Sustainability Outlook Headlines

India aims at over 50,000 MW of nuclear power by 2030

India plans to import light water reactors from Russia, the US and France to boost its nuclear energy genating capacity to 50,000-60,000 MW by 2030, former Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) chairman M.R. Srinivasan has said.

Delivering the first Homi Sethna Memorial Lecture on 'Future of Nuclear Power After Fukushima' here Wednesday evening, the nuclear scientist said India would need around 1,300 GW of electricity by 2052.

Forty percent of this requirement is expected to come from coal-based plants, 40 percent from nuclear facilities and 20 percent from renewable sources like... Read more..

India Revamps Solar Auction Rules; First Solar May Benefit

India revamped the rules for its second national auction of permits to build solar power plants, which could boost sales for equipment providers including First Solar Inc. (FSLR) and allow banks to lend more easily to the industry.

The government invited companies to register starting today for the auction that will award licenses to build as much as 350 megawatts of solar photovoltaic plants by 2013. New rules include changes that increase the size and amount of projects companies can win.

Indosolar Ltd. (ISLR), Moser Baer India Ltd. (MBI) and Websol Energy Systems Ltd. (... Read more..

Plywood units: HC notice to forest dept

 The Kerala High Court directed issuing of notice to the Forest Department on a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the mass awarding of No Objection Certificates for plywood manufacturing units at Perumbavoor, Kothamangalam, and Muvattupuzha regions. 

The PIL filed by NU John obstructs the mass approval of NOCs on the basis that plywood industries are causing ecological damage and would cause deforestation owing to its proximity to forests in Idukki and are polluting water streams and sources. 

The petitioner's counsel Arun VG pointed out that the directions of the... Read more..

‘Rural electrification can only come from renewable sources’

 India cannot talk about greatness when the country has a 95% import dependence on oil and 40-45% import dependence on coal, said Deepak Gupta, secretary of the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, adding “this means a small country like Libya can control us”.

Speaking at an Assocham conference on “Waste to Energy” in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, Gupta also said that India’s energy demand-supply gap is “not likely to be breached, not in the near future, not ever” and that “400 million people in our villages” remain without electricity today. “In my view, rural electrification in... Read more..

Assocham urges industry to use waste to produce energy

 The regional chapter of Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) has sought the help of dairy and animal husbandry experts, government officials and pioneering industries to spread the message of using waste to generate non-conventional energy.

Shailesh Patwari, chairman of Naroda Enviro Projects Limited, who has already tapped this energy source, presented his case at a “Waste to Energy” conference by Assocham here today. “We in Gujarat were not looking at renewable energy because there was ample energy. But about 10 years ago, we started looking at it... Read more..

Apartments lead the in recycling waste

The only way to deal with heaps of garbage piling up at every corner of the city is to handle it at source: that is at home. It may sound simple but only a few have managed to implement it. Among the success stories are: Renaissance Park 1, 2 and 3 in Malleswaram, Platinum City, Diamond District, Tungabhadra apartments in National Games Village, Brigade Regency. They follow the principle of reduce, reuse and recycle. What sets them apart is that they don't depend on the irregular BBMP garbage contractors, neither do they empty their bins on roadsides or vacant spaces. They just put it in... Read more..

Djibouti seeks Indian help in field of renewable energy

 East African nation of Djibouti has sought India''s help in exploiting the geothermal, solar and wind energy sources there.

Djibouti''s Minister of Energy, Water and Natural Resources, Fouad Ahmed Aye, today met New and Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah and informed him that his nation has "vast potential in areas of geothermal energy, solar energy and wind energy but needs Indian assistance in exploiting these sources," an official release said.

"Both the leaders held detailed discussions about possible cooperation between the two countries in the field of renewable... Read more..

IIMA to launch Rs 100 cr fund for sustainable energy on Thursday

 The Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIMA) will launch the Indian Fund for Sustainable Energy (INFUSE) with an estimated fund size of Rs 100 crores in collaboration with the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Technology Development Board (TDB) and British Petroleum(BP).

The Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Dr. Farooq Abdullah,and the Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, will launch the fund on August 25 in the IIMA premises, Dr Samir K Barua, Director, IIMA, said here on Tuesday.

INFUSE is the first of its kind private-public-... Read more..

Audits aim to save energy in govt buildings

In a first, the Bihar Renewable Energy Development Agency (BREDA) in collaboration with the Centre has conducted energy audit of the state capital`s major 14 government buildings to make an assessment of the amount of energy consumed. It is aimed to initiate a process to minimize the wastage of energy in government buildings.

M/s EPIC Energy Limited, Mumbai, has already completed the energy auditing of four government buildings under the scheme, Investment Grade Energy Audit (IGEA). These buildings are Udyog Bhawan, office of the divisional commissioner, S K Memorial Hall and... Read more..

EU may propose plan to extend Kyoto:sources: report

 The EU could yet table a proposal that would throw the beleaguered Kyoto Protocol a lifeline and secure the future of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) beyond 2012, government negotiators and observers have told Point Carbon News.

Officials from the bloc's member states will in the next few weeks discuss whether to formally back a plan to extend the life of the 1997 climate treaty, on condition it would expire in 2018 and be replaced with a single global pact that includes capping all major nations' emissions.

If all 27 countries agree, the EU could announce the plan at... Read more..

Volkswagen on road to carbon-free car

Volkswagen will within two weeks unveil one of the first single-seater cars, with the potential for zero emissions, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

VW's one-seat concept car will illustrate the carmaker's ambitions to build electric vehicles that generate no carbon dioxide, the FT said, citing the company's head of research, Jurgen Leohold.

"It's a new kind of mobility, a new vehicle concept. Also, it's physics," he said.

"If you limit a car to one person, you can make it smaller with less weight. You need less energy to transport the person, and then ... it... Read more..

Indian Government to Open Bidding for 350 Megawatts in Photovoltaic Projects

India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is set to open bidding for 350 megawatts (MW) in solar photovoltaic (PV) projects, under the second tranche of the National Solar Mission, Phase-I. "All necessary procedures have been completed and the requests for proposals (RFPs) for the projects will be issued within next 10 days," said an MNRE-official on Friday.