paris Climate Agreement, before its 2030 target date. 

What are India’s climate change commitments?

Commitments at Paris Climate Agreement:

·         India has committed to reducing the carbon intensity of its economy by 33-35 per cent by 2030 from its 2005 levels as part of its NDCs under the Paris Climate Agreement.

·         The nation has also promised to achieve over 40 per cent of its power generation from non-fossil-fuel energy resources by 2030.

·         In a bid to reduce its CO2 emissions to 550 metric tonnes (Mt) by 2030, India has committed to creating an additional carbon sink for 2.5 -3 billion tonnes of CO2 by increasing its tree and forest cover. 

Commitments at COP26 Summit:

·         However, with Prime Minister expressing confidence that India will meet its climate targets before 2030, he revised India’s NDCs at the COP26 Summit held in Glasgow on November 1, 2021. India’s five new climate targets are:

a)       To increase its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030

b)      To meet 50 per cent of India’s power demand via renewable energy sources

c)       To reduce the carbon intensity of the Indian economy by 45 per cent

d)      To reduce India’s total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes from 2021 to 2030

e)       To achieve a target net zero (for carbon emissions) by 2070 

What are the provisions for climate action in the 2022-23 Budget?

On February 1, 2022, Union Finance Minister announced a slew of measures to reduce India’s carbon footprint. These include:

Ø  Allocation of Rs 19,500 crores to facilitate domestic solar manufacturing

Ø  Use of 5-7 per cent biomass pellets for co-firing in thermal power plants

Ø  Avoid stubble burning in agricultural fields

Ø  To promote blending of fuel, an additional differential excise duty of Rs 2/litre to be levied on unblended fuel.

Ø  To achieve clean transport, a new battery swapping policy to be formulated for electric vehicles

Ø  Issue ‘Green Bonds’, fixed-income financial methods to fund projects with positive environmental effects to raise capital for green infrastructure. Such sovereign green bonds can be used in climate adaptation projects which lack private funding.

Researchers develop antimicrobial coating from agricultural waste

(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)

Why in news?

·         Recently, a research team from the DBT-CIAB (Center of Innovative and Applied Bioprocessing), Mohali, has developed a nanocomposite using lignin and nanoparticles of cadmium sulfide called L@CdS QDs (quantum dots).

·         They also coated the nanocomposite on personal protective equipment (PPE) and demonstrated its efficacy in destroying bacteria.

What is Lignin?

·         Lignin is a complex, woody biopolymer that gives mechanical support to plants and helps transport water and nutrients. Post-harvest, lignin is left over as stubble, either burnt or used as cattle feed.

·         However, it is found that lignin is rich in carbon, polyphenols, and antioxidants, besides having antimicrobial properties.

·         Scientists at DBT-CIAB constantly study ways to develop value-added products from different bioresources.

Biodegradable nanomaterials:

·         The present study is an attempt to derive biodegradable nanomaterials for biomedical applications.

·         They used green methods to synthesise extremely tiny particles of cadmium sulfide, an inorganic compound with lignin forming the matrix for the material.

·         The researchers used kraft lignin for the base material. To obtain the QDs, they added a one-step chemical process to the lignin and incubated the mixture under 365 nm UV light for 24 hours.

·         The reaction yielded 5-nm sized QDs of cadmium sulfide. It was observed that the nanodots began to glow with a cyan (blue) colour. Noticing this light-triggered fluorescent activity, the researchers performed further tests to validate the photodynamic activity.

Outcome:

·         The test results revealed that the nanocomposite L@CdS QDs absorbs energy photons from ambient light and generates reactive oxygen species.

·         Cadmium sulfide nanoparticles absorb light energy and shift to a high-energy excited state. In this state, they react with ambient oxygen molecules and transfer the absorbed energy to them.

·         The nanoparticles return to their relaxed state while the oxygen molecules absorb the energy and convert to highly reactive ions like peroxides, superoxides, etc, collectively called Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). These ROS are highly toxic to living cells. 

·         Researchers hypothesised that the QDs could act as photosensors to detect microbes when they observed this activity. They utilised the photodynamic property of the QDs and performed tests to ascertain the antimicrobial quality.

