Sustainability Outlook Headlines

Japan to give Rs 7,361 crore for infra projects in India

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has agreed to Rs 7,361 crore as a soft loan to India for various infrastructure projects in India. The loan will cover six development projects in the areas of power, transportation, forestation and energy to support India's efforts to improve its infrastructure.

The loan amount will also focus of projects that will help accelerate the spread of new and renewable energy and energy conservation projects using Japanese technology .

The projects include two power projects in Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh respectively, Bangalore... Read more..

Sustainable agriculture can help conquer hunger, UN says

Industrial-style farming, often known as the "green revolution," has been widely credited with saving perhaps 1 billion people from starvation by boosting the yield of grain crops in India, China, Pakistan, Mexico and other countries.

But the green revolution, which relies on intensive use of water, fertilizer, pesticides and energy, has come at a cost, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says. The FAO tally of such costs include anemic soils, depleted water supplies, diminished biodiversity, resilient pests, super weeds and polluted air, water and soil.

Now... Read more..

IEEE sees solar as the winner among renewables in 10 years

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the organization behind standards such as WiFi, Wimax and hundreds of others, sees Solar energy as becoming the cheapest power source in ten years.

The organization, which is increasing its focus on Solar this year through the setting up of a journal and experts groups, is one of the few international bodies to throw its weight behind a single source of energy and hold it up as the definite candidate to bet on. Most other experts and bodies tend to see a combination of sources, such as Wind, geothermal and nuclear as the... Read more..

MMTC eyes wind, solar energy units

As part of the government of India’s mission to double renewable energy capacity in the next three years, trading giant Minerals & Metals Trading Corporation (MMTC) Limited will invest in non-conventional and sustainable energy projects by setting up wind farms in the next couple of years.

The company, which plans to expand its wind farm in Gajendragad in Gadag district, will set up similar projects in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka in the next two years.

“The Gajendragad plant can generate a total capacity of 15 MW of power and the target was to generate an... Read more..

India set to produce 700 MW solar power in 2011

 India is on track to produce 700 megawatts of solar power at a cost of $2.2 billion by December, ahead of an initial target for an ambitious plan that seeks to boost green power generation from near zero to 20 gigawatts (GW) by 2022.

Under India's Solar Mission , investors bid to build solar power plants and the winning bids are determined by the electricity tariff that they accept as viable. Such has been the interest that the government has been flooded with investment pledges for the first batch of projects rolling out in December.

India's 20 GW solar plan is likely to... Read more..

Renewable energy sector sees M&A deals worth $33.4 bn in 2010

The renewable energy sector witnessed mergers and acquisitions worth USD 33.4 billion last year, with the Asia-Pacific region, including India, accounting for 12 per cent of the total value, says global consultancy firm PwC.

The overall transaction value is much less than the USD 48.8 billion seen in 2009, even though the count of deals rose to 530 last year from 319 in 2009.

In the Asia-Pacific region alone, there were deals to the tune of USD 3.56 billion in the renewable energy sector last year, with Chinese deals alone worth USD 2.13 billion.

According to PwC,... Read more..

'India Must Accelerate Use Of Industrial Automation'

“Industrial Automation in India, is in its adolescence phase. Since the real drive for automation started only in early 90s we are still trying to play "catch-up” with the absorption of product technologies and manufacturing processes, with geographies that have had over 100 years to learn and deploy automation, while China has rapidly closed the gap in skills development and industrial deployment of highly automated processes” said Mr Vijay Paranjape, President AIA and Director & Member Managing Board (Siemens Ltd)

He was speaking during the “Excellence Awards for Innovation... Read more..

India's Suzlon Energy gets 50.4 MW order from NALCO

Indian wind turbine maker Suzlon Energy said on Thursday it had got a 50.4 megawatt order from National Aluminium Co Ltd .

The order is to set up, operate and maintain wind energy projects in the southern Indian state Andhra Pradesh and is scheduled for completion by January 2012, the company said in a statement. (Reporting by Neha Singh)

Nitish talks cooperation with Chinese authorities

Chief minister Nitish Kumar who is on an official visit to China since Monday attended Bihar-Shandong round table conference at Shandong and discussed issues of mutual interest and cooperation. Nitish is leading a seven member delegation which comprises two Bihar ministers, two representatives of commerce and industry and three bureaucrats.

The Shandong team headed by director of foreign affairs office of provincial government Zhang Weiling made a presentation on building infrastructure and agriculture. The issues related to alternative building material technology and brick and... Read more..

Mission Clean Ganga needs more efforts: Experts

The National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) experts are not happy with the outcome of Tuesday's meeting in New Delhi to discuss issues related to the Ganga. Union environment and forest minister Jairam Ramesh had chaired the meeting. The experts are now wondering whether the government is really serious about its Mission Clean Ganga 2020.

While one of the expert members of the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA), BD Tripathi, raised the issue of suitable mechanism based on regenerating ability for the cleaning of the Ganga, another member Rajendra Singh advocated... Read more..

Weather, economy may spur climate "tipping point"

More weather disasters and economic recovery could bring a "tipping point" that jolts governments into far tougher action to combat climate change, the U.N. climate chief said on Wednesday.

Christiana Figueres also told Reuters that government efforts so far to combat global warming were nowhere near enough to avert heatwaves, droughts, mudslides and rising sea levels projected by the U.N. panel of climate scientists.

"I do remain confident that at some point we will have a tipping point at which countries will be able to move faster, much more," she told the Reuters Global... Read more..

77 percent of VC Executives are optimistic

The third annual VC survey conducted by Polachi, which polled venture capital executives throughout U.S.A, reveals that 77 percent of venture capital executives- more than 80 percent of which are Partners or Managing Partners- are more optimistic about the industry today compared to a year ago despite of the recent economy slow down.

Polachi is a provider of Access Executive Search services to techbolgoy, clean technology, private equity and venture capital companies. A sponsor of the New England Clean Energy Council (NECEC) as well as a founding member of Access Search Partners (... Read more..