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Sustainability Outlook Headlines
Flights to 27 EU nations will have to pay carbon taxFrom January 1, carbon emissions by aircraft flying into 27 European Union (EU) countries, including the UK will be measured as the airline industry will come under the EU emission trading scheme, making carriers that exceed their carbon limit liable to pay a carbon tax. There will be no immediate impact on airfares as the tax will come into effect only after an airline has crossed its carbon emission limit as laid down by the EU. But if an alternative is not worked out by the Indian government and other countries that are opposed to this EU scheme, the one-way cost of an... Read more.. Date : Jan 2 Source: Times of India
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India bets big on solar energySolar power is a clean energy source. But in this arid part of northwest India it can also be a dusty one. Every five days or so, in a marriage of low and high tech, field hands with long-handled dust mops wipe down each of the 36,000 solar panels at a 63-acre installation operated by Azure Power. The site is one of the biggest examples of India’s ambitious plan to use solar energy to help modernise its notoriously underpowered national electricity grid, and reduce its dependence on coal-fired power plants. Azure Power has a contract to provide solar-generated electricity to... Read more.. Date : Jan 2 Source: Deccan Herald
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Tamil Nadu to set up new Rs 3600 crore thermal power stationIn a move to increase the power producing capacity of the state,Tamil Nadu government today announced setting up of a new 600 MW thermal power station, to be built at a cost of rs 3600 crore, at nearby Ennore. The new ultra modern 'Alternate Ennore Thermal Power Station' will come up over 900 acres.It will replace the old power producing engines and start functioning by 2015 end, an official release said. The five units of the existing Ennore Thermal Power Station with a capacity of 450 MW have been functioning since 40 years and some engines have developed snags,... Read more.. Date : Jan 2 Source: Economic Times
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Spain Achieves Grid Parity for Solar PowerJust five years ago subsidised prices of solar power in Spain were around nine times more than those of fossil fuels; but in 2007-2008 Spain installed a large capacity of solar power plants than the rest of the world put together. The stimulus effect of Spain’s program, along with that of Germany (who spent more than two billion Euros to install 30GW of solar energy capacity), and other European countries, has helped to develop the solar technology and the solar industry for the entire world, leading to falling costs and increasing efficiency. This means that utilities... Read more.. Date : Jan 1 Source: Oil price
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TERI’S LaBL Programme Launches Technology Resource Centre Scheme in BiharIn order to bridge the existing gap between implementation and sustenance of rural energy projects, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has launched a new institution today in Bihar, called Technology Resource Centre (TRC). TERI’s Lighting a Billion Lives (LaBL) initiative has been touching hearts and expanding, thereby empowering the rural India. TRC is a local level enterprise (under the LaBL program) which provides after-sales service support to LaBL solar charging stations and is also authorised to market and sell LaBL solar products in the covered territory. Apart from... Read more.. Date : Dec 30 Source: Business Wire
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'Agriculture has taken backseat in investments over the years' - MoneyControl.comCoimbatore,Dec 29 (PTI): The Bharat Krishk Samaj (Farmers Forum of India) today said agriculture has taken a back seat ... seeds and water wherever available for immediate sustainability and better income. Diversification and education on ... Date : Dec 30 |
The Anna Hazare Rulebook - NDTVToday as a national icon his laboratory has widened and he can transpose the Ralegan rules to the rest of India. But what exactly is ... communities can conserve water and practise sustainable agriculture to transform their fields and their ... Date : Dec 30 Source: The Anna Hazare Rulebook - NDTV
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CEE to set up knowledge centreCentre for Environment Education (CEE) will set up a knowledge centre on hazardous waste management to utilize industrial wastes. The idea is to link up several industrial units with each other so that the wastes from one unit could be utilized by another unit. CEE will set up the centre with Naroda Enviro Projects Ltd (NEPL). The centre will be set up around Odhav Landfill site. "The establishment of a knowledge centre on hazardous waste management is a green economy initiative. This will be one of the first such centres in the country. The centre's main aim... Read more.. Date : Dec 30 Source: Times of India
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Indian generator Essar Energy to build eight coal-fired power plantsAn energy company listed on the London Stock Exchange is planning to spend up to an estimated $6bn (£3.8bn) building eight coal-fired power stations that could add tens of millions of tonnes of carbon to the atmosphere. Essar Energy has just brought online the first part of the 1,200MW Salaya 1 plant in Gujarat on the west coast of India and says this and other stations are needed to counter power shortages. The move comes after countries around the world met in Durban, South Africa, this month to try to hammer out a new climate change treaty to cut global CO2 emissions.... Read more.. Date : Dec 30 Source: The Guardian
