Impact of Unclean Biofuels in Rural India

A study based on a survey of 15,293 rural households from 148 villages in three states of rural North India and one state in South India shows the importance of clean fuels. Following data was collected (Parikh Jyoti et al (2005)):

• Symptoms of diseases related to air and water pollution
• Expenditure on health.
• Person days lost.
• Demographic and socio-economic information.
• Measurements of air quality in the kitchen, outside the kitchen and the home were collected.
• Indicators for respiratory functions (Peak Expiratory Flow) were measured for most of the adults present at the time of the survey. 

The study estimated that• 96% of rural households used biomass energy, 11% use kerosene and 5% use LPG for cooking.• 314 Mt of bio-fuels are gathered annually, mostly by women, this may lead to a rural girl child to forgo her education.• 85 million households spend 30 billion hours annually in fuel wood gathering.• Respiratory symptoms are prevalent among 24 million adults of which 17 million have serious symptoms. Again mostly women due to their work being mostly indoors.• 5% of adults suffer from Bronchial asthma, 16% from Bronchitis, 8.2% from Pulmonary TB and 7% from Chest infection.
Net Economic Impact :

Total economic burden of unclean biomass fuel was estimated to be Rs.299 billion using a wage rate of Rs.60 per day multiplied by the no of houres used to gather primary fuel.

The study considers the opportunity cost of gathering fuel, working days lost due to eye infections and respiratory diseases, and the cost of medicine.

Women were found to be the primary sufferers of the adverse impact of use of biomass fuels. Gender and energy issues have remained on the periphery of energy policy, and require greater attention and backing.

Calculating friction factor using colebrook equation

Colebrook equation can be used for calculation of  friction factor in the pipes.The implicit form of the equation can be solved for (Re>4000) using Newton-Raphson Method.Following code can be used to solve the equation iteratively.


"D=.1; %diameter
Q=6;%flow
d=1;% density
u=.001;%viscocity
Vel=Q/(.25*pi*D^2); % velocity
Re=D*Vel*d/u % Reynolds number
f=64/Re; % initial guess
e=.0021;%roughness
ee=e/D
er=1;
n=1;
while er>1e-6
F =( 1/sqrt(f)+2*(log10( (e/(3.7*D))+(2.51/(Re*sqrt(f))))));
H=((e/(3.7*D))+(2.51/(Re*sqrt(f))));
G= -.5*f^-1.5+(.8686*( -1.255/(Re*f^1.5)))/H;
h=-F/G;
fn=f+h;
er=fn-f;
n=n+1;
f=fn;
end
n
er
fn
The next post will be on calculating exit velocity in a circular pipe.

Small Hydel project Sites in India

Small Hydel projects have some definite advantages like small investment required. Low or no impact to environment, low investment for transmission infrastructure and can meet local needs.These projects have low gestation periods and are good for remote localities.

The total installed capacity of small hydro power projects (up to 25 MW) as on 31.03.2007 is 1975 MW from 602 projects and 219 projects with aggregate capacity of 650 MW are under construction.

sr.No	Name of State	Identified no of sites	Total Capacity in MW
1	Andhra Pradesh	377	250.50
2	ArunachalPradesh	452	1243.47
2	Assam	40	119.54
4	Bihar	74	149.35
5	Chhatisgarh	132	482.82
6	Goa	4	4.60
7	Gujarat	287	186.37
8	Haryana	23	36.55
9	Himachal Pradesh	457	2019.03
10	Jammu Kashmir	208	1294.43
11	Jharkhand	89	170.05
12	Karnataka	468	1940.31
13	Kerala	207	455.53
14	Madhya Pradesh	85	336.33
15	Maharashtra	221	484.50
16	Manipur	99	91.75
17	Meghalaya	90	197.32
18	Mizoram	53	135.93
19	Nagaland	84	149.31
20	Orissa	206	217.99
21	Punjab	204	270.18
22	Rajasthan	55	27.82
23	Sikkim	70	214.33
24	Tamil Nadu	155	373.46
25	Tripura	10	30.85
26	Uttar Pradesh	211	267.06
27	Uttaranchal	354	1478.24
28	West Bengal	141	213.50
29	A&N Island	5	1.15
	TOTAL	4861	12,841.81

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