Sustainability Outlook Headlines

Solar tariff paper released

With more solar power developers line up to set up their projects in the state, Tamil Nadu Elec­tricity Regulatory Com­mission (TNERC) issued a consultative paper on comprehensive tariff order on solar power proposing tariffs ranging from Rs8.34 per unit to Rs 5.78 per unit across categories.

The consultative paper has proposed a separate tariff structure for solar thermal projects, solar photovoltaic (SPV) and kilowatt scale rooftop solar power projects for the control period of one year from date of issue of order. The commission has invited comments and suggestions before August... Read more..

BHEL to get into the development of solar power technology

Solar issue at WTO: India, US complete consultations

India and the US have completed consultations under WTO on American charges of discrimination against its products by New Delhi's national solar mission.

"Both the sides have completed the consultations. Now the ball is in the court of the US," a senior official in the Commerce Ministry told PTI.

The consultations followed after the US filed a complaint in the WTO in February alleging discrimination by India's national solar mission against American products.

As per the procedure of the World Trade Organization, consultation is the first stage of a complaint filed with... Read more..

Solar PV About To Enter “Third Growth Phase”: Deutsche Bank

Waste Management experts review city landfills

The team of experts which worked in solving garbage crisis in Dubai feels that the kind of garbage seen in Dubai and in India is almost the same - with rich moisture content in it. The team, which was invited to the city by Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee - visited Mandur and Mavallipura landfills.

An environment specialist from Switzerland, Peter Spillman, who is part of the team said, “When we walked around at the site, the smell proved the presence of gas that had accumulated at the landfills, which could prove harmful.” Bangalore’s garbage crisis has solutions - waste-to-... Read more..

How safe is the water?

World's first in-vitro beef burger to make history on Monday

A corner of west London will see culinary and scientific history made on Monday when scientists cook and serve up the world's first lab-grown beef burger.

The in-vitro burger, cultured from cattle stem cells, the first example of what its creator says could provide an answer to global food shortages and help combat climate change, will be fried in a pan and tasted by two volunteers.

The burger is the result of years of research... Read more..

The vanishing wetlands in India

“Research suggests that one-third of Indian wetlands have already been wiped out or severely degraded,” it said in a recent report.

India is a signatory to the Ramsar Convention (February 1982), an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands. The country has only 26 sites (see table) designated as wetlands of international importance, with a surface area of 689,131 hectares, whereas a much smaller country like the UK has 169 Ramsar sites.

Even these 26 sites are plagued by uncontrolled development and illegal encroachment. They include all of... Read more..

EMC’s Data Center Robot aims to transform energy management

 Cooling can account for more than 60–70 percent of data center power spend. Unfortunately, approximately 85 percent of the world’s enterprises have been buying more capacity than they need, over-provisioning their storage, and overcooling their equipment — all the while adding up cost.

To address this challenge, three engineers from EMC India COE have developed a Data Center Robot. This innovation is the first-of-its-kind, and is an efficient, cost-effective and power saving method to monitor environmental parameters and cooling in a data center.

In the Indian context,... Read more..

Telugu daily Eenadu to be powered by solar energy

 Leading Telugu daily Eenadu and other publications of the Ramoji Group will be powered by a 6.5 mw solar photovoltaic system to be set up by Photon Energy System Limited.

REC, a leading global provider of solar electricity solutions, will supply 25,720 solar panels aggregating to 6.5 MW to power a ground-mounted tracker system in Andhra Pradesh.

All the clean and green electricity generated will be used for the printing of the Eenadu, the largest circulated Telugu newspaper in Andhra Pradesh.

“Solar-generated power for captive consumption not only guards businesses... Read more..

Organic farming helps farmers increase their resilience to climate change

Mathuralal Patel is not sure why someone in New Delhi or Mumbai would prefer vegetables from his farm to his neighbour's, but he knows that the way he grows crops is good for his soil.

Using organic fertilisers, he says, helps increase the fertility of his soil, while using too many chemical fertilisers degrades the land's soil quality.

For Patel, a farmer in the Bundelkhand region of Central India, organic farming increases his resilience to respond to the risk of climate variability. Over 70 per cent of the population in this region relies on predominantly rain fed... Read more..

Harish Hande charges solar industry at SolarCon 2013

Cross subsidy of green power usage should be used as risk guarantee to banks to finance solar programmes in rural areas, enmasse, said Dr HarishHande, Ramon Magsassay award winner in a conclave of solar industry—SolarCon 2013 in Bangalore on Thursday. He stressed that the industry should be innovative, resilient and guts to penetrate into the market and does not need government subsidies to survive any more.

"A street vendor customizes his or her expenses and investment to his or her needs in a village to sustain herself. The solar industry needs to learn this from the street vendor... Read more..