Climate change and Earth Hour: What is the connection?

Lets take a look at the climate change and meaning behind the Earth Hour:
To begin with Climate Change which is a phenomenon which takes place when green house gases (the most common amongst which is CO2) that are released into the atmosphere, form a layer preventing the heat from the earth’s surface to be reflected back to the sun. This phenomenon popularly known as the ‘greenhouse effect’ causes the earth’s temperature to rise, giving way to many potentially catastrophic changes in weather patterns, oceanic currents, rainfall patterns etc.


Before going into further details lets try to analyse who/what factors are responsible to these. There are essentially five greenhouse gases that are most commonly observed in the atmosphere. These include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, water vapor and cfc’s. The sectors responsible for the emissions of these gases can be informally divided into the: the power sector, industrial sector, transport sector and household sector.


How does the power sector contribute to the release of co2 in the atmosphere?
From amongst all these sectors the power sector contributes 50% of India’s carbon emissions. In India, coal fired power plants dominate the power generation capacity. This makes the power sector extremely pollution intensive since coal as a source of energy has a very high global warming potential. In India 53% of the installed capacity and 70-80% of generation of power is from coal fired power plants The share of renewable sources of energy in the power sector such as wind, solar, geothermal etc comprises only a mere 7.7%. These sources of energy are not only renewable but also clean.


How can the power sector reduce its co2 emissions?
Thus the need of the hour is to look at ways which can help in the mitigation of, and adaptation to climate change. From amongst the mitigation options available to a country
Shift to low carbon sources of energy: One option for mitigation is to shift dependence away from fossil fuel ( coal, oil and natural gas) based power generation towards generating power through renewable and cleaner sources of energy such as wind, solar, geothermal etc. However this shift is expensive because the technology is not readily available or extremely costly to purchase and therefore cannot be implemented in the short term without adequate financial and technical assistance from the developed world.
Become more efficient in your use of energy: That is, to use less energy to provide the same level of energy services, for example, by using energy efficient appliances or investing in insulation to prevent heat loss in buildings thus reducing the energy used for heating.
Adopt an energy saving attitude: Use energy only when it is absolutely essential and not be wasteful in its use. This is the messaging of the Earth Hour, an initiative that hopes to instill behavioral change in the energy consuming attitude of people by asking them to use their power efficiently and switch off the non essential lights and other energy consumer devices when not in use.

NASSCOM

NASSCOM is the premier trade body and the chamber of commerce of the IT-BPO industries in India. NASSCOM is a global trade body with more than 1200 members, which include both Indian and multinational companies that have a presence in India. NASSCOM's member and associate member companies are broadly in the business of software development, software services, software products, consulting services, BPO services, e-commerce & web services, engineering services offshoring and animation and gaming. NASSCOM’s membership base constitutes over 95% of the industry revenues in India and employs over 2.24 million professionals.
NASSCOM was set up in 1988, at Mumbai to facilitate business and trade in software and services and to encourage advancement of research in software technology. It is a not-for-profit organization, registered under the Indian Societies Act, 1860. Currently, NASSCOM is headquartered in New Delhi, India with regional offices in the cities of Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kolkata and Pune.

Aims and Objectives

NASSCOM aims to drive the overall growth of the global offshoring market and maintain India’s leadership position, by taking up the role of a strategic advisor to the industry. NASSCOM’s varied strengths include advocacy on public policy, international trade development, research and market intelligence services, and access to an international network through 20 MoUs and linkages with 40 industry associations across the globe. This enables NASSCOM to advise members – both established and emerging companies to further their growth.

Other goals include accelerating trade development efforts, improving talent supply, strengthening local infrastructure, building partnerships and driving operational excellence. It also boosts the process of Innovation; IT workforce development and enhanced cyber security.

NASSCOM’s seven fold strategy towards achieving these objectives:

1. Strengthen the brand equity of India as a premier global sourcing destination
2. Partner with Government of India and State Governments in formulating IT policies and legislation. Partner with global stakeholders for promoting the industry in global markets
3. Strive for a thought leadership position and deliver world-class research and strategic inputs for the industry and its stakeholders
4. Expand the quantity and quality of the talent pool in India
5. Continuous engagement with all member companies and stakeholders to devise strategies to achieve shared aspirations for the industry and the country.
6. Encourage and facilitate members to uphold world class quality and service delivery standards
7. Aim to uphold Intellectual Property Rights

NASSCOM Assessment of Competence (NAC)

In line with this rationale the NASSCOM Assessment of Competence (NAC) is an Assessment and Certification framework to ensure a steady supply of quality professionals to meet the present and future requirements of the IT-BPO industry. NAC aims to create a robust and continuous pipeline of talent through a standard assessment and certification. It also helps to provide insights into the training and development needs of talent and helps, Governments and Universities develop customized talent development initiatives and programs. This framework is available for IT industry (NAC-Tech) and BPO (NAC).