Significance:

·         When microbes like bacteria come in contact with ROS, the reactive molecules interact chemically with the microbe’s cell wall and denature or degrade it, thereby destroying the pathogen.

·         The researchers also simplified the coating process to a dip-coating method. Finally, quantum dots were coated on PPE and medical devices such as masks, gloves and medical tools and found that it inhibited bacterial growth.

·         The lignin base is like bubble gum and the QDs stick to its surface. The lignin chemicals synergise the antimicrobial properties of the metallic compound. Moreover, lignin acts as a template to stabilise the surface of the QDs, making them non-toxic.  

What’s next?

·         The antimicrobial activity of the nanoparticles can be observed by the quenching of the fluorescence of the quantum dots under 365 nm UV light. When UV light falls on the nanocomposite, it glows with a cyan-blue colour. However, when they interact with bacteria, the glow vanishes. 

·         The researchers have filed a patent for their product. In addition, they are looking for industry partners to scale up the coating production.

Kerala Fibre Optic Network (KFON)

(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)

Why in news?

·         Kerala is now the first and only state in the country to have its own internet service. 

Details:

·         Having received both the Infrastructure Provider and Internet Service Provider (ISP) licenses from the Central government, the Kerala Fibre Optic Network (KFON) is just a few bureaucratic steps away from reaching its beneficiaries.

·         The ambitious flagship project was launched on February 15, 2021, aimed to provide Internet connections to 20 lakh below-poverty-line (BPL) households in the State, and ensure universal Internet access and address the problem of digital divide.  

What is K-FON?

·         KFON Ltd is primarily an infrastructure provider for other ISPs operating in the State.

·         Under the project, a venture of equal partnership between Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Ltd (KSITIL) and Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), 30,000 km of fibre optic cable will be laid connecting all parts of the State.

·         The cable is being laid using the existing network of KSEB that has a network capacity of 2 lakh km in the State.

·         ISPs can lease the KFON network to provide Internet service to customers across the State at an affordable rate. It will also provide free high-speed Internet connectivity to over 20 lakh financially disadvantaged people, and 30,000 government officers and educational institutions.

·         However, KFON will also be offering its own Internet service. Hence the ISP license. 

5G Connectivity:

·         The initiative also aims to augment the launch of 5G services in the state. At present, 80% of the towers are not fiberised, an issue for the 4G to 5G transition. High-speed wireless connectivity (3G/4G) is limited in rural areas as more telecom towers need to be set-up to provide such services.

·         Moreover, the majority of the existing towers are connected via radio, which limits the bandwidth that can be provided to the public.

·         KFON is expected to solve this issue by connecting the nearly 8,000+ mobile towers in Kerala and significantly enhance the mobile call quality and accelerate the transition to 5G.

What is the project status?

·         As of July 2022, over 80% of the network is already in place and around 26,000 government officers have been connected.

·         KFON has shortlisted six ISPs to provide internet connection to 14,000 BPL families. A total of 100 BPL families in each of the State’s 140 assembly constituencies are being identified in the first phase through the respective local bodies to provide the free Internet connection.

·         Having received the IP-1 license from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), KFON can lease out, rent out or sell the equipment to other providers.

·         The State government has already formed a panel under the Chief Secretary to study possibilities of monetising the network. Moreover, with the ISP license, it can now provide Internet connection as well. 

How will KFON operate?

·         The network consists of 48 fibres. Out of which, KFON and KSEB will be using roughly half for their own operations. The rest will be leased out to generate money for funding the operational and upgrading costs. The network is expected to incur substantial upgrading costs in the years ahead, especially to increase the capacity.

·         Once completed, the state will be divided into four regions and the operators will be selected via an open tender. These selectees will then be provided the required bandwidth at subsidised rates. 

·         Out of the six shortlisted service providers, the lowest quoted amount is understood to be ₹124 per connection per month, an amount which the government will subsidise for BPL families. 

What will be the impact of K-FON impact in Kerala?

·         Provided it accomplishes its main objectives to provide high-speed Internet connections to 20 lakh households and 30,000 government institutions across the state, K-FON will contribute substantially to reducing the digital divide and scale-up e-governance in the State.

