Sustainability Outlook Headlines

Thermal plants facing critical coal shortage

The public sector thermal plants of Punjab are facing the worst-ever coal crisis as two projects have stocks for just three days each and the third one has supplies for seven days.
As per Central Electricity Authority (CEA) guidelines, at least 20 days' stock is required to run the thermal plants smoothly. Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant at Lehra Mohabbat and the Ropar project have coal stocks for three days whereas Guru Nanak Dev plant at Bathinda has stocks for a week.
The three plants produce 2640MW power ? Ropar plant's six units produce 1260MW, Lehra Mohabbat project's four... Read more..

SC puts on hold 140 projects cleared by Wildlife Board

The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the Centre, asking it to put on hold around 140 projects cleared by the Union environment ministry's recently reconstituted National Board for Wildlife (NBWL). The apex court said the nomination of only three of the 15 mandatory members to the Wildlife Board, along with that of its standing committee, has not been done in consonance with the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.
NBWL, chaired by the prime minister, is a top body under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, to review all wildlife-related issues. Its standing... Read more..

Green clearance test for NDA

Environmentalists are rightly alarmed that the NDA government is busy dismantling the environmental regulatory system in the country. Over the past two months, the media has reported that clearances for projects, from mining to roads, have been fast-tracked. While the web¬site of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) has not been updated in August, in the two months till July end, forest clearance was granted to over 92 pro¬jects, which will divert some 1,600 hectares of forest. More recently, it was reported that the National Board for Wildlife has processed many projects located... Read more..

Prime Minister's Clean India campaign gets a big budget boost

As part of its Clean India campaign, the Narendra Modi government on Tuesday decided to increase the budget allocated for toilets in rural areas.
While the allocation for individual toilets has been increased from Rs.10,000 to Rs.15,000, those in Aanganvadi centres have been budgeted Rs.20,000 from the current Rs.8,000.
Community toilets in rural areas, which were earlier given a meager Rs.2 lakh will now be alloted Rs.6 lakh. Toilets in schools will be granted Rs.54,000, a raise of Rs.19,000 in their allocation.
The proposal will now be presented before the Cabinet for... Read more..

Think tanks seek synergies in methodologies to address climate change concerns

Thinks tanks from across South Asia are working aggressively to address the various issues which are evolving on the climate change front and how societies can adapt to this mercurial situation. Three think tanks - Center for Science Technology and Policy (CSTEP), Public Affairs Centre (PAC) and Institute for Social and Environmental Transition, Nepal recently completed a project on climate change vulnerability and adaptation in South Asia which involved both top-down and bottom-up methods in understanding the vulnerability in two separate regions in South Asia.
"Over the past... Read more..

Karnataka Solar Policy 2014-2021

Government of Karnataka revises the existing Solar policy and publishes the Karnataka Solar Policy 2014-2021. The new solar policy which encourages households to generate solar power on their roof-tops and sell the surplus energy to the state grid.
The new policy is expected to give a major boost to solar power production in the state. The policy envisages generating 450 MW energy in the 2014-15 financial year. The policy also promotes production of solar power by land-owning farmers with a minimum capacity of 1 MW and maximum capacity of 3 MW per farmer.
Cumulative capacity... Read more..

Green energy to be used to run 2,200 mobile towers

For the first time in India, solar power will be extensively used to run 2,200 mobile towers to be set up in nine Naxal-affected areas.

The mobile towers, to be set up at a cost of Rs 3,216 crore, will be operated without any support from electricity or generators.

This is for the first time in India that green energy will be used so extensively to run such a large number of telecom towers, official sources said.

Solar energy will be used to avoid interruption of electricity supply, which is irregular in most of the areas. Diesel-run generator sets create lots of... Read more..

Remove your car, park a waste converter

What if the organic waste did not have to be collected from across wards? What if all of it could be processed within the ward itself? With these ideas and a vision of decentralising the waste processing system, a organic waste converter was set up in Madivala on Monday.
The waste converter, weighing 1.1 tonne, has the capacity of processing 250 kg of organic waste a day and can cater to about 500 houses. The converter, costing Rs. 10 lakh, was set up at the Madivala Vegetable Market as part of a joint venture by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike and Aruna Green Ventures, a... Read more..

Indian Renewable Energy Company Welspun Plans $2.5 Billion Investment Over Next Three Years

Indian renewable energy companies are preparing for long-term investments as the new government gets ready to introduce favorable regulatory initiatives to expand renewable energy infrastructure.
One of India’s leading renewable energy companies, Welspun Group, has announced plans to invest Rs 15,000 crore –  or $2.5 billion US – to develop wind and solar power capacity over the next three years. The group hopes to have an installed renewable energy capacity of 1.75 GW by the end of the next three years. So far, the group has installed 330 MW capacity, while 750 MW capacity is under... Read more..

Supreme Court verdict on Coal block allocation may plunge future of power firms into darkness

In 1996, the promoter of a steel and power company walked into the coal ministry seeking supply from Coal India. He met a joint secretary who told him to consider getting a coal block allocation instead. At the end of three hours of a very convincing pitch by the joint secretary, the head of the private firm was ready to take the plunge and was confident that investing in a coal mine would augur well for his firm's future.
In that year alone, government officials convinced half-a-dozen such promoters to agree to allocations of coal blocks. These investors now regret their decision as... Read more..

Goa takes bio-diversity conservation lessons from Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala, a pioneer in bio-diversity conservation, will now help Goa frame its own suitable policies in the field, said a Kerala government official Monday. 
Goa has sought the help of the Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB). As the first step, the board's member secretary K.P. Laladhas spend two days in Goa where he held discussions with officials on how to go about it. 
After returning Sunday, Laladhas told IANS Monday that during his visit he travelled across the state and took classes for more than 100 village sarpanchs on bio-diversity conservation.... Read more..

Water Woes Across Major Cities Underline the Need for Indian Industries to Adopt Sustainable Strategies

India is the second largest water consuming country in the world and is presently facing severe scarcity of water resources. The challenge for Indian industries is to find ingenious ways of handling water efficiently and disposing wastewater in a proper manner.

Around the country, industry understands poor water quality and shortage in supply will become a prime constraint for the future development. “India is looking at ways and means to address issues with water quality and availability. Efficient water management across industries at the production level and in the city on a... Read more..