Environment & Ecology GK Questions with Answers – Page 10

The 2022 amendment to the Energy Conservation Act empowered the Central Government to specify a carbon credit trading scheme, to prescribe a minimum share of non-fossil energy for designated consumers, and to extend the building code to large residential buildings.

The code was drawn up by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency for new commercial buildings with a connected load of 100 kW or more, or a contract demand of 120 kVA or more, and it prescribes requirements for the building envelope, lighting, air conditioning, water heating and electrical systems.

PAT gives each designated consumer a target to reduce its specific energy consumption over a cycle; a plant that overshoots the target earns ESCerts and may sell them on the power exchanges to a plant that has fallen short, which turns efficiency into a tradable commodity.

The Ministry of Power observes National Energy Conservation Day on this date every year, and the national energy conservation awards are given to industries, buildings and institutions that have cut their energy use.

ISEER measures the total cooling an air conditioner delivers over a cooling season divided by the electricity it consumes in that season, so it reflects part-load working in the Indian climate rather than performance at one fixed temperature; a higher ISEER means a more efficient machine, and the star bands…

The correct answer is B, Energy Efficiency Services Limited, a joint venture of public sector undertakings under the Ministry of Power that procures LED bulbs and street lights in bulk and recovers the cost from consumers or from the savings in a municipality's electricity bill.

The programme began as the Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme and was launched under the UJALA name on 5 January 2015, selling LED bulbs, tubelights and efficient ceiling fans to domestic consumers at a price far below the retail rate.

The star label places an appliance in a band from one star to five stars on the basis of its energy performance, so a five-star model is the most efficient and will show the lowest annual energy consumption in its size class.

BEE is an attached statutory body of the Ministry of Power, and its Governing Council is chaired by the Union Minister of Power.

That Act created the Bureau of Energy Efficiency as a statutory body and gave it the power to prescribe efficiency standards, run the labelling programme and prepare the building code; the Bureau came into existence on 1 March 2002 under the Ministry of Power.

The London Convention of 1972, formally the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter, controls the deliberate disposal of waste at sea from ships, aircraft and platforms, prohibiting the most hazardous categories outright and allowing others only under permit; its later Protocol tightened…

A containment boom is a floating barrier with a skirt below the waterline and floats above it, towed or anchored around a slick to hold the oil in a smaller area so that it can be recovered and kept away from beaches, mangroves and water intakes.

Sustainable Development Goal 14, Life Below Water, commits countries to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources, with targets on reducing marine pollution from land-based activities, protecting coastal ecosystems, addressing ocean acidification, ending overfishing and conserving coastal and marine areas.

Oilzapper is a consortium of oil-degrading bacteria developed by the institute and used as bioremediation: the bacteria break the hydrocarbons in crude oil and oily sludge into harmless products, which makes it a cheap, low-waste option for contaminated soil at refineries and spill sites.

The hydrogen ions released when carbonic acid dissociates combine with carbonate ions to form bicarbonate, so the pool of free carbonate shrinks.

Oil spill response in Indian waters runs under the National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan, and the Coast Guard is its central coordinating agency, working with major ports, state governments, oil companies and the Navy on reporting, containment with booms, recovery with skimmers, use of dispersants and shoreline clean-up.

MARPOL is the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, adopted in 1973 and modified by the Protocol of 1978, and it is the main pollution instrument of the International Maritime Organization.

The tanker Exxon Valdez struck a reef in Prince William Sound in 1989, releasing crude oil that coated a long stretch of a cold, sheltered coastline where oil breaks down slowly, and killing large numbers of seabirds, sea otters and salmon.

Eutrophication begins with nitrogen and phosphorus from fertiliser, detergent and sewage. The nutrients feed an algal bloom; the bloom is short-lived, and when it dies the bacteria that decompose the mass consume large amounts of dissolved oxygen.

Microplastics are conventionally defined as plastic particles less than five millimetres across.