Sustainability Outlook Headlines

BEE plans risk guarantee fund for energy efficiency projects

The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) plans to set up a partial risk guarantee fund (PRGF) to enhance financing options for energy efficiency projects. PRGF would provide commercial banks with up to 50 per cent of risk coverage against loans issued for such projects. BEE is also looking to set up a venture capital fund for the same.

BEE has initiated the process and has requested proposals to shortlist a project approval unit for it, a senior official of the agency said. Under the programme, participating financial institutions would take guarantee of up to Rs 3 crore per project... Read more..

Future tense: Kolkata fails sustainability test by miles

The three-centuries-old City of Joy may find it tough to survive another century if civic authorities do not act decisively to make Kolkata sustainable.

A report card on Kolkata's sustainability prepared by Joyashree Roy, a member of the Nobel prize-winning IPCC team and professor of economics at Jadavpur University, indicates that a majority of current practices are unsustainable. Not only is the city woefully inefficient in the use of natural resources like water, land and open spaces, the transportation system as it exists currently in unsustainable.

The results on several... Read more..

Met department to come up with crop forecasting centre in two years

Giving more sting and accuracy to forecasting of crop yield under different climatic conditions in the country, Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) is now eyeing National Centre for Crop Forecasting for help. The centre promises to offer integrated input on crop simulation model. It had already been established at Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi and expected to start forecasting in the next two years.

The centre would provide a wide range of forecasting services based on reliable database. It would also provide integrated inputs, using all types of data,... Read more..

Green lessons from grand old buildings

Like the venue in which it was held, the finale of CII’s Young Indians ‘Green Heritage’ project highlighted the fact that relevance does not always decrease with age. The imposing semi-circular corridor of the Museum Theatre was dotted with 23 projects by school children who had used vignettes from the lives of grand old surviving buildings in the city to bring out the inherent ‘green’ features of heritage buildings.

A culmination of three months of effort by the 48 participating schools, the initiative encouraged students to look at heritage buildings in their neighbourhoods.

Meghalaya to tap its huge green energy potential in a big way

Taking cue from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, power-deficit Meghalaya is going all out to tap green energy to bridge the widening demand-supply gap in the state.

A preliminary investigation conducted by the Meghalaya Non-Conventional and Rural Energy Development Agency indicated that the state could generate about 3155 MW of electricity through non-conventional sources of energy such as bio-mass, solar and wind energy.

A GIS mapping, conducted by the Chennai-based Centre for Wind Energy Technology (C-WET), an autonomous institution of the Government of India, said the state is... Read more..

Solar power shines on photo voltaic panel price crash

Riding on the crash in photo voltaic (PV) panel prices, the solar power sector in India had a dream run last year with capacity ballooning to 940MW in 2011-12 from a paltry 20MW in 2010-11. That's just statistics. What's significant and not borne out by these statistics is the fact that the cost of power from solar is now on a par with the cost of power from new coal-based plants.

In industry parlance, it's referred to as grid parity, considered the holy grail of solar power. Grid-parity is the point where the cost of electricity generated from sunshine becomes competitive with that... Read more..

Harnessing ‘Water Gold’ – Teesta Urja shows the way

As the rest of India struggles to meet perennial power shortages, the tiny Himalayan State of Sikkim has taken steps to emerge surplus in power by the next year with the execution of Teesta Urja cascade projects. Work is in rapid progress at Teesta-III, part of the Teesta Urja’s six-stage cascade projects. The 1200 MW Teesta-III is the largest of the six and it will not only give power virtually free to Sikkim but supply electricity to northern and eastern states which reel under chronic power shortages, particularly during the summer when the consumption is also at its peak.

Sikkim... Read more..

DRDO licensing eco-toilets to private companies

Commercialising the use of indigenously-built Bio-Digester technology which turns human waste into biogas and odourless compost, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is now licensing private companies to build eco-toilets all over the country.

"As part of a FICCI interface programme, we are commercializing the technology so that bio-toilets can reach every nook and corner of the country. It is a unique technology not available anywhere else in the world," Dr W Selvamurthy, Chief Controller at DRDO, told PTI here.

The DRDO have already transferred it to 49... Read more..

Study questions sustainability of Bt cotton in water-starved Vidarbha

Lack of irrigation is one of the major causes leading to cotton farmer suicides in Maharashtra, a new study by the Council of Social Development (CSD) has stated. Titled ‘Socio-economic impact assessment of Bt cotton in India,’ the study has yet again raised the question of whether the marginal land of Vidarbha is suited for Bt cotton at all.

Commissioned by the Bharat Krishak Samaj, the study points out the dependence of Bt cotton farmers on rainfed agriculture, the increasing irrigation costs and the lack of institutional credit.

The study, in which farmers and farm... Read more..

India voices concern over Green Economy

India today expressed its disappointment with the “weak” political will of the developed countries to provide the developing nations with enhanced means to implement objectives of Green Economy, which it said will also be a “green-wash” if the process is not democratised.

As nearly 100 world leaders including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gathered here for the Rio+20 Summit, India also firmly rejected unilateral measures and trade barriers under the guise of Green Economy, which was the buzz ahead of the deliberations here.

It, however, recognised Green Economy as one of the... Read more..

ClimateWorks Supports UN Sustainable Energy for All Initiative With U.S. $15 Million Commitment

The ClimateWorks Foundation announced today its commitment of up to U.S. $15 million over the next three years to help India, China, Brazil and Mexico double both their rate of improvement in energy efficiency and the share of renewable energy in their energy portfolios by 2030. The funds support the goals of Sustainable Energy for All, a United Nations initiative.

ClimateWorks will provide the funding to its international network of nonprofit best practices institutions over three years. Direct grants of U.S. $2 million per year will be supplemented by a commitment to match funds... Read more..

Himalayan Queen now fully solar powered

The coaches of Kalka-Shimla toy train — the Himalayan Queen — have been converted to solar- based power system with the aim of harnessing green energy and reducing carbon emission. It is the first train in the country to have all its coaches solar powered. The experiment will earn carbon credit for the track that is on the heritage list of UNESCO.

Each coach has been built at a cost of Rs 1.25 lakh and is provided with a 100-watt solar panel. The florescent tube has been replaced with the much brighter LED lights. The coach can function two days without the sun and can make two... Read more..