KYOTO PROTOCOL ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Background

Countries with commitments under the Kyoto Protocol to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions must meet their targets primarily through national measures. As an additional means of meeting these targets, the Kyoto Protocol introduced three market-based mechanisms, thereby creating what is now known as the “carbon market.” 

The Kyoto mechanisms are:
1 Emissions Trading
2 The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)
3 Joint Implementation (JI)

The Kyoto mechanisms:
Stimulate sustainable development through technology transfer and investment
Help countries with Kyoto commitments to meet their targets by reducing emissions or removing carbon from the atmosphere in other countries in a cost-effective way
Encourage the private sector and developing countries to contribute to emission reduction efforts



JI and CDM are the two project-based mechanisms which feed the carbon market. JI enables industrialized countries to carry out joint implementation projects with other developed countries, while the CDM involves investment in sustainable development projects that reduce emissions in developing countries.



The carbon market is a key tool for reducing emissions worldwide. It was worth 30 billion USD in 2006 and is growing.

Annex I Parties must provide information in their national communications under the Protocol to demonstrate that their use of the mechanisms is “supplemental to domestic action” to achieve their targets. This information is assessed by the facilitative branch of the Compliance Committee

Eligibility requirements

To participate in the mechanisms, Annex I Parties must meet, among others, the following eligibility requirements:

o They must have ratified the Kyoto Protocol.


o They must have calculated their assigned amount in terms of tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions.


o They must have in place a national system for estimating emissions and removals of greenhouse gases within their territory.


o They must have in place a national registry to record and track the creation and movement of ERUs, CERs, AAUs and RMUs and must annually report such information to the secretariat.


o They must annually report information on emissions and removals to the secretariat.


ADMIN: LAV

HAPPY EARTH DAY

Earth Day is an annual day on which events are held worldwide to demonstrate support for environmental protection. Earth Day is observed on April 22 each year. The April 22 date was designated as International Mother Earth Day by a consensus resolution adopted by the United Nations in 2009.

R.I.P. Human computer & Great Mathematician Shakuntala Devi

She found a slot in the Guiness Book of World Record for her outstanding ability and wrote numerous books like Fun with Numbers, Astrology for You, Puzzles to Puzzle You, and Mathablit. She had the ability to tell the day of the week of any given date in the last century in a jiffy.

In 1977, Ms. Devi extracted the 23rd root of a 201-digit number mentally.

On June 18, 1980 she demonstrated the multiplication of two 13-digit numbers 7,686,369,774,870 x 2,465,099,745,779 picked at random by the Computer Department of Imperial College, London. She answered the question in 28 seconds.



Ms. Shakuntala Devi died at 83 which is a prime number. On 21.04.2013. Sum of digits, 13. Again a Prime number. Numbers rule. Numbers live.
By: Arpit Vaishnavi
https://www.facebook.com/MathsByAmiya/posts/541421569243297

Via: The Hindu
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/mathematical-genius-shakuntala-devi-no-more/article4640134.ece

July 12 : Malala Day "Girls Education"

Courtesy : ToI Ranchi Edition, April 20 , 2013

Did You Know

Aryabhata

Aryabhata, India’s first satellite, was successfully launched into a near earth orbit on 19 April 1975, from a USSR cosmodrome. The launch of the satellite proved India’s indigenous capability in satellite technology. The satellite also included three scientific experiments. The launch of the satellite not only proved the India’s capability but also created  the expert scientists and engineers who  contributed significantly in launching India’s first mission to Moon, Chandrayaan-I.

Objectives of the Aryabhata Mission,

• Indigenous design and fabrication of a satellite and the evaluation of its performance in orbit
• To have the capability to perform a series of complex operations on the satellite in the orbit
• To have the capability to set-up the necessary ground stations required to communicate with the satellite.
• To test the capability to fabricate, test and qualify the sophisticated spacecraft systems.

Technical Details:

• Total satellite weight – 358 kg
• The capability to maintain the internal temperature between 0 and 40o C.
• Body-mounted silicon solar panels and rechargeable Ni-Cd chemical batteries.
• A PCM/FM/PM down link for communication.
• Total of 91 parameters were monitored
• Real-time data transmission at the rate of 256 bits/sec.
• Non-real time date transmission at the rate of 2560 bits/sec.
• Carrier frequency for the down-link was137.44MHz.
• Carrier frequency for the up link was 148.25MHz.
• Doppler, interferometry and tone ranging systems were used to for the satellite tracking purpose

Scientific experiments:

• X-ray astronomy
  • To investigate celestial x-ray sources primarily in relation to their time variation effect in energy range of 2.5-150 Kev.
• Solar neutrons and gamma rays
  • To detect high energy neutrons and gamma rays from the sun both during quiet times and flares.
• Aeronomy
  • To detect super thermal electrons up to 100ev and to measure the intensities of Lyman alpha and oxygen line at F-region altitudes of the earth’s ionosphere

However, ISRO was forced to switch-off these three experiments due to problems with the power supply.

Some of the experiments successfully conducted were,

• Voice transmission experiment
• Transmission of weather data

A ground station was also set up at Sriharikota near Madras for command and tracking purpose. The satellite was fabricated at HAL, Bangalore. The most of the components used to build the satellite were imported. However, ISRO did gain valuable experience in thermal and power control systems, stabilization and attitude sensor systems, orbiter prediction, telemetry, tracking and telecommand through in-orbit operation and experiment. It was in the orbit till 11 April, 1981.

Source: http://www.indianspacestation.com/space-alphabet/82-aryabhata.html

For Maths Lover: THE PALINDROME Calculation