NASSCOM Foundation(NF)

It was instituted with the aim to use information and communication technologies for development (ICT for D) and to catalyse the corporate social responsibility (CSR) arena within the Indian IT industry. Through the implementation of the diverse range of programmes NASSCOM Foundation is addressing its goal of taking information and communication tools to underserved communities across the country as well as channelising the immense potential of the IT industry towards socio-economic development of the nation.

UNIX History

Difference between Computer Science Engineering(CSE) and Information Technology(IT)

Ok, coming to the buzz words of Software Industry. The words which are commonly understood by many i guess as same.
Lets start with Computer Science Engineering, in simple terms i can say CSE is ALL ABOUT COMPUTERS includes both hardware and software. It deals with the computer's design & architecture, different Operating systems, different programming languages etc. Main focus stays on understanding how computer works and how to make it work in better way in understanding its core concepts.


Now lets move to Information Technology which deals with how to make or use this computer in various fields which help in day-to-day operations. It deals with communications side accomplished using computer technology, how well the given work can be completed with the help of computer. Main focus stays on how to get work done with the implement of the computer.

Differences between Engineering(B.E) & Engineering Technology(B.Tech)

The National Society of Professional Engineers describes the difference between engineering and engineering technology:

"The distinction between engineering and engineering technology emanates primarily from differences in their educational programs. Engineering programs are geared toward development of conceptual skills, and consist of a sequence of engineering fundamentals and design courses, built on a foundation of complex mathematics and science courses. Engineering technology programs are oriented toward application, and provide their students introductory mathematics and science courses, and only a qualitative introduction to engineering fundamentals.
Thus, engineering programs provide their graduates a breadth and depth of knowledge that allows them to function as designers. Engineering technology programs prepare their graduates to apply others' designs."

B.E and B.Tech are very similar, looking from non-engineering perspective, but they are apple and orange. They are both engineering, but different kind. The plain engineering is more of theoretical based research, while engineering technology is more of application engineering, hands on engineering. There are some calculations involved in engineering technology, but not as a ground breaking as plain engineering. B.E is mostly theoretical. In B.Tech its more practically approach is done in study.

There is close interrelation among science, engineering and technology. Each one depends on other two fields.
Lets see each of them in detail.

Science has the following characteristics
1. Science is the understanding and continuous exploration of the natural world. In short, it is a study of "As Is". For this sometimes, it uses outcome of both engineering and technology.
2. A body of knowledge
3. Seeks to describe and understand the natural world and its physical properties
4. Scientific knowledge can be used to make predictions
5. Science uses a process--the scientific method--to generate knowledge.
 Some of the examples are nuclear science (study of properties and other characteristics of nuclear material available in the nature), space science (study of properties and other characteristics of extra territorial objects in the space) etc.

Engineering has the following characteristics
1. Application of knowledge gained via science and the outcome of technology to solve a problem or meet a need i.e. by using these it designs, develops, and manufactures the end product.
2. Design under constraint
3. Seeks solutions for societal problems and needs
4. Aims to produce the best solution given resources and constraints
5. Engineering uses a process--the engineering design process--to produce solutions and technologies
6. Engineering normally involves detailed analysis and design that results in the creation of machines, structures, processes, materials, and information for the benefit of society.

Technology has the following characteristics
1. Technology is applying the outcome of scientific principles and engineering products to innovate and improve the man-made things in the world. The output of Technology is a new or better process of doing.
2. Utilization of processes and products made via engineering, or the specific processes or products themselves.
3. The body of knowledge, processes, and artifacts that result from engineering
4. Almost everything made by humans to solve a need is a technology
5. Examples of technology include pencils, shoes, cell phones, and processes to treat water

Example: The first understanding of steam as a form of water power capable of opening up a tightly closed tea-kettle lid is science. Then the making of a steam boiler prototype in a laboratory by continuous experimentation and finally arriving at the most efficient process is an example of technology. Later, manufacturing the steam boiler in a factory and rolling it out for use comes under engineering.

Finally we can conclude that Engineering provides feedback to technology to innovate or improve better ways of doing. Inputs from technological innovation allow science to explore other natural phenomenon.
In the real world, these three disciplines are closely connected. Scientists often use technologies created by engineers to conduct their research. In turn, engineers often use knowledge developed by scientists to inform the design of the technologies they create.