Application of Carbon Footprint in Mining Industry

Abstract

Reportedly, India is the world’s third biggest greenhouse emitter and thus it needs to bat for some serious mitigation actions to curb its contribution to global warming. It is quite evident that the trending global warming menace is a consequence of the reckless anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Therefore, in order to control it we need to keep a track of these emissions. Such an estimation of approximate values of CO2 emissions along with few major greenhouse gases pertaining to the corresponding activity is referred to as Carbon Footprint of that activity. Mining is an indispensable activity that caters the supply of raw materials for other industries to produce the final product. Mining itself utilises enormous amount of energy in form of electricity and fuels for machineries. Thus emissions from mining cannot be neglected, since it contributes significantly to the bludgeoning global warming. This project presents a case study of application of Carbon footprint in two Indian Mines to estimate the approximate emissions of CO2, NO2 and CH4 as ‘CO2 – equivalent’ in those mines to emphasise on the use of carbon footprint in mining industries. It also illuminates the various problems encountered while carrying out the estimations and suggests measures to improve the estimation and control of these emissions such as use of solar energy in lieu of conventional fuel based energy and regular maintenance of the mining machineries so that fuel is burnt efficiently releasing lesser emissions. It also proposes methodology to carry out carbon footprint in mines in a uniform manner so that comparison of different mines is easy. It also proposes a methodology to estimate the emission factor for HEMM used in mines in Indian working conditions.