Biography
Mrinal K. Ghose
West Bengal University of Technology, India
Challenges in delinking economic growth and environmental degradation for sustainable development
Abstract:
Energy security means ensuring that a country can supply lifeline energy to all its citizens at affordable cost. The paper discusses the impacts of climate change based on the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC it puts small islands into a category of their own owing to particular vulnerabilities. Electricity , fuel for transportation sector and energy resources for other human activities are required to be for economic development and in a sustainable manner without degrading the environment and causing climate change The world electricity demand is likely to increase by almost 80% during the next 25 years with China and India accounting for major share. Fossil fuels will continue to dominate the power sector but their share will decline and substituted by carbon-free renewable energy ,including hydro, solar and wind. In addition increasing penetration of low carbon technology deployment of gas-based generation in place of coal, supercritical and ultra supercritical boilers and CO2 sequestration will also help in minimizing CO2 emission. However, even in spite of all these, the CO2 emission from the power sector will rise 13.2 Gtons in 2012 to 15.4 Gtons in 2040, raising of 40% global emission over the period. Nuclear fission energy has a relatively short history of some 60 years but has emerged as an economically attractive and reliable primary energy source of energy for base-load electricity with minimum carbon foot print. Presently nuclear power reactors contribute 11% of global electricity but it is projected to increase by 60% from the present level 375 GWe to 624 GWe by 2040 In fast neutron breed reactors (FBD) and integrated ‘closed’ fuel cycle will enable multiple recycling of actinides that will ensure of natural U resources and minimize the long term radio-toxicity of high active waste for permanent underground disposal. This paper covers present and projected world scenario of energy and the associated of climate change, highlighting the prospects and challenges of nuclear energy for generation of electricity, hydrogen fuel for the transportation sector and desalination.. The upcoming small modular reactors (SMR) and the nuclear power and related fuel cycle program in India are also discussed.
Biography:
Mrinal K. Ghose, PhD, D Sc, is currently an Emeritus Professor in West Bengal University of Technology , Kolkata, India. He was a consultant with the Asian Development Bank in Hanoi,V ietnum where he was an International Expert on power plant projects and Team Leader by Asian Development Bank, Vietnam. He formerly was with the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering at the Indian School of Mines in Dhanbad. Dr. Ghose carried out his doctoral research in chemistry and his postdoctoral research in environmental engineering at Jadavpur University. Dr. Ghose has made significant research contributions in many areas, including the geo-environmental reclamation of degraded mined land, development of shelf-life concepts for soil, small-scale mining, promoting cleaner production of mineral resources, socioeconomic aspects of mining projects, development of emission factors for the quantification of mine dust, development of factal analysis for determining the actual contribution and dispersion of air pollutants, development of air pollution indices for mining areas, methods for determining optimum sizes for tailing ponds, safe design and construction of tailing dams, resource recovery from wastes, pollutant dispersion models in river systems, design of lysimeter testing for the safe disposal of effluent to land for irrigated agriculture, and suitable options for the treatment of coke plant effluent. Dr. Ghose has been involved in active research for more than 30 years and has published over 615 research papers and written three monographs through German Publishers .
Between his long professional careers he underwent many professional courses, out of them one in Birmingham University
on “Environmental Management” and the other in Pennynsulvania University on “Solid Waste Technology and Management”. At present he is actively involved in research on air pollution control, land reclamation and climate change
Dr. Ghose has made 22 Innovative developments , which have led to the grant of seven patents, with several others now in the process of review. He is a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Environmental Studies and the African Journal of Agricultural Research., International Journal of Geomantics and Geosciences , International Journal of Environmental Sciences He has received 16 Awards from different institutes/ organizations for his contribution to Environmental Science & Engineering.
Prof .Ghose handled more than 30 large consultancy projects, 25 R&D projects, conducted 11 Executive Development Programmes and guided a number of M.Tech., M.Sc. and PhD students. Dr. Ghose has widely traveled and visited 18 countries for academic purpose; invited as a Visiting Academic by the Australian National University, Canberra; Philippines Sustainable Development Network, Manila; Hanoi University, DST, HoChiMinh City; delivered Plenary lecture in Internal Symposium in Shanghai. Keynote lecture in Bangladesh ,invited lecture in IITs, different Universities/Institutes, invited by the Government of Tripura as a Sate Guest He is the Member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Environmental Studies, UK, Taylor& Francis Group Publisher; African Journal of Agricultural Research,; has been assigned as an International expert and Team leader by the Asian Development Bank for power plant projects in Vietnam, Prof. Ghose is having Google Scholar Citations 2507, h-index 26, i10 index 76 to his credit.