Sustainability Outlook Headlines

Stakeholders not serious about e-waste recycling

It's no surprise that Gurgaon today generates unprecedentedly high volumes of discarded electronic or electrical devices, also known as e-waste. Conservative estimates can range around the 11,000-15,000 tonnes a year mark, which is only to be expected in a city where technology, now more than ever, has come to play a central part in all walks of life. The question is how to best manage, dispose of and recycle the contents of this ever-expanding junkyard, and that before they become a health hazard.

When it comes to e-waste, the... Read more..

Ministry plans to introduce trams in mid-size cities

The urban development ministry plans to introduce tramways in medium-size cities with populations of 1-4 million people in a throwback to the 1960s when trams were last seen on most Indian roads.

The ministry will shortly begin a trial-run in a tier II city before taking the vintage-era transportation system to other cities and connecting the tramways with major bus and railway stations, urban development minister Kamal Nath said on Monday. Currently, Kolkata is the only city where trams are in use.

Speaking at a conference on ‘Next generation tramways solutions’, Nath said... Read more..

Cabinet nod likely for renewable energy agreement

The Union Cabinet is likely to clear this week a key agreement on renewable energy which is expected to be signed between the ministry of renewable energy and the US department of energy to give "energy access" to thousands of rural households via solar power. 

India and the US have already been collaborating on a number of renewable energy projects with surprising success. Officials said while India and the US remain far apart on climate change, on renewable energy there is almost a meeting of minds. For example, since 2009, DoE... Read more..

Tapping The Water Business

Water is tasteless but for private equity in India, it seems to be the flavour of the season. Last year, Singapore-based CLSA Capital Partners invested Rs 83 crore in waste water treatment company Earth Water Group and in July this year, invested Rs 55 crore in Gurgaon-based Luminous Water Technologies. A couple of months ago, Matrix Partners’ put in Rs 22 crore in water purifications solutions provider Waterlife India. And in June, Capvent picked up a 51% stake in Chennai-based water engineering company Morf India.

Given India’s... Read more..

India plays down diversion of Brahmaputra water by China

 India seems to be playing down China’s diversion of waters from the Brahmaputra, although an analyst criticized this approach.

The opinion in New Delhi is that precipitation in China contributes only 7% to the flow of three tributaries of Brahmaputra—Subansiri, Siang and Lohit—which originate from China.

“Out of five major tributaries of Brahmaputra, only three come from China, rest are from Arunachal Pradesh. Of the total water entering (Brahmaputra), only 7% is contributed by precipitation in China. What can the Chinese do? How much can they divert?” said a senior Indian... Read more..

India to miss green power target due to slowdown

Renewable energy sector in the country appears to be facing the brunt of a weak economy, as there has been tardy progress in new capacity addition during the current financial year. Given the slow progress during the first four months of current financial year, the sector may miss the capacity addition target for the second consecutive year.

Amid concerns over reaching the annual target, the wind sector is expected to create a landmark with its total installed capacity crossing 20,000 mw during FY14.

... Read more..

Synthesis Energy Systems to Participate in India Trade Mission

Synthesis Energy Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: SYMX) ("SES"), a clean energy technology company, will be joining other U.S. gasification and clean energy companies on a trade mission to India starting today sponsored by the U.S. India Business Council and the Gas Technologies Council. The purpose of the four-day trade mission to New Delhi and Mumbai is to meet with government ministries, industrial companies and other interested parties in gasification to share information on deploying gasification on a wider scale in India in order to help the... Read more..

22 of India's 32 big cities face water crisis

Water scarcity is fast becoming urban India's number one woe, with government's own data revealing that residents in 22 out of 32 major cities have to deal with daily shortages. 

The worst-hit city is Jamshedpur, where the gap between demand and supply is a yawning 70%. The crisis is acute in Kanpur, Asansol, Dhanbad, Meerut, Faridabad, Visakhapatnam, Madurai and Hyderabad — where supply fails to meet almost 30% of the demand — according to data provided by states which was placed in the Lok Sabha during the recently-concluded Parliament session by the urban development ministry. ... Read more..

Oil India targets clean energy sources

Oil India Ltd plans to invest Rs.600 crore to set up renewable energy capacity in the wind and solar space as it seeks to diversify into clean energy sources.

The state-owned company is also planning to buy as well as set up liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in the country. “We are preparing our LNG strategy. We are discussing it,” said T.K. Ananth Kumar, director, finance.

India’s demand for LNG is growing. The country imported 13.43 million tonnes (mt) of LNG in 2012-13 compared with 13.39... Read more..

DGCA measures lead Indian airlines, airports to cut emissions

A series of policy measures by the DGCA have led Indian airlines and airports to significantly reduce carbon emissions despite a major growth in air traffic, according to the latest survey by the aviation regulator.

All Indian scheduled passenger airlines operating domestic and international destinations slashed their carbon footprint by 6.6 percent in 2012 compared with the previous year, the Carbon Footprint Report 2012 has said.

The total emission of 15,389,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) in... Read more..

Innovation, productivity, new markets essential for sustainable growth

The recent crises highlight the weaknesses of the global economic model. As former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker observed on December 11, 2009, "We have another economic problem which is mixed up in this of too much consumption, too much spending relative to our capacity to invest and to export." Traditional sources of growth include increasing population, sustainable and affordable resources, new markets as well as improved productivity and innovation. Environmental and resource constraints limit the potential for large increases in population. The population... Read more..

Govt directive to use solar energy in colleges

The state education department has asked all government and provincialized colleges (government supported) in the state to tap solar energy to bring down their dependence on conventional energy.

The director of higher education, Assam, Phanindra Jidung, told TOI that the authorities have recently written to principals of all government and provincialized colleges of the state to go for solar energy to fulfill their power requirements. However, the directorate is yet to get a clear picture about the use of solar energy in the colleges. A source said many colleges are yet to send a... Read more..