Sustainability Outlook Headlines

$400-billion investments likely for 24x7 power supply

The Narendra Modi-led government’s ambitious plan to provide 24x7 power to all in the country by 2019 would involve investments of around $400 billion (about Rs. 24 lakh crore) in India’s energy sector.

“I am looking at 1 billion tonne coal production, 100 giga watt (GW), or 100,000 mega watt (MW) of solar power capacity and investments of about $50 billion in the transmission and distribution segment in the next five years,” power and coal minister Piyush Goyal said at an event organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Saturday.

Around $100-... Read more..

Date : Dec 8

Source: Hindustan Times

Indian solar power market sees global fund flow

As Indian policy makers announce big-ticket projects and set huge targets for solar power capacity addition, global investors smell a huge opportunity.

US-based Morgan Stanley is likely to make a big investment in the solar space soon, likely in a +100-Mw project. So are other institutional investors such as IFC and Standard Chartered. Besides, Goldman Sachs, which invested about $375 million in Sumant Sinha-promoted ReNew Power, is looking to make more such investments in noted or upcoming companies in the clean energy space.

US Exim Bank, during Prime... Read more..

Date : Dec 8

Source: The Business Standard

India to showcase its commitment to renewable energy in Lima

India is planning to create a buzz around its renewable energy programme during the climate talks in Lima after the arrival of Minister of State for Environment Prakash Javadekar for the high level segment which begins on Tuesday.

In a booklet specially prepared for the occasion, it has set out its achievements for the world to see. During the past three decades, a significant thrust has been given to the development, trial and induction of a variety of renewable energy technologies for use in different sectors, the government said.

India today has one of the... Read more..

Date : Dec 8

Source: The Hindu

India to showcase its commitment to renewable energy in Lima

Date : Dec 8

Source: The Hindu

Rajasthan Draft Net Metering Regulation

Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (RERC) has recently notified draft regulation for Net Metering & small solar grid interactive systems. The regulation will come into force from the date of notification in the official Gazette.

The regulation will apply to the distribution licensee and the consumers of the licensee. The consumers in the area of distribution licensee are allowed to install rooftop systems under Net Metering arrangement for their internal use and are allowed to supply surplus energy into the distribution system.

Individual Project Capacities: The... Read more..

Date : Dec 5

Source: REConnect

Nine Asia Pacific cities join Rockefeller's resilience programme

Nine cities in Asia Pacific have been selected to join the 100 Resilient Cities network, a flagship initiative by The Rockefeller Foundation which aims to help cities become more resilient by offering technical and financial support.
Cities from the region that made it to the list of 35 cities this year are: Bangalore, India; Deyang and Hangshi from China; Phnom Penh, Cambodia; Singapore; Toyama, Japan; Sydney, Australia; and Wellington City, New Zealand.
Making the announcement on Wednesday at the Urban Resilience Summit in Singapore, the foundation’s president Judith Rodin... Read more..

Date : Dec 5

Source: Eco-Business

India Presents Itself as Investment Magnet for Spanish Businesses

More than 100 representatives from the Spanish and Indian public and private sectors got together Wednesday in Madrid to strengthen their countries' ties at a time when the Asian giant has become a global "centre of gravity" for development with huge opportunities for investment.

The two-day meeting is taking place within the framework of the 1st Spain-India Forum organised by the Spain-India Council Foundation under the theme, "Cities and Sustainable Transport for the Next Generations".

"The Forum is a magnificent opportunity to consolidate our bilateral... Read more..

Date : Dec 5

Source: SME Times

India’s climate change opportunity

India lags far behind rival China in wealth and development — and also in the amount of carbon dioxide it spews into the atmosphere. Indian leaders say this explains why they shouldn’t be expected to limit their greenhouse-gas output as China has just done. At global climate talks in Lima this week, they’ll probably also point out that 1 in 4 Indians still lacks electricity, so the country can’t afford any limits on economic growth.
In fact, India’s relatively low level of development is exactly why it stands to benefit from setting aggressive emissions targets. It means, first, that... Read more..

Date : Dec 5

Source: Bloomberg

Supernova Is India’s First Electric “Supercar”

With a population of 1.25 billion people but one of the lowest vehicle ownership rates in the world, India has tremendous market potential for automakers. Just what role electric cars will play in India’s growing economy is uncertain, but the country can now claim to have its first electric “supercar”, the Golden Arrow Supernova.

Why the quotation marks? Because in this case, what one can consider a supercar is all about perspective. There are just a handful of electric cars for sale in India right now, and not only are they not selling well, but some of the, barely qualify... Read more..

