Sustainability Outlook Headlines

Border villages to be illuminated with solar power

The central government has approved the project to illuminate backward villages on the Indo-Nepal border with solar energy under the border area development scheme.

The service would be free for the villagers and the responsibility of looking after the solar street lights would be entrusted to the villagers themselves.

A large part of the district comes under the Sohelwa forest division which is spread across 452 square kilometers and includes several gram panchayats of Gaisdi, Pachpedwa, Haraiyya and Tulsipur development blocks.

About 100 villages of these are located... Read more..

TNs solar policy opens up new business avenues

The state governments plan to generate 350 MW from solar rooftop installations will require the recruitment of least 15,000 skilled hands with training in renewable energy technologies. Tamil Nadus solar policy,announced on October 20,makes it mandatory for all colleges,residential schools,government buildings and commercial establishments with a built-up area of 20,000sqm or more to buy 3%,the electricity they consume from solar power sources till December 2013 and 6%from January 2014. 

To implement the policy,companies,institutions and commercial establishments will have to employ... Read more..

Delhi hospitals phase out mercury

The process of phasing out mercury-based equipment in Delhi hospitals is complete, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has said. These equipment have been replaced with “good quality, non-mercury ones.”

“Fresh installation of such equipment has already been stopped. All healthcare facilities (HCFs) dispose of mercury waste only through the two agencies specified by us,” a DPCC official told HT.

The phase-out move is to ensure that spilled mercury does not get mixed with bio-medical or other solid waste generated from healthcare facilities.

The DPCC had in 2010... Read more..

Govt proposes new norms for funding solar projects

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has come out with proposed norms for viability gap funding (VGF) for large-sized solar power projects that would come up in Phase II of the National Solar Mission.

VGF will be made available for certain specified capacity solar projects — say, 750 MW or 1,000 MW — according to the draft policy document on National Solar Mission, Phase II, released today.

The tariff at which such projects will sell solar power to electricity distribution companies will be “pre-fixed, at say, Rs 5-6 per unit”, the document says.

Knowing what the... Read more..

Scrap dealers for e-waste management?

With the Central government making it mandatory to segregate electronic waste (e-waste), Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) is formulating a proper plan for its segregation and collection. For this, the civic body is also mulling roping in scrap dealers of the city.

Presently, the city generates more than 3,500 metric tonnes of waste daily. Though there is no estimate on the quantity of e-waste generated in the city, every household has around 8-10 kg of potential e-waste. This figure is an estimate by Society for Environment Protection (SEP).

Broken mobile chargers,... Read more..

Haryana fails to meet renewable energy target

The ambitious target set by Haryana Renewable Energy Development Agency (HAREDA) to harness power from non–conventional sources, by 2012, indeed has proven to be an ambitious one.

The State Renewable Energy Policy, mentions Haryana government’s aim of achieving 10 per cent of the total capacity addition of 5,000 Mw of conventional power to be generated through renewable energy power projects by 2012.

However, till date 164.10 Mw of electricity has been generated in the state through the use of non–conventional sources, while projects harnessing another 86.42 Mw are under... Read more..

UN Climate Change Negotiations 2012: India refutes charges of 'back sliding' on commitments

India refuted charges that it is "back sliding" on commitments made at Durban, stressing that work on the post 2020 global climate change regime, known as the Durban Platform, depends on successfully addressing unresolved issues in the ongoing negotiations. 

Industrialised countries have been demanding that negotiations be focused on the new regime. A move that India and other developing countries are concerned about as it could see crucial issues like higher emission reduction targets by developed countries in the pre-2020 period, finance, adaptation, equity, intellectual property... Read more..

ICT can cut global greenhouse gas emissions by 16.5%: study

Increased use of information and communication technology ( ICT) such as video conferencing and smart building management could cut global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 16.5% by 2020, amounting to $1.9 trillion in gross energy and fuel savings.

SMARTer2020, a new study unveiled today, shows that concerted action by policy-makers to encourage the use of ICT can save 9.1 gigatonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e) of harmful greenhouse gases from being emitted.

The study was conducted by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a global management consulting firm, on behalf of... Read more..

Loans for solar power projects set to get cheaper

The World Bank has agreed to make available a $200 million (Rs 1,100 crore) line-of-credit to IIFCL (India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd) for lending to solar power projects in India. This will pave the way for cheaper loans for solar projects.

Confirming this to Business Line, the Chairman and Managing Director of IIFCL, S. K. Goel, said that after the World Bank’s acceptance of the proposal, “we are proceeding with the general terms and conditions.”

He expects the LoC to be operational by the end of this month. The LoC is available for all renewable energy projects but... Read more..

India fights off cuts on agricultural emissions

In a battle of negotiators that ran from Thursday into the early hours of Sunday morning, India preserved its red-line and ensured that the world does not decide to reduce emissions from agriculture. 

Climate change threatens to disrupt agricultural systems across the world. The developing world is most at risk with their rural economies made up largely of small and marginal farmers being tossed into chaos. But agricultural practices like livestock and paddy fields also give rise to methane, a greenhouse gas that lives in the atmosphere for a very short duration before... Read more..

Hydro power sector not seen recovering soon: Voith

India’s moribund hydro power sector isn’t expected to change trajectory in the next two years, said Hubert Lienhard, president and global chief executive officer of Voith GmbH, which makes electro-mechanical equipment, reflecting the state of the sector and prospects for revival.

While the government has been trying to attract investments to the country, there have been concerns that faltering hydro power generation could hit India’s energy security plans. Hydro power accounts for 39,291.40 megawatts (MW), or 19%, of India’s 205,340.26MW power-generating capacity.

“In... Read more..