Sustainability Outlook Headlines

Tata Power plant's carbon status denial upsets investors

A U.N. carbon credit scheme's rejection of a huge coal power plant by Tata Power(TTPW.BO) deprives the project of revenue running into hundreds of millions of euros and rings alarm bells for investors developing similar plants.

The incident spotlights a controversial U.N. process that allows valuable carbon offsets to be given to highly efficient coal power stations, a step green groups say erodes the spirit of trying to wean developing nations off polluting fossil fuels.

In Gujarat, Tata Power has completed more than half of its $4.2-billion 4,000-MW plant that will use more... Read more..

Carbon pricing called key to coal pollution plan

The key to developing technology to store coal plants' pollution underground is charging them for the carbon dioxide they release into the air, a US presidential task force says. 

The experimental technique is aimed at reducing pollution blamed for contributing to global warming. 

In a report released Thursday, the task force says that without a price for carbon pollution, there is no framework for investing in the underground storage technology, known as carbon capture and storage or CCS. 

According to the report, coal-fired power plants are the largest... Read more..

Cricket club sows seeds for green initiative

At a time when electricity costs have sky rocketed, Sandeep Sonigra, head of the Orange County Foundation in Pune has successfully reduced his home’s  energy bills to as little as Rs 200 a month. Speaking at a seminar organised by the Cricket Club of India (CCI) on Tueday, Sonigra said that the hybrid power plant installed at the Orange County residential complex in Pune could be installed for any multi-storey building in Mumbai.

The two windmills and 90 solar panels installed on each of the two buildings in the complex make them one of India's first energy self-sufficient multi-... Read more..

Badal okays wasteland development project

In a bid to tackle the perennial problem of water logging and soil salinity in the Malwa region, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today approved an innovative integrated agri-business pilot project in the region. The project would be implemented by Nasa Agro Industries Ltd at Sajrana in Ferozepur district. A decision to this effect was taken by the Chief Minister after going through a detailed presentation by Managing Director, NASA Agro Industries Ltd Sanjeev Nagpal here this morning.

It was informed in the meeting that this Rs 82 crore project would involve development of... Read more..

Tiny sea creatures called salps efficiently remove carbon

Imagine a car that powered itself by the very air it moved through – and removed carbon as it did. Replace 'air' with 'water' and you've just imagined a surprisingly useful and very real jellyfish-like creature called a salp.

These super-efficient, barrel-shaped organisms, between half an inch and five inches long, push themselves through the water and as they do, they remove carbon dioxide from it in their fecal pellets, which fall to the ocean floor where they can stay for centuries.

When carbon from the upper layers of the oceans is moved to the bottom, there's more space... Read more..

Carbon Sciences Successfully Synthesizes Proprietary Raw Catalyst Needed for Making Gasoline Without Using Crude Oil

Carbon Sciences Inc. , the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform greenhouse gases into gasoline and other portable fuels, today announced the successful synthesis of a proprietary raw catalyst, an essential step toward demonstrating commercial feasibility of the technology.

"In June of this year, we filed a landmark patent application for our breakthrough CO2 based Gas-to-Liquids technology," said CEO Byron Elton. "The production of this catalyst is the actual laboratory scale implementation of the catalyst formulation and its synthesis process disclosed in the... Read more..

IIT engineer suggests technology to clean up Mumbai beaches.

It is time to start cleaning up the beaches when the oil spill is freshly entrapped into the sand and silt using the Sand and Silt Washing Reactors (SSWR), said an environmental expert from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B) here.

It is important to skim the floating oil in the ocean but at the same time it is equally important to clean up the beaches without wasting time, Dr Shyam Asolekar, professor, Centre for Environmental Science and Engineering of IIT-Bwho has developed SSWR technology told PTI today.

"Sooner the better as the oil will get weathered by... Read more..

Japan To Subsidize CO2-Cut Studies: Report

Japan has selected 15 groups of companies to conduct feasibility studies for emission-cutting projects in nine developing countries to promote clean-energy technologies, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

Since U.N. climate talks have stalled, Japan is hoping that contributions to cut greenhouse gas emissions abroad will produce carbon credits to offset emissions at home over the next decade as an alternative to the U.N.'s existing complex carbon market.

If the proposed 15 projects all proceed, they would reduce an estimated total of 5 to 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide... Read more..

'India to reach 63,000 mw nuclear power capacity'

The Integrated Energy Policy-2006 envisages possibilities of reaching a nuclear power capacity of 63,000 MW by the year 2032.The estimated investment is Rs.10 crore/MW at 2010 prices, said Prithviraj Chavan, Minister of State for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, in Lok Sabha.

 The 2009-10 average nuclear tariff of about Rs.2.30/KWh is quite comparable to thermal power. Nuclear Power is competitive with coal thermal power at locations away from coal mines.

Most of hydel power comes from multipurpose dams (costs are shared amongst flood control, irrigation and power... Read more..

UN chief pursues 'low-carbon prosperity' through new panel on sustainable development

A new U.N. panel headed by the presidents of Finland and South Africa is being set up to draft a blueprint for global sustainable development.Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday announced the creation of the panel that he said will deliver a report by the end of 2011 on how to spread "sustainable growth and low-carbon prosperity for all" in light of the urgent challenge posed by climate change.

The high-level panel is to be co-chaired by Finnish President Tarja Halonen and South African President Jacob Zuma.Its members also will include Barbados' prime minister and Turkey's... Read more..

Goods for mega power projects can be imported duty-free

The conditions for grant of excise duty exemption for goods supplied to mega power projects have been amended. Now, the project developers, instead of the manufacturers, have been made liable to pay the duty in case they do not ensure that exempted goods are used only in their projects. Besides, the power to attest the list of goods required for setting up the projects has been given to the chief engineer of the Central Electricity Authority.

Thermal power projects that can generate 1,000 Mw power and hydel power projects that can generate 500 Mw power are referred to as mega power... Read more..

Maharashtra has most no. of dirty river stretches

That the Mithi has been reduced to a filthy nullah is well-known. However, now a report of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) shows that Maharashtra has the largest number of polluted river water stretches in the country.

The CPCB draws up a list on the basis of what it calls "water quality monitoring." It has identified 26 such rivers in Maharashtra with 28 polluted stretches. The Mula and Mutha in Pune, Kalu and Bhatsa in Thane and the Mithi in Mumbai are among such rivers.

Environmental experts are worried that it's not only industrial pollution which is... Read more..