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All PSEs to be asked to set up renewable energy projects: GovernmentThe government today said all public sector enterprises would be asked to set up renewable energy projects to promote use of such sources. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has decided to ask all Central PSEs to set up renewable energy projects or voluntarily procure renewable energy certificates (RECs) as a part of their Energy Management Programme for sustainable development. The scope of the Energy Management Programme has been expanded by including renewable energy as a specific activity to be pursued by the Central PSEs, a ministry statement said. ... Read more..Date : Dec 30 Source: Economic Times
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NTPC to supply 50 mw solar power to MP from 2013State-run generation utility NTPC has signed an agreement with Madhya Pradesh Power Trading Company ( MP Tradeco) for supplying electricity from a 50 mw solar plant, the biggest such unit in the country under implementation. NTPC proposes to build the solar power plant at Rajgarh and start feeding the grid by 2013. Power from the solar plant would be bundled with unallocated supplies from NTPC's upcoming coal-fired plants to make it affordable. NTPC has plans to achieve a capacity to generate 500 mw from renewable sources in the next five years. It has formed a joint... Read more.. Date : Dec 30 Source: Times of India
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ONGC to set up nuclear-plant, fertilizer unit, solar projectsState-owned ONGC is to set up a slew of projects in the nuclear, fertiliser, solar, wind power and lighting sectors, a top company official said Thursday. A gas-fired fertiliser plant would be set up in Tripura, the solar projects in Rajasthan and Gujarat and the wind power project in Rajasthan, while the sites for the nuclear plant and a light-emitting diode (LED) manufacturing unit have yet to be finalised, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) chairman-cum-managing director Sudhir Vasudeva told reporters here "After completion of the necessary procedures, we... Read more.. Date : Dec 30 Source: Economic Times
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FedEx to extend $1.4 mn grant to Embarq to optimise city bus operations in IndiaGlobal express logistics major FedEx today said it has given a grant of $ 1.4 million to the World Resource Institute promoted global urban transport solutions provider Embarq to optimise city bus operations in India, Mexico and Brazil. FedEx will provide the grant of $ 1.4 million over two years to Embarq to provide technical expertise on sustainable transportation projects that improve quality of life in cities, the US-based FedEx said in a statement here. "Some of the world's largest cities will be able to improve their public transit systems, which are critical in this... Read more.. Date : Dec 29 Source: Economic Times
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Renewable energy certificate prices hit new high in DecThis month's trading (today) in renewable energy certificates touched a new high, both in volumes and in prices. As many as 1,11,621 RECs were traded on the two exchanges – Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) and Power Exchange of India Ltd (PXIL). IEX accounted for 95 per cent of the trading and saw the number of RECs traded on it cross the 100,000-mark —105,942 RECs were traded on the exchange today. On the price front, the average prices were Rs 2,950 a REC on both the exchanges. In November trading, a little over 105,000 RECs were traded for an averge price of Rs 2,900 on the... Read more.. Date : Dec 29 Source: Hindu Business Line
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Euro-III fuel to be phased out in 7 cities from March 31Environment-friendly Euro-IV quality petrol and diesel will be sold in seven more cities by March 31, government and industry officials said. The seven cities where fuel of Euro-III specifications will be phased out are: Puducherry, Mathura, Vapi, Jamnagar, Ankaleshwar, Hissar and Bharatpur. The oil ministry has also directed state-run Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum to phase-out sale of Euro-III petrol and diesel in their pumps in 50 cities by 2015, officials said. "The decision will require simultaneous improvement in engine... Read more.. Date : Dec 29 Source: Economic Times
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Diesel generators, stone quarries, brick kilns adding to pollution level, says studyA recent study has shown that brick kilns, stone quarries and diesel generators contribute to a city's pollution level in a major way. Even though kilns and quarries are located on the outskirts, the pollution travels towards the city. The study 'Urban air pollution and co-benefits analysis in India' was carried out in six cities, including Pune, in 2011. Conducted by New Delhi-based independent research group UrbanEmission.Info, the aim of the study was to better understand sources of air pollution. In case of pollutant particulate matter PM 10 (10 micrometre or less in... Read more.. Date : Dec 29 Source: Times of India
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Indian Banks See Highway Toll-Like Cash in Solar, Welspun Says - BloombergIndian banks are willing to finance solar power projects if they see the potential to turn them into cash-generating assets like toll roads, said Welspun Energy Ltd., India’s biggest developer of photovoltaic plants. India’s first major batch of solar plants are nearing completion, encouraging banks to explore ways to securitize their cash flows the way they do with tolls from paid-for highways and other infrastructure projects, said Vineet Mittal, managing director of the energy unit of Leon Black-backed Welspun Group. The securitization may indicate a maturing of the... Read more.. Date : Dec 29