Date : Dec 5

Source: gas2

Power firms to increase focus on supercritical plants, green capacity

The government is planning to announce tougher carbon emission targets but Indian power companies are already ramping up focus on installing high-efficiency supercritical machines apart from boosting green energy generation capacities. Enhanced targets could push the goal post further.

The Indian government is likely to announce new, bigger and more effective climate change targets by January 2015 when US President Barack Obama visits the country. The announcement is likely to include an 'aspirational' peaking year for India's greenhouse gas emissions and stricter emission... Read more..

Date : Dec 5

Source: Business Standard

Oh shit! A Rs 150,617 crore business

India’s shit can generate 25 mn tonnes of bioCNG annually (36% of diesel consumption)
Biogas is finally beginning to attract some of the biggest names in the markets. Tata Power just announced that it has helped set up 36 biogas plants in and around Mundra in Gujarat. Scania, the Swedish truck and bus maker, has worked out a deal with farmers around Kolar in Karnataka, for putting all their rotting vegetables and fruit in a digestor which can produce upto 250 cubic metres of biogas a day.

There are other players too. Vinay Kore, of Warana, near Kolhapur, has set up one... Read more..

Date : Dec 5

Source: DNA

India to plant 2 BILLION trees along its highways, creating jobs for 300,000 youths

India's Rural Development Ministry has decided to try to tackle two problems at the same time: Youth unemployment and bad air quality. It has unveiled a plan to hire youths - potentially up to 300,000 - to plant 2 billion trees along the country's highways.
“The length of National Highways in the country is one lakh kilometer [about 62,137 miles]. I have asked officials to come out with a plan to plant 200 crore [2 billion] trees along these stretches which in turn would create jobs for the unemployed on the one hand and protect the environment on the other,” said Shipping and Rural... Read more..

Date : Dec 5

Source: Treehugger

Turning promises to cut emissions into a binding global deal

TO GET to the tent city in the grounds of Peru’s defence ministry, where UN climate talks are being held between December 1st and 12th, delegates and hangers-on must pass an assault course. Its obstacles of steep walls, ropes across ditches and parallel bars, normally used by soldiers, are a reminder of the difficulties that negotiators face if they are to forge a new treaty in Paris in a year’s time to avert destructive climate change. If the Paris meeting is to succeed, the Lima get-together—officially the 20th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change—... Read more..

Date : Dec 5

Source: The Economist

Should we make in India or in Bharat?

With a little push, rural small-scale industry can propel jobs and growth, while modernising farming as well.

The Make in India campaign seems to be focused on big industries in big cities. But it is time to see how micro, small and medium enterprises in rural India can be a force multiplier. Whenever anyone mentions the word ‘rural’, what springs to mind is farming. But more than 65 per cent of rural labour is engaged in non-farm livelihood activities, or the Rural Non-Farm Economy (RNFE).

The majority of rural labour is involuntarily engaged in low-skill, low... Read more..

Date : Dec 5

Source: BusinessLine

Event Round-up: Tattv, 2014

With the rapid growth of developing nations, and the unceasing usage of non-renewable resources, the environment as we know it has gone for a toss. There is a need for promulgating a governance structure that ensures the protection of the environment, while at the same time ensuring business growth. It is with this endeavor, that Symbiosis Institute of Operations Management, Nashik organized Tattv 2014 on 22nd November. The contemporary theme chosen for this year was ‘Sustainable Business Growth – Myth or Math’. Currently in its ninth consecutive year, Tattv is organized with the aim of... Read more..

Date : Dec 4

Source: Siom

VNIT organizes two-day training programme on ‘Building Sustainability and Retrofitting’

The Industry Institute Interaction Cell (I-I-I-C) of VNIT organized a two-day training programme on “Building Sustainability and Retrofitting” on November 28 & 29, 2014. Around 20 organizations and over 70 delegates attended the programme. The programme covered more than 10 technical and commercial sessions.

The two-day event covered various aspects including sustainable retrofit measures from architectural perspectives, sustainable construction materials like recycled products and energy efficient glass, water and waste water management techniques, municipal solid waste... Read more..

Date : Dec 4

Source: Nagour Today

Global Climate Risk Index 2015: Philippines, Cambodia and India most affected during the last year

The Philippines, Cambodia and India were most affected by extreme weather events in 2013. This is the result of this year’s Global Climate Risk Index, presented by the development and environmental organisation Germanwatch. “We all remember the images of the catastrophic Typhoon Haiyan, which wiped out entire regions and took the lives of more than 6000,” said Sönke Kreft, author of the study and Team Leader for International Climate Policy at Germanwatch. “It was the most severe tropical storm ever to make landfall. Last year, at the beginning of the Climate Summit in Warsaw, many people... Read more..

