Satellite data show potential of rice straw as bioenergy

Milap Punia from the Center for the Study of Regional Development at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, and Vinod Prasad Nautiya and Yogesh Kant, both from the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, first sketch the scale and seriousness of the current practise: setting fire to millions of tonnes of crop residues releases vast amounts of greenhouse and trace gases (CH4, CO, N2O, NOx), which heavily contribute to global warming and result in perturbations to regional atmospheric chemistry. The resulting air pollution is an important health hazard for Punjab's population. Weather patterns can change because of the aerosols that enter the atmosphere as a result of the burning.
Reference Report