The CFL conundrum
Published: Nov 30, 2013
Photo: Prasad
All CFL packs declare that it saves 80 per cent energy. Yet, not one specifies its mercury content.
Abstract: Though CFLs consume a fifth of the energy required by incandescent lamps, they contain highly toxic mercury. The absence of fixed standards for mercury content and the lack of disposal norms, even a decade after CFLs were introduced in India, mean there are huge quantities of mercury lying in our waste, seeping into our atmosphere and entering our food chain.
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Term Power
What is ...
A mega city is defined as an area with total population in excess of 10 million people. Mega cities experience rapid growth, vertical density of population, tertiary economic activity as well as poverty, crime, and indifferent social systems. Delhi, Mumbai are examples of mega cities in India.
An unplanned, unstructured, outward spread of a large city largely as a result of low cost land being available for development at the peripheral areas.
Highly congested urban areas marked by bad housing, poor sanitation, unsafe drinking water, poverty, and social disorganisation.
Those who settle on public or unoccupied land, without any right or title. It is similar to slums in the sense that squatters are also marked by poor housing quality and congestion, except here the interpretation is based on ownership status.
A geographical region in a particular country designed to boost exports and provide employment; they possess favourable economic regulations different from the rest of the country.
The process where a city, or part of a city, suffers from disrepair or decay over time. It is largely a phenomenon of western cities.
The method of human waste disposal for the cleanliness and health of humans and protection of the environment in terms of soil, water and air.
From the 1971 Census the definition adopted for an urban area are (a) all places with a Municipality, Corporation or Cantonment or Notified Town Area (b) all other places which satisfied the following criteria: (i) a minimum population of 5,000. (ii) at least 75 per cent of the male working population was non-agricultural. (iii) a density of population of at least 400 per sq km (1000 per sq m).