Date : Dec 4

Source: Germanwatch

Global Warming: Middle Way Out

Last month, US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping, shook hands and offered the press a good ‘photo op’. Obama announced that by 2025, US CO2 emissions would be 26-28 per cent lower than its 2005 levels. Xi Jinping announced CO2 emissions in China would not increase after 2030.

Developed nations know that large, emerging economies like China, India and Brazil are responsible for greater CO2 emissions than them, with China topping the list. The large, emerging economies on their part, know that on per capita basis, developed countries are responsible for... Read more..

Date : Dec 4

Source: The Free Press Journal

Hydel power: promises and pitfalls

India has had a long and notable history in hydel power. Its first hydroelectric power plant was commissioned in Karnataka way back in 1902. It has produced a number of distinguished hydro engineers, the foremost of whom must surely be M. Visvesvaraya who was bestowed the Bharat Ratna only a year after it was first awarded in 1954 to C. Rajagopalachari, S. Radhakrishnan and C.V. Raman. Engineer’s Day is celebrated every year on 15 September, the day Visvesvaraya was born. Another star in this galaxy was K.L. Rao, who was responsible for the Nagarjunasagar project in the Krishna basin in... Read more..

Date : Dec 4

Source: livemint

Betting on green

India, as per a news report, will soon be announcing a target for cutting greenhouse gas emission, including an “aspirational” year of peak emissions. With it, we would have set a template for other developing nations on forward-looking climate change policy even though the world expects the latter to prioritise growth, key to which is hydrocarbon-fuelled economic activity. That aside, the most significant import of the announcement is for India’s energy sector.
An emission reduction goal would necessitate increasing non-conventional and sustainable energy capacities given the... Read more..

Date : Dec 4

Source: The Financial Express

MSME ministry urged to promote use of renewable energy

Noting that the government's 'Make in India' initiative will lead to growth in energy consumption, a network of Parliamentarians today urged the MSME ministry to promote the use of renewable energy and sought the creation of 'Green Cell' for the purpose.

In a letter to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Minister Kalraj Mishra, Climate Parliament, a network of legislators working to promote renewable energy, said the Cell should coordinate directly with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) for any potential integration of plans and policies.
... Read more..

Date : Dec 4

Source: Business Standard

BMC markets, gardens may soon have biogas plants, composting pits

The small-capacity bio-methanation plants which the BMC is contemplating setting up in all municipal markets in the city, will give an impetus to the civic body's zero garbage initiative, which entails reducing amount of waste going to the dumping grounds every day. It's also planning to set up mini composting systems in all its gardens.

Mumbai currently has 92 municipal markets and over 1000 BMC-owned gardens.

Additional municipal commissioner Vikas Kharge, who is in charge of BMC's solid waste management department, said the initiatives would ensure that... Read more..

Date : Dec 4

Source: DNA

India sticks to its gun during climate talks

With the world attention being shifted to India after the recent US-China bilateral climate agreement, New Delhi appears to be keen on positioning itself away from the Beijing's shadow. Indian government on Tuesday approved the "negotiating position" for the Lima climate talks, making it clear that the country would not compromise on the basic principles of the Kyoto Protocol.

India made it clear the equity and Common But Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR) must be the basis of the global climate deal in Paris next year.

The CBDR is a principle which sees... Read more..

Date : Dec 4

Source: Economic Times

Ethiopia adopts Israeli day/night solar power system

Solar energy is an ideal solution for the power needs of the developing world – except for one problem: It stops working when the sun goes down, at precisely the time power is needed to turn the lights on. The solution, according to Zev Rosenzweig, CEO of Israeli energy technology company AORA, is a hybrid system – one that utilizes solar to the fullest, and supplements it with a “backup” system to keep the power flowing when the sun is not high in the sky, using scant resources, with an operating cost of next to nothing.

It’s perfect for developing countries, said... Read more..

Date : Dec 4

Source: Times of Israel

IIT-K gets first rooftop solar plant

The IIT-Kanpur on Tuesday further equipped itself with the solar power to meet its electricity needs. A solar power plant of 50 KW had been inaugurated last year on the institute's campus after which efforts were on to strengthen the power plant setup. Professor Indranil Manna, director, IIT ,Kanpur inaugurated the rooftop solar photovoltaic plants raised over the western labs and faculty building on the campus.
This plant is of 344 KWp capacity and is also the institute's first rooftop solar plant.
Professo RS Anand sid that in phase I, solar photo voltaic plants have been... Read more..

Date : Dec 4

Source: The Times of India