Sustainability Outlook Headlines

Solectria Expanding Solar Inverter Manufacturing Into India, China

 Solectria Renewables LLC, a PV inverter manufacturer, says it is expanding its manufacturing operations into India and China to take advantage of growth opportunities for commercial- and utility-scale photovoltaic projects in those countries.

Solectria plans to establish a 300 MW manufacturing plant in China and a 200 MW plant in India. The additional capacity will support those local markets, the company says.

"We have expanded our manufacturing capacity in North America to 1 GW this year, and we are strategically expanding our manufacturing into India and China to be at... Read more..

'Indian cities can't do without a Metro'

 No city will have a choice about having a Metro. And if it is a city with more than 3 million population, it will be mandatory that a Metro rail be put in place in the next five years.

This is one of the major recommendations made by the working group on urban transport in the Planning Commission.

Speaking to TOI from Delhi on the eve of Bangalore's Metro launch, chairman of the commission's working group and MD of Delhi Metro Railway Corporation (DMRC) E Sreedharan said: "Seven cities are already building the Metro. If the city's population is 2 million, they must start... Read more..

India, France to talk eurozone crisis, Af-Pak, nuclear deal

 FrenchForeign minister Alain Juppe, who is arriving here on a three-day visit on Thursday, will hold a wide-ranging discussion with his Indian counterpart SM Krishna. 

India is most likely to urge France, the host of the forthcoming G-20 summit, to help evolve a credible recovery plan to combat the eurozone crisis. The two sides will also discuss a swathe of other issues, including the Afghanistan-Pakistan situation and bilateral civil nuclear cooperation. 

Juppe is also likely to meet Home Minister P Chidambaram. He will also call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to invite... Read more..

GM crops promote superweeds, food insecurity and pesticides, say NGOs

 Genetic engineering has failed to increase the yield of any food crop but has vastly increased the use of chemicals and the growth of "superweeds", according to a report by 20 Indian, south-east Asian, African and Latin American food and conservation groups representing millions of people.

The so-called miracle crops, which were first sold in the US about 20 years ago and which are now grown in 29 countries on about 1.5bn hectares (3.7bn acres) of land, have been billed as potential solutions to food crises, climate change and soil erosion, but the assessment finds that they have... Read more..

Japan sees no progress on new CO2 schemes in Durban

Japan does not expect climate delegates to come to any conclusions in South Africa next month on how to include new emission-cut schemes in rich countries in a new global climate deal, a government official said on Wednesday.
 
Japan wants to use a new type of carbon offset through bilateral agreements with countries in Asia from January, 2013, to supplement the U.N.'s emission-cut efforts, the official said, reiterating Tokyo's stance on developing an alternative to the U.N.'s carbon market.

Japan is aiming to help Asian countries carry out commitments agreed at a... Read more..

Carbon prices in UN market are slumping as demand flags

United Nations Certified Emission Reduction credits for 2011 dropped to a record low amid rising supply and slowing industrial production.

Credits for December 2011 slumped as much as 5.3 percent to 7.15 euros ($9.82) a metric ton on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London and were at 7.28 euros as of 4:06 p.m. local time. European Union allowances for December dropped as much as 3.6 percent to 10.31 euros.

“We’ve got a lot of carbon around,” Trevor Sikorski, an analyst for Barclays Plc (BARC) in London, said on Bloomberg Television’s “On the Move” with Owen Thomas. “It’s... Read more..

Companies scramble to set up solar power projects

India's solar power sector is gathering steam, with 150 companies rushing in to offer 2,500 megawatts of projects for the second round of bidding, seven times the allocated capacity of 350 mw for which bids were invited, raising hopes that electricity tariffs from the renewable source would fall below Rs 10 aunit.

 About 150 companies are in the fray for 218 projects worth Rs 3,500 crore in the second round of projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru solar mission that aims to add 20,000 mw of solar capacity in the decade. In the previous round, the government had received bid... Read more..

No clearance, MCD shelves key projects

Delhi will no longer get foot-over-bridges, and grade separators that were supposed to ease traffic and facilitate easy movement of pedestrians. Unable to get permission from the Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure (planning and engineering) Centre (UTTIPEC), a technical authority that approves infrastructure projects in Delhi, MCD has decided to drop these projects with the completion deadline drawing near. The last date of completion of these projects is March 2012.

The civic agency had received funds under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission... Read more..

EU Weighs Pullback on Cutting Emissions

The European Union is for the first time clearly questioning whether it should press ahead with long-term plans to cut greenhouse-gas emissions if other countries don't follow suit, in what could herald a significant policy shift for a region that has been at the forefront of advocating action to combat climate change.

In a document reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, the European Commission's energy department says the EU should consider whether the region should seek to switch its domestic energy base away from carbon-emitting sources in the absence of a global climate-change... Read more..

Maiden Indian Investment for Eoxis

SunBorne Energy has joined hands with Europe-based IPP Eoxis Energy for executing a 15 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) project being built in Gujarat. The project is expected to be operational by December 2011. This represents Eoxis’ first investment in India.

Leading developer in utility scale solar projects SunBorne Energy has joined hands with Europe-based IPP Eoxis Energy for executing the 15 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) project being built in Gujarat. The project is expected to be operational by December 2011 and falls under the solar... Read more..

Swiss ambassador bats for climate change adaptation

  Switzerland ambassador Philippe Welti said here on Tuesday that the Swiss embassy in India was committed to promoting partnership projects that seek to address common worries and challenges of global scale, like climate change.

Welti was in the city as part of a day-long tour to Akole and Sangamner talukas in neighbouring Ahmednagar district to visit a climate change adaptation (CCA) project. The project is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) and implemented by NGO Watershed... Read more..

Green energy needs market push

 Would you mind paying one-and-a-half paise more for electricity that comes from windmills or solar plants? Most likely, you would not. But that is the burden, according to Dr Pramod Deo, Chairman of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, the ‘renewable energy certificate' (REC) regime imposes on electricity consumers in India.

What the extra one-and-a-half paise does (or is expected to do) is significant. It will give people who put up renewable energy capacities such as windmills, biomass and solar plants sufficiently attractive returns, justifying their investments.