Sustainability Outlook Headlines

Now, get 4 CFLs in exchange of normal bulbs

To save energy, power distribution company, North Delhi Power Limited (NDPL), on Tuesday launched Bureau of Energy Efficiency’s (BEE) ‘Bachat Lamp Yojana’. Under the scheme, each NDPL residential consumer can get up to a maximum of four compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) at R15 each in exchange of normal bulbs.

The company plans to distribute 22 lakh CFLs to its consumers under this scheme and, once completed, the project is expected to result in reduction of more than 65MW in the demand for energy in NDPL areas.

The scheme was launched by the Delhi Chief Minister Sheila... Read more..

Pricing carbon from ground to consumer -US study

To measure a country's greenhouse emissions from fossil fuels, it makes sense to consider the whole carbon supply chain, from oil well or coal mine to a consumer's shelf, scientists reported on Monday.

Currently, putting a price on climate-warming carbon dioxide generated by oil, coal, natural gas and other fossil fuels typically takes place where the fuel is burned.

However, this may not be the most effective way to calculate carbon emissions' cost, the researchers wrote in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Carbon dioxide generated by human... Read more..

100,000 community foresters to help green India

India will engage 100,000 educated youths to execute an ambitious Green India Mission (GIM) which seeks to increase the country's forest cover to 33 percent from 20 percent within 10 years, says a top forest official.

 
P.J. Dilip Kumar, director general of India's forest department, says that in order to cope with climate change threats, the central and state governments have decided to raise new forest cover on five million hectares under the GIM.

"India has to increase its present forest cover area of 20 percent (out of the total geographical area) to 33 percent... Read more..

Energy efficiency in agriculture sector

 Two reasons for inefficient power use in the farm sector are the heavily subsidised or free power available to farmers and the reluctance of the loss-ridden State utilities to intervene.

Agricultural power use stands at about 20 per cent of India's national consumption and is the third highest, after industry and household, as per the Power Ministry's statistics for 2009-10. The proportion of the farm sector's energy consumption has doubled since the 1970s while revenue realisation to the electricity utilities has declined, as the tariff for agriculture is well below the economic... Read more..

India to get $6.25 bn ADB assistance

 Asian Development Bank has approved a three-year India operations business plan that will provide the country with a lending assistance totalling $6.25 billion to support its inclusive and sustainable growth.

The bank’s management gave approval to the scheme considering that India, as the world’s fourth largest economy now in purchasing power parity terms, was faced with the task of overcoming major developmental challenges. All the same, economic reforms during the past two decades have transformed India into a middle-income country, ADB president Haruhiko Kuroda said on Monday.... Read more..

Durban talks: Students to be part of India's green brigade

 When Indian delegation visits Durban in November this year for Conference of Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC), it will be accompanied by four students from across the country, handpicked by the Center for Environmental Education (CEE).

"Around 1,500 students, who were part of school eco-club programme, took a national test on October 4. The top 100 students were then asked to submit essays on a topic. From these we selected the 20 best students to participate in this three-day seminar on the theme 'Coming Together Today to Save... Read more..

NTPC forms JV with ADB, Kyuden Intl for clean energy projs

 State-owned NTPC today said it has formed a joint venture with the Asian Development Bank and Kyuden International Corporation to develop clean energy projects in India in the next three years.

The JV, Pan Asian Renewables, has been incorporated among NTPC, ADB and Kyuden International Corporation to develop renewable energy projects over a period of three years, NTPC said in a filing to the BSE.

Kyuden International Corporation is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japan's Kyushu Electric Power Company.

The three signed the JV Agreement last year to establish a portfolio... Read more..

Will solid waste treatment plant be lucky this time?

If projections of UP Jal Nigam are anything to go by, then the state capital may have its streets free of callously dumped domestic waste by November when the much-awaited municipal solid waste treatment plant finally starts working.

Executed under the supervision of UP Jal Nigam, the plant is being constructed by a private agency, Jyoti-envirotech.

Managing director of UP Jal Nigam Anil Kumar Srivastava said the plant is likely to get operational by November 20 if all goes well. The corporation, sources said, has been given strict instructions by the department of urban... Read more..

Montek wants energy prices linked to global rates

 Planning commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia wants domestic energy prices to be linked with global prices, but advocated some element of subsidy for real beneficiaries. He also said India should urgently move towards a sustainable energy pricing policy to address widespread concerns over the country's long-term energy security.

"India must adjust its energy prices with the world," the deputy chairman told TOI. Arguing for immediate course-correction, Ahluwalia said all energy prices, be it kerosene, diesel, LPG, auto gas, coal or electricity in India were lower than... Read more..

Subsidy on solar and clean energy sought

 The Engineering Staff College of India (ESCI) has urged the central government to provide subsidy on solar and clean energy.

“Based on the discussions and outcome of the three-day International Conclave and Exhibition on Climate Change (ICCC-2011), we have come up with various recommendations and one of them is to ask the government to provide subsidy on solar energy and clean energy," Shalini Sharma, head, Centre for Climate Change at ESCI said giving her concluding speech on the last day of ICCC.

ICCC-2011, which kick-started on October 12 with the theme ‘Clean energy and... Read more..

‘Cos becoming environmentally responsible with green packaging'

 With many consumers shifting to green packaging amid rising environmental concerns, domestic companies are opting for eco-friendly packaging, a study by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) revealed.

The sustainable packaging sector is growing at about 25 per cent per year compared to the overall packaging industry which is growing at about 20 per cent annually.

The study on ‘Domestic Green Packaging Industry prepared' showed, rising environmental concerns about carbon emissions, dearth of natural resources together with increased health... Read more..

Experts back India at climate change talks

 With India proposing the inclusion of some of neglected issues in the agenda of the UN climate change negotiations in Durban later this year, experts feel the country has taken a U-turn from its stand in Mexico 2010 and is following a better line. 

The environment ministry, in a communique to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) earlier this week, pitched for taking into account concerns of developing nations that were "neglected and not properly addressed" during the Cancun, Mexico talks last year. 

India wants to include... Read more..