Sustainability Outlook Headlines

The future is green for Venture Capitalists: Frost & Sullivan

Currently, more than half of the VCs have ventured into clean energy investments. Solar technology received the most VC investments between 2006 and 2008 for new technologies and manufacturing capacity expansion.

Frost & Sullivan estimates that the venture capital (VC) funding market for renewable energy (RE) will triple by 2020 due to positive regulatory policies, environmental support for lower carbon footprint, and innovation in RE technologies.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.financialservices.... Read more..

Low returns forcing farmers to abandon jatropha

Since the price of bio-diesel is kept artificially low in the country, jatropha cultivation in the North-eastern part of the country has remained non-viable and this has led to many farmers abandoning their jatropha plantations in the region.

This was asserted by Kishor Goswami and Hari Kanta Choudhury of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. They were making a joint presentation on jatropha-based bio-diesel at the Omeo Kumar Das Institute here recently.

They have made an appeal to the Government to think seriously in... Read more..

42,000-mw hydropower projects run out of steam

 Hydropower projects with a combined capacity estimated by experts at about 42,000 megawatt are yet to take off in various states, denying the country the opportunity to reduce its power deficit.

These projects, most of which are in the northeast, could have proved a boon to the power sector that has been crippled by shortage of coal and gas.

Experts say the private developers are discouraged by pre-commissioning hiccups, delays in environmental clearances and agitations over ecological concerns.

Problems in securing long-term funding and high interest rates are also... Read more..

Developing nations push rich on climate targets ahead of talks

Talks on a new climate change treaty in Qatar next week will not advance unless rich countries promise more ambitious cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, four major developing nations said.

The four nations, Brazil, China, India and South Africa -known in climate talks as the BASIC bloc - released a joint ministerial statement late on Tuesday saying responsibility for the outcome of the latest round of U.N. climate talks in Doha lay in the hands of rich countries.

"Ministers reaffirmed that the Kyoto Protocol remains a key component of the international climate regime... Read more..

Emissions cuts too slow to fight climate change, warns UN report

A UN report on rising greenhouse gas emissions reminded world governments Wednesday that their efforts to fight climate change are far from enough to meet their stated goal of limiting global warming to 2C.

The report by the UN Environment Programme (Unep), released just days before the start of a major climate conference, said the concentration of heat-trapping greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is up about 20% since 2000.

Scientists say those emissions are contributing to climate change and that failure to contain them could have dangerous... Read more..

World Bank to provide additional $37m for HP Watershed Development Project

The Government of India today signed a $ 37 million credit agreement with the World Bank for the ongoing Himachal Pradesh Mid-Himalayan Watershed Development Project to support the Government of Himachal Pradesh build sustainable watershed treatment models. 

The agreement was signed by Mr Prabodh Saxena, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, on behalf of the Government of India, Ms Bharathi S. Sihag, Principal Secretary, Forest, on behalf of the Government of Himachal Pradesh and Mr Onno Rûhl, World Bank Country Director for India on behalf of the World Bank. ... Read more..

GE, Ford Collaborate on Alternative Fuel Vehicle Adoption and Research

GE (GE) today announced a collaboration with Ford Motor Co. in which the company will purchase 2,000 new Ford C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrids for its fleet. As part of the collaboration, Ford will jointly market GE’s alternative fuel infrastructure solutions to commercial customers and provide new alternative fuel vehicles for use at GE’s Vehicle Innovation Center.

The two companies will also collaborate with researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology on data collection and analysis on GE’s fleet in order to add even greater efficiencies to electric driving and... Read more..

India and ASEAN Agree to Explore Cooperation in Renewable Energy

The first ASEAN-India Ministerial Meeting on cooperation in Renewable Energy was held in the capital today. Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Minister of New and Renewable Energy while inaugurating the meeting said that this meeting is a unique opportunity to catalize the India-ASEAN Renewable Energy family. He underlined the importance of Renewable Energy in India’s energy security, for achieving its goal of providing reliable energy supply and access through a diverse and sustainable energy mix. He stated that ASEAN member countries and India have several commonalities in their quest for targeting... Read more..

Sulzer Pumps to supply Spanish, Indian CSP projects

Sulzer Pumps is to supply pumps for several concentrated solar power (CSP) projects in Spain and India, the Switzerland-based company announced on Tuesday.

The scope of supply for the orders to Sulzer includes the design, manufacture and installation of cooling water pumps, feed water pumps, condensate extraction pumps and auxiliary pump packages. The pumps will be manufactured and packaged from Sulzer’s global manufacturing network and will be installed in 2013 and 2014.

The company gave no specifics about which projects it would be supplying, but confirmed that it... Read more..

Wind energy major Gamesa India bags 47.6-MW order from SJVN for upcoming project in Ahmednagar

 Wind energy major Gamesa India today said it has bagged an order to supply 47.60 MW wind farm equipment to the mini-ratna company SJVNBSE 0.51 % for its upcoming project in Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra. 

The engineering, procurement and construction ( EPC) contract involves Gamesa suppling and building a wind farm for SJVN, (formerly Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited) which is a joint venture between the Centre and Himachal Pradesh. 

The contract includes the installation of 56 units of Gamesa G58-850 kw turbines and a 10-year operation and maintenance services... Read more..

Renewable energy sector to create 24 lakh jobs in India

When most of the youngsters are worried about their future and trying their best to get a job in any industry, here is good news for them.

Launching a new report titled Indian Energy [R]evolution, Greenpeace, a non-governmental environmental organization, said that India has the potential to create 24 lakh jobs by 2020.

Currently, India's renewable energy industry has employed two lakh people.

The potential of renewable energy domains to generate jobs can be two to three times that of conventional energy for e.g. coal, oil and this can jump to 14 times by 2030... Read more..

India faces growing pains for its solar market

India may be on its way to becoming a major solar market, but that path is far from obstacle-free. Already reports are emerging about tales of growing pains, including component shortages, dust storms that impair solar projects and policy changes that threaten the use of renewable energy credits to bolster more solar development.

A Bloomberg story, quoting an Indian government official, reported that roughly two-thirds of the planned 500 MW of solar thermal power projects will likely be delayed or shelved before they are due for completion in the first half of 2013.

... Read more..