Sustainability Outlook Headlines

Australia to set fixed price on carbon

Australia will set a fixed carbon price from July 1 2012 on an interim basis until a full emissions trading scheme can be introduced in 3-5 years, the government said on Thursday.

KEY POINTS

* No decision yet on what the set price would be or how much industry and households would be compensated for the new costs.

* Greens party, key independents side with govt on deal

* The fixed price phase could be of between 3 and 5 years, with the price increasing annually at a pre-determined rate.

* At the end of the fixed price period, the intent is that the... Read more..

Lauren and CCL Optoelectronics Form Partnership to Build Solar Power Plants in India

Lauren Engineers & Constructors, Inc, a leading Design-Build contractor in the United Sates, announced today the formation of a new partnership with CCL Optoelectronics Private Limited to pursue the installation of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) facilities in India.
 
"Lauren is a leader in the design and construction of CSP facilities in the United States, and we're excited about the opportunity to expand our business in this new market," said Cleve Whitener, Lauren's Chief Executive Officer. "The Lauren CCL partnership is focused on leveraging our broad base of experience... Read more..

Air India aims to become India's 1st green airline in one year

National air-carrier, Air India, aims to become the country's first green airline soon having initiated the process a couple of years ago, a senior official said. 

As part of this process, the airline's Chairman and Managing Director, Arvind Jadhav, today outlined the company's corporate environment policy which seeks to reduce carbon emission, noise and other forms of pollution as well as reduce consumption of fuel and other natural resources.

"We are committed to go green. As a part of this process, we plan to introduce a documentation management system and aim to go... Read more..

Climate change creates longer ragweed season

 A changing climate means allergy-causing ragweed pollen has a longer season that extends further north than it did just 16 years ago, U.S. scientists reported on Monday.

In research that gibes with projections by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, plant and allergy experts found that ragweed pollen season lasted as much as 27 days longer in 2009 than it did in 1995. The further north in the Western Hemisphere, the more dramatic the change in the length of pollen season.

Ragweed pollen can cause asthma flare-ups and hayfever, and costs about $21 billion a... Read more..

Adani forms JV with Carbon Energy to bid for UCG projects

Adani Group on Friday said it has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with an Australia-based firm Carbon Energy to form a joint venture to pursue Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) projects in India.

"The two firms have inked a MoU for a strategic joint venture, where they shall jointly be bidding in tendering process for UGC projects likely to be announced on tenements of Coal India Limited (CIL)," a company official said here.

"The MoU is for a period of 18 months during which it is anticipated that Adani group and Carbon Energy will jointly submit bids for... Read more..

Investing in greener economy could spur growth - UN

Channelling 2 percent, or $1.3 trillion, of global gross domestic product into greening sectors such as construction, energy and fishing could start a move toward a low-carbon world, a report launched on Monday said.

The investment would expand the global economy at the same rate, if not higher, as under present economic policies, said the report by the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP).

"Investing 2 per cent of global GDP into 10 key sectors can kick-start a transition towards a low-carbon world," the Nairobi-based agency said in a statement.

"The sum, currently... Read more..

Loans under JNNSM at 5% not violation of base rate norms: RBI

The Reserve Bank today said banks financing power generation equipment under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) at a concessional 5 per cent interest rate is not violation of norms.
This financing below the base rate would not be considered violation of guidelines, RBI said in a statement.
"We advise that such lending at interest rates not exceeding five per cent per annum where refinance of Government of India is available, would not be considered to be a violation of our Base Rate guidelines," it said.
In the new lending rate mechanism, no loans except... Read more..

Bajaj Electricals eyes solar goods

BSE-listed Bajaj Electricals, part of the $7 billion Bajaj Group, will soon get into solar appliances category to cash in on the increasing craze for environment-friendly products and penetrate further into rural areas which face extreme power shortage. The company hopes to gain volumes in electrical appliances and utility products.

The entry in this category will potentially shake up the nascent solar appliances market constituting products like solar lamps, solar exhaust fans, solar chargers, solar mobile phones. Bajaj Electricals will launch solar water heaters and solar street... Read more..

Posco and LanzaTech to Collaborate on Renewable Energy

LanzaTech has signed a memorandum of understanding with Posco :  , one of the largest steel producers in the world, covering the implementation of its gas fermentation technology to convert the steel maker’s flue gases to ethanol and other value added products.

Posco is a Korean conglomerate with interests in steel, power, energy, engineering and construction.

Its crude steel production for 2010 was 33.7 million tons.

LanzaTech uses non food renewable resources to produce ethanol and also 2,3-Butanediol (2,3-BD), a key building block used to make polymers, plastics and... Read more..

KfW earmarks 800mn euros for India renewable energy projects

German government-owned development bank KfW plans to lend 800 million euros in the 2011-12 calender year to finance various renewable energy projects in India.
"We have already financed around 1.5 billion euros in the energy sector in India. In addition to this, we plan to earmark another 800 million euros to fund the green initiatives of India this year (CY''11)," KfW Director Oskar von Maltzan told PTI on the sidelines of the ''Renewtech India Summit'' here.
The German government is keen to promote investment in energy-efficiency and renewable energy projects in India by... Read more..

Inventor turns brewery waste into natural gas

Before he started "saving the earth, one beer at a time," all inventor Eric Fitch knew about home brewing was that it could make quite a mess.

Once, he accidentally backed up the plumbing in his apartment building by dumping into his garbage disposal the spent grain left over from his India Pale Ale home brew. The oatmeal-looking gunk choked the pipes in his Cambridge, Mass., building, flooding the basement.

These days, he's doing something more constructive, fulfilling the dream of beer lovers everywhere by recycling the stuff: The MIT-trained mechanical engineer has... Read more..

New Delhi rooftop solar panel policy ready- target 20MW in 3 years

According to reports, Delhi government has come up with a Cabinet note for solar power units on rooftops of households in the Capital.

After speaking to all stakeholders, the government is finally ready with the policy, according to which anyone can use their roof to set up a solar power unit. A nod from the Law and Finance department is awaited before the note is put up in front of the Cabinet for approval. The government will then take around six months to kick off the scheme.

House owners can either lease out their roof to a developer, who will then set up the unit, or... Read more..