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Experts vouch for natural energy sourcesThe state government on Wednesday urged experts in the field of electricity generation to speed up technological research so that natural and renewable resources could be used for generation of clean energy. "The emergence of innovative micro-grid and smart-grid technologies has provided a perspective to the modern power and energy system operations. There is tremendous need to examine the new applications and advanced technology," energy minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak said at the inaugural session of the three-day IEEE International Conference on Energy, Automation and... Read more.. Date : Dec 29 Source: Times of India
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Govt may scuttle EU's carbon tax move on airlinesThe government may issue an executive order banning domestic carriers from submitting carbon emissions data to the European Union (EU), if efforts to convince the Union to withdraw the emissions trading scheme (ETS), that could cost domestic carriers billions of dollars in EU airspace emissions fees, fail. The tax comes into force from January 1. Another option is adopting a "tit for tat" approach and impose a retaliatory tax on European carriers. EU plans to tax airlines on the basis of carbon emissions. Local carriers, which fly to Europe, would need to pay taxes for... Read more.. Date : Dec 29 Source: Hindustan Times
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IIM-Ahmedabad students work out tetra pak collection modelA team of students from Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has proposed a waste collection model that brings monetary benefits to every constituent in the chain. The collection-at-source model was developed for Swedish food packager Tetra Pak after a pilot project carried out at Kalupur Railway Station in Ahmedabad. The students believe the model can minimise environmental footprint and implemented for other companies and products. Tetra Pak has formed partnerships with environment NGOs and waste management companies to collect and recycle used... Read more.. Date : Dec 28 Source: Economic Times
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India 'won't sign binding emissions pact': ministerIndia said Tuesday it would reject any global pact legally binding it to cut greenhouse gas emissions as such a move could stifle economic growth needed to eradicate poverty. Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan's statement came after a UN conference in Durban earlier this month agreed for the first time to seek to negotiate a legally enforceable agreement to control all nations' emissions. "There is no question of signing a legally binding agreement at this point of our development. We need to make sure that our development does not suffer," Natarajan told the upper... Read more.. Date : Dec 28 Source: AFP
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More awareness campaigns to be organisedThe city corporation will soon kick off the second phase of awareness campaigns on source-level waste management. The decision was taken by the health standing committee in the wake of poor response of city folk towards decentralized waste management. As part of the campaign, the corporation will invite experts and engineers representing various NGOs to conduct demonstrations of how biogas plants work. Conventions will be organized in public places in all the hundred wards in the corporation. The members of health and sanitation committee of each ward will hold meetings with the... Read more.. Date : Dec 28 Source: Times of India
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Green nod for Taloja waste disposal plan - Times of IndiaThe State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority has cleared the Rs 150-crore regional solid waste management project planned at Taloja. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is developing the project on a public-private partnership basis and environment clearance was vital as it will deal with waste material. The project will cater to Mumbai as well as civic bodies in the region. MMRDA chief Rahul Asthana said they are developing a green belt zone around the project to minimize dust and odour from affecting the surroundings. While pointing... Read more.. Date : Dec 28
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Tata Power to buy out BP in solar JVThe Tata Group and London-based BP Plc are ending their joint production of photovoltaic cells and modules, a venture that brought the two industry giants together 22 years ago. The groups have since 1989 jointly invested crores of rupees in manufacturing lines for solar cell and modules in Bangalore and have seen the venture, called Tata BP Solar, grow from a modest turnover of Rs 1.6 crore in 1991-92 to Rs 906 crore in 2010-11. In a statement, Tata Group firm Tata Power Company said that it is taking complete control of the South-based Tata BP Solar by buying out BP Alternative... Read more.. Date : Dec 28 Source: Times of India
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Toyota launches world's most fuel-efficient hybrid car AquaToyota Motor Corp on Monday launched the world's most fuel-efficient hybrid car, as the company looks to fight off competition from pure electric vehicles. The compact car, dubbed 'Aqua' in Japan and the 'Prius C' overseas, has a listed fuel efficiency of 35.4 km/litre (83.3 mpg), beating the current top Prius, which gets 32 km/litre. Rivals Nissan Motor Co and General Motors Co are seeking to share the green limelight with their Leaf and Chevrolet Volt electric cars, though sales volumes are expected to stay relatively low until the high price of batteries comes down... Read more.. Date : Dec 28 Source: Economic Times
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