Sustainability Outlook Headlines

Soil fertility index for agro regions to secure food grain supply: ASSOCHAM

India should evolve a soil fertility index for agro regions across the country to secure agriculture sector and avoid food grain supplies slipping into negative growth, according to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).

The demand for such index has been made in the context of sharp deterioration in soil fertility due to soil erosion, repeated cropping, and agro practices that deplete nitrogen and micro nutrients.

Satellite imagery show that soil degradation has become endemic in large tracts of land – especially along the... Read more..

India thwarts move on new climate change mechanism

India has thwarted a move by rich countries to have a small group to decide uniform guidelines to implement climate change mitigation action review regime in each country. Instead, India convinced them that each country should submit its own version of guidelines for consideration at the next UN conference in Panama City in October. 

Review of climate change mitigation actions, is the hottest issue of climate negotiators of 195 nations. Europe and US have been insisting on a regime for analysis of domestic mitigation actions of emerging economies such as India and China for agreeing... Read more..

Biomass power plants in a fix

 Burgeoning raw material costs and a mismatch between generation cost and pricing have led biomass power plants to function well below their capacity and, in some cases, end operations.

Against an estimated potential of 18,000 Mw, the installed capacity of biomass plants in India is 2,664 Mw. These plants are in Maharashtra (403 Mw), Andhra Pradesh (363 Mw), Karnataka (365 Mw), Madhya Pradesh (7 Mw), Tamil Nadu (488 Mw), Punjab (74 Mw), Haryana (35 Mw), Rajasthan (73 Mw), Uttar Pradesh (592 Mw), West Bengal (16 Mw) and Uttarakhand (10 Mw), among others.

... Read more..

Educational campuses rush to qualify as green structures

In the delta region where the Cauvery flows into the Bay of Bengal in Thiruvarur district of Tamil Nadu, what’s billed as India’s first completely green university campus is coming up on 517 acres sprawled across two villages.

All buildings on the campus of Central University of Tamil Nadu are constructed with materials made of fly ash, an industrial by-product of thermal power plants, approved forest timber and stone sourced locally. The land, less than 4% of which is being built upon, is broken by networks of canals, the roads lined with trees to provide shade for... Read more..

ABB to provide high efficiency solutions for solar energy applications in India

ABB Limited, India, has won orders worth INR 161 million to supply turnkey power and automation solution for three photovoltaic solar power plants with a combined capacity of 11MW in India.

The orders comprise of two 5 MW photovoltaic solar power plants and one 1 MW photovoltaic solar power plant. When completed in October this year, the plants will have an annual generating capacity of up to17.6 GW hours of electricity, avoiding approximately12500 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year, equivalent to the annual emissions of about 3100 Indian cars.

ABB is responsible for the design... Read more..

Hydroelectricity's carbon output highest in tropics

 Hydroelectric power could be doing more harm than good to the climate, a new study has revealed.

 
A study analysed the emissions of carbon dioxide and methane from 85 hydroelectric reservoirs around the world and found the carbon output was highest in young reservoirs in the lower latitudes, reports ABC Science.

 
The study, led by Nathan Barros from the Federal University of Juiz de Fora in Brazil found that all reservoirs from boreal latitudes to the tropics were a source of methane, with 88 per cent also emitting CO2.

 
They calculated around 48... Read more..

State urges IBM to expedite action on errant miners

 The state steel & mines department has urged the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) to inform the department at the earliest on the action taken against errant miners who have raised ores in excess of the approved mining plan in the past 10 years.

It has also asked IBM to furnish details on approved quantities of production of all the 198 working mines as the same is not available with the Directorate of Mines.

"A committee was constituted by the steel & mines department for verification of annual production of different mines during the last 10 years in respect... Read more..

Solar power to be supplied in trains soon

 India will soon be only the second country in the world to get supply of solar power in trains. Successful trial run of train bogies having electrical equipments running on solar power was done on the Pathankot –Jogindernagar narrow gauge on July 26.

Railway officials say that solar powered train coaches would help save millions of unit of power every month. The Railway department at Pathankot has been working on the project for last eight years.

Officials also said that passengers will be able to recharge their phones and laptops in these coaches. The... Read more..

PCMC launches green building initiative

 The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has become the first municipal corporation in the country to introduce energy efficient buildings by giving incentives to builders and property tax sops to residents. Officials of the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy made this annoucement at the launch of PCMC’s ‘Green building initiative’ at Autocluster in Chinchwad on Saturday.

Municipal Commissioner Asheesh Sharma said the concept was started last week but was formally launched in the presence of ministry officials. “Through this initiative, there will be saving in... Read more..

Centre leaves Kanhan river high and dry

Nagpurians will pay the price for callousness of water resources department towards preparing river rejuvenation plan for Kanhan river. While the central government has sanctioned Rs 204 crore for four towns for rejuvenation of rivers, not a single penny has been sanctioned for Kanhan river.

Maharashtra environment minister Sanjay Deotale told the House that Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had identified 28 polluted rivers of the state for rejuvenation. The Centre would provide 70% amount for rejuvenation under National River Action Plan (NRAP) while the remaining 30% has to... Read more..

India to become capital for lead poisoning?

 India’s quest for green and alternative energy can prove to be a double- edged sword. This boomerang can lead to environmental disasters which is capable of making India the worst hit lead poisoned country very soon.

Dr Thuppil Venkatesh, Principal Advisor, Quality Council of India (QCI) and National Referral Centre for Lead Poisoning in India (NRCLPI) says that India will become the world capital of lead poisoning by next decade.

As per current policies, India aims to produce an additional 12 giga Watts by 2022, blue print includes the distribution of 20 million small... Read more..

MANIREDA to observe Renewable Energy Day with felicitation of school toppers

 The Manipur Renewable Energy Development Agency (MANIREDA) will be observing August 20 as Rajiv Gandhi Akshay Urja Diwas (Renewable Energy Day) in connection with the birth day of the then Prime Minister of India, late Rajiv Gandhi.

According to a release of the MANIREDA, that the day has been observed every year with a view to paying tribute to late Rajiv Gandhi’s vision of taking the country into the 21st Century through application of modern technology under the sponsorship of the ministry of New and Renewable energy, government of India.

It is... Read more..