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India Today
22-05-2025
- Science
- India Today
Drop in Pune's ability to absorb carbon is a wakeup call for most Indian cities
Pune, one of India's fastest-growing urban centers, has witnessed a dramatic 34% decline in its carbon sequestration capacity over the past decade, according to a new study by MIT-World Peace University (MIT-WPU) and Sustaina Greens research, led by Dr. Pankaj Koparde and Pratiksha Chalke, highlights the environmental cost of the city's rapid expansion, with built-up areas increasing by 12% between 2013 and surge in urban development has come at the expense of Pune's green cover, significantly reducing the city's ability to absorb carbon dioxide—a major greenhouse gas driving climate change. The study, published in the journal Sustainable Futures, also found a 13% drop in Pune's flood mitigation potential, attributed to the disruption of natural drainage systems and unchecked construction along riversides and changes have heightened the city's vulnerability to flooding, especially as erratic monsoon patterns become more frequent. The study points to the importance of preserving Pune's native landscapes its hills, rivers, and wetlands. (Photo: Getty) Dr. Koparde emphasized the crucial role of Pune's native landscapes—its hills, rivers, and wetlands—which historically have acted as natural buffers against carbon emissions, heat, and results underline the irreplaceable role of native geological and ecological features such as urban hills and wetlands in maintaining urban environmental health. As tropical metro cities like Pune expand, sustainable development can only be achieved by leveraging these native assets rather than undermining them,' he study calls for urgent policy interventions, including the protection and restoration of urban hills, wetlands, and riverside green buffers. It advocates for the adoption of ecosystem service valuation models and integrated urban planning frameworks to ensure that future growth is both ecologically balanced and R. M. Chitnis, Vice-Chancellor of MIT-WPU, described the findings as a wake-up call for all rapidly urbanising Indian cities.'Science must guide policy, and sustainability must be central to all development. It is imperative that urban planning prioritizes ecological preservation alongside progress,' he cities across India and the Global South grapple with climate change and urbanization, Pune's experience serves as a critical case study in balancing growth with environmental Watch
India Today
22-04-2025
- Science
- India Today
Could sugarcane juice power your car? An Indian team is working to make it possible
As the world continues to look at new alternatives to fossil fuel, your car of the future could have a fuel source extracted from sugarcane fuels are the main source of energy used by humans today. But using too much of them is causing these fuels to run out and creating serious environmental problems. At the same time, the energy demand is growing quickly as the world's economy grows and the population estimate that by 2040, global energy use will increase by 48% compared to what it was in 2012. To reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and meet this growing energy need, we must find a new fuel that is plentiful, renewable, and better for the environment. Sugarcane juice is being used to extract clean hydrogen. (Photo: Sibu Tripathi) This green alternative is hydrogen, which could be extracted from sugarcane juice, and India is one of the biggest producers of sugarcane in the at the Pune-based MIT-World Peace University have devised a unique method to extract hydrogen from sugarcane juice that could be then used as a fuel to power hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCVs), which use hydrogen gas to generate patented technology has been successfully used to extract over 140 litres of hydrogen from four litres of sugarcane team is using an undisclosed microorganism, which also converts carbon dioxide into acetic acid, making it more university has developed an innovative bioprocess that uses sugarcane juice, along with seawater and wastewater, to extract green hydrogen — all at room approach stands out from conventional water-splitting methods by not only lowering energy requirements but also producing valuable byproducts, resulting in zero waste discharge. Researchers at the Pune-based MIT-World Peace University have devised the unique method. (Photo: Sibu Tripathi) "The process supports the global push to bring down the cost of hydrogen to $1 per kilogram, making it a promising solution for India's clean energy transition. The team is now looking for industry partners to help scale the technology from the lab to real-world applications through collaboration and technology transfer,". Dr Bharat Kale, Emeritus Professor & Director of the Material Science Department at MIT-WPU university aims to support industries in scaling up the technology, which could be commercially viable within a the process is unique, it still takes over three to four days to extract the hydrogen from the given sample of sugarcane university is now looking to scale up the production in collaboration with private players.(The author visited MIT-WPU on an familiarisation invitation from the university)Must Watch
