Sustainability Outlook Headlines

World Bank approves $109 mn grant for Rajasthan

The World Bank has approved a $109 million funding for the Rajasthan Agricultural Competitiveness Project in India to enhance agricultural productivity through sustainable and efficient use of water resources.

The project is expected to increase agricultural productivity and farmer incomes through efficient water management, crop management, improved agricultural technology, farmer organizations and market innovations in some 20 selected areas in Rajasthan.

The initiative will benefit some 155,000 smallholder farmers, the Washington-based World Bank said in a statement on... Read more..

Unique ‘Solarator’ launched for first time in India

Bangalore-based HHV Solar Technologies Pvt. Ltd has announced the indigenous development and launch of its revolutionary solar device – the  ‘Solarator’, a trailer-mounted, 600 watt capacity, solar photovoltaic power generator ideally suited for remote locations and as an emergency power source.

The conventional method of providing electricity in remote areas or places where natural disasters have brought down grid power is to use portable diesel fuelled power generators. However, the disadvantage of such gen-sets is that they are noisy, emit smoke which harms the environment and... Read more..

First electrified snail to 'operate in natural environment'

The world's first "electrified snail" has joined the menagerie of cockroaches, rats, rabbits and other animals previously implanted with biofuel cells that generate electricity from natural sugar in their bodies.

This is perhaps for future spy cameras, eavesdropping microphones and other electronics.

In the report, Evgeny Katz and colleagues point out that many previous studies have involved "potentially implantable" biofuel cells.

So far, however, none has produced an implanted biofuel cell in a small live animal that could generate electricity for an extended period... Read more..

SEMI India pledges its commitment to skill development for the solar industry

SEMI India, the Indian arm of the global industry organisation, SEMI, yesterday launched a solar PV work force development initiative, with a three day short-term course on 'Off-grid Solar PV Components and Systems' at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi. ‘Skill Development’ was identified as a priority action area by SEMI India’s PV Advisory Committee, comprising key executives from India’s solar PV industry.  This short-term course will be the first in a series of courses that SEMI will organize in 2012 in technical collaboration with the National Centre for Photovoltaic Research and... Read more..

India ranks high in clean energy

India ranks sixth among the world's 20 leading economies in attracting funds for clean energy projects, a new report states.
 
The Pew Charitable Trusts, in its "Who's Winning the Clean Energy Race 2011," says India invested $10.2 billion in renewable energy last year, nearly 40 percent of which was for solar power.
 
The Pew report credited India's National Solar Mission, with its aim to have 20 gigawatts of solar power installed by 2020, as helping to drive the country's seven-fold jump in solar investments in 2011, to $4.2 billion and an additional 2.8 gigawatts... Read more..

Bangalore green cover down from 71% to 12%

If researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) are to be believed, Bangalore is one most poorly managed cities in the country with a huge carbon footprint (CF). IISc researchers Dr TV Ramachandra, Bharath H Aithal, Salvi Takur and Shwetmala, who are amid a two-year project funded by Asia-Pacific Network for Climate Change, say the area under vegetation in the city declined from 71% in 1973 to 12% in 2012.

“Bangalore leads the pack of cities with higher CF. It is one of the most mismanaged cities and only 3.4% of the Bangaloreans is environmentally literate,” says... Read more..

Areva to build big Indian solar power plant for Reliance Power

The French energy group Areva said Wednesday that it would build the biggest concentrated solar power installation in Asia for Reliance Power of India.
 
Areva Solar is to construct two plants using compact linear fresnel reflector (CLFR) technology that would produce 250 megawatts (MW) of electricity in Rajasthan, northwestern India, a statement said.
 
That would provide energy for around 300,000 people in Europe according to a sector estimation.
 
CLFR technology uses reflected sunlight to heat liquid-filled tubes which generate high-pressure steam... Read more..

India says EU tax a 'deal breaker' for climate talks

India's environment minister said Wednesday that a European Union scheme to tax airlines for carbon emissions was "a deal breaker" ahead of global climate change talks, a warning rejected by the EU.

Green signal for credit guarantee fund for urban poor housing

The Union Cabinet on Friday gave the green signal for the setting up of a credit risk guarantee fund trust with an initial corpus of Rs. 1,200 crore to help give a push to housing for low-income groups in the country.

The trust will be set up under the Indian Trust Act and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation will be its settler. It would be managed and administered by a Board of Trustees with cross-sectoral composition. It would be serviced by the National Housing Bank.

The key principle of the scheme is that the lender shall secure loans to construct and... Read more..

Energy-efficient buildings needed’

Minister for energy, Shobha Karandlaje, on Monday urged Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited (KREDL) to identify buildings that consume more energy, and talk to their owners to convince them to shift to more efficient systems.

She was speaking at a one-day workshop by KREDL to discuss the implementation of energy conservation building code (ECBC).
She stated that the state government was losing a lot of power. “According to our records, nearly 2000 MW is lost. We believe it is possible to save up to 16 million units (MU) in a day by encouraging energy efficient... Read more..

Private Members' Bill on climate change presented

It is highly unlikely that a bill to seek a comprehensive legislation on climate change introduced by a young MP in Parliament would become a law in India, but the initiative of proposing such a measure may have an impact on the government's thinking in this regard.

The Climate Change Bill 2012, put up for its introduction as a Private Members' Bill in the ongoing budget session by BJD Lok Sabha MP K N Singh Deo, asks for proactive steps by the Indian Government in this regard.

It seeks a single comprehensive law on climate change in order to mitigate emissions and improve... Read more..

Carbon print biggest in east of City

The eastern part of the city consumes the most amount of electricity and hence stands first among the higher carbon emission areas of Bengaluru. An ongoing study by the Wetland and Energy Research Group of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) on ‘Carbon Footprint of Greater Bengaluru’ shows that per capita electricity consumption and greenhouse gas emission is higher in K R Puram and Whitefield areas. While Bengaluru East emitted more carbon per se, the city’s central areas showed high carbon emissions from vehicles.

The higher carbon footprint is due to lack of planned... Read more..