·         It would also make Internet access more affordable as the State Government is effectively subsidising the infrastructure cost for ISPs and cable operators who can provide last mile Internet connectivity, and thus facilitating competition. Further, the extensive fibre optic network is also expected to greatly improve the Internet speed, especially in rural areas.

·         All these would in turn help boost economic growth by providing robust digital infrastructure support required for industrial growth, education, healthcare, skill development, smart urban and transport management, and rural engagement via concepts such as smart village.

Ring Vaccination against monkeypox

(GS Paper 3, Health)

Context:

·         Experts have called for a revival of the smallpox vaccination programme. It is said that the smallpox vaccine is the best bet to prevent and treat monkeypox.

·         There is no plan yet to initiate a vaccination programme against monkeypox, a virus that has infected at least four people across the country, the Centre said.

·         At this stage, the focus is on surveillance and it is unlikely that there would be a mass vaccination drive against monkeypox given its low fatality rate and also low transmissibility.

Vaccine options:

·         Second and third-generation vaccines against smallpox are believed to be effective against monkeypox and these have never been produced in India.

·         There is no capacity in India to produce the second and third generation smallpox vaccines and therefore, it requires technology transfer and international collaboration before these vaccines can be produced in India.

Revival of smallpox vaccination programme:

·         The mass vaccination programme for smallpox ended in India around 1979. Those who received smallpox vaccines have 85% protection against monkeypox and the rest will be protected against the severity of the disease.

·         It is scientifically proven that different pox viruses provide cross protection against each other. It is against this background that smallpox vaccines are protective against monkeypox.

·         Some of the observational studies have indicated that the effectiveness of smallpox vaccines against monkeypox could be around 85%. If that is true, there is every reason to use smallpox vaccines for monkeypox protection.

·         The second and the third generation vaccines are recommended to offer protection against monkeypox in India. Vaccines like the MVA-BN and the LC-16 are recommended but India does not have the technology access. 

Ring vaccination an effective strategy:

·         Unlike Covid-19, vaccination against monkeypox need not be a mass vaccination programme. There has to be targeted vaccination, recommended for those already exposed or at greater risk of getting the virus.

·         Monkeypox is currently spreading in men having sex with men and 98-99% of over 17,000 monkeypox cases in current outbreaks globally are male and 1% are female. Usually, the MSM community is close knit and more often they often have multiple sexual partners.

·         In the current scenario, vaccinating a “ring” of people around an infected person with the monkeypox virus could be effective in curbing the spread of the disease and especially when there is severe shortage of Smallpox vaccines globally. This is called ‘ring vaccination’. 

Post-exposure prophylaxis strategy:

·         Ring vaccination is a strategy for containment of infectious diseases. The highest risk of the spread of infectious diseases like monkey pox is in close contact of the index cases. So the strategy has to revolve around how to mitigate the risk of contracting the disease, post exposure.

·         Experts also say that this has been a successful strategy in diseases like mumps, measles and Ebola, where vaccinating at-risk individuals who had been exposed to the virus in the initial days was useful.

·         This is a post-exposure prophylaxis strategy. This strategy would be especially useful in diseases like monkeypox where the incubation period could be as high as 20 days.

·         By actively immunising the at-risk, exposed individuals during the early, post-exposure period, their specific immunity against monkey pox builds up during the incubation period of the virus and could result in abating the active infection and breaking the chain of transmission. 

Vaccines being used outside India against monkeypox:

·         There are two vaccines that are being used outside of India against monkeypox.

·         Both use a virus called Vaccinia that is a relative of monkeypox and the smallpox virus. But it is distinct from them. The immune response generated against this virus offers cross protection against both smallpox and monkey pox.

·         The ACAM2000 is a live virus vaccine which is a new generation model of the original DryVax vaccine used for smallpox but it is not recommended for immune suppressed individuals.

·         The newer vaccine is called Jynneos in the US, and Imnavex (manufactured by Danish Biotecnology company Bavarian Nordic) in Europe. It is an attenuated (weakened), nonreplicating live virus vaccine.

·         The US’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that this vaccine can be administered to pregnant or immune-suppressed individuals.