Current Affair 1:

India launched world's first prototype of the BS 6 Stage II ‘Electrified Flex Fuel Vehicle

 

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari launched the world’s first prototype of the BS-6 Stage II ‘Electrified Flex Fuel Vehicle’ developed by Toyota Kirloskar Motor.

Now see why Electrified Flex Fuel Vehicles were introduced?

A flexible fuel vehicle (FFV), as its name implies, has the flexibility of running on more than one type of fuel.

FFVs have an internal combustion engine and are capable of operating on gasoline and any blend of gasoline and ethanol/methanol. FVs provide an opportunity of greater substitution of petrol by ethanol as it is capable of using any of the higher blends of ethanol mix from 20 per cent up to 100 percent.

But,

the challenge with Flex Fuel Vehicles is the lower fuel efficiency of ethanol due to its lower energy density. To counter this challenge, Electrified Flex Fuel Vehicles are being introduced, as an advanced green technology that has both the flex-fuel internal combustion engine (ICE) as well as an electric powertrain.

As such, Electrified Flex Fuel Vehicles provide the twin benefit of higher fuel substitution (with ethanol) as well as good fuel efficiency, due to the high ratio of electric mode driving.

While Electrified Flex Fuel Vehicle technology was introduced in Brazil in 2019, the emission norms followed there are lower than BS 6.

The Electrified Flex Fuel Vehicle uses minimal advanced chemistry batteries (~ 1.3-1.5 kWhr vs. 40-60 kWhr for battery electric vehicles – BEV), thus guarding against the negative impact of high imports of cells and cell raw material, considering possible geo-political supply risks.

Current Affair 2:

Dying corals in Gulf of Mannar.

 

Kurusadai (map given below) is one of the 21 uninhabited islands that form the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park.

Being a protected area, tourism was not allowed in the national park until March 2022, when Kurusadai opened its doors to tourists (the other 20 islands are still closed for visitors).

One of the prime threats that killed the corals near Kurusadai is Kappaphycus alvarezii, a seaweed (alga) species deliberately introduced near for commercial cultivation some two decades ago. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists it as one of the world’s 100 most invasive species.

The seaweed is dangerous because it grows fast, doubling its size in 15-30 days, and seeks out live corals to thrive on — unlike native seaweeds, which typically grow on dead corals.

In 2021, India cultivated around 34,000 tonnes of seaweed, as per the Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute.

National research institutes and companies are for increased cultivation of Kappaphycus to improve livelihoods, profits and to reduce India’s import of kappa-carrageenan, a polysaccharide extracted from the alga that finds use in industrial gums and as a smoothening agent in ice cream, toothpaste, jellies, medicines and paint.

Current Affair 3:

Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)

 

News:

The tenth plenary of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES10) released in Bonn, Germany.

About:

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is an independent intergovernmental body established by States to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human well-being and sustainable development.

It was established in Panama City, on 21 April 2012 by 94 Governments.  It is not a United Nations body. 

However, at the request of the IPBES Plenary and with the authorization of the UNEP Governing Council in 2013, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) provides secretariat services to IPBES.

A large number of NGOs, organizations, conventions and civil society groupings also participate in the formal IPBES process as observers.

Current Affair 4:

Flora, fauna and FUNGA

 

News:

Recently, United Nations Biodiversity has urged people globally to use the word ‘funga’ whenever they say ‘flora and fauna’, in order to highlight the importance of fungi.

Why Fungi?

1. Yeasts are fungi and without them there would be no bread, beer, wine, chocolate, coffee, and more. Furthermore, they are a nutritious food source, which help to strengthen the immune system.
2. They are carbon reservoirs of nature, and play a vital role in the prevention of accelerated climate change. Thanks to their mutualistic relationship with trees, they receive carbon from them through the roots, which helps them grow. Thus, carbon is kept in the mycelium (underground) and not in the atmosphere.
3. Through decomposition they recycle all organic matter on the planet! There are fungi that can even decompose plastic and petrochemicals.
4. They are excellent remediators, capable of cleaning up toxic waste such as oil or converting radiation into chemical energy for growth. There are fungi that remove copper, zinc, iron, cadmium, lead and nickel from aqueous solutions through absorption.
5. Much of life on land is dependent on plants' interactions with mycorrhizal fungi, which expand the amount of soil that trees can explore with their roots by using their network of filaments (mycelium) to reach into smaller pores, allowing trees to access water and nutrients that would otherwise be unavailable to them.

 

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