Sustainability Outlook Headlines

Forbes Marshall plans to step up export business

Forbes Marshall, an engineering and energy conservation solutions provider, is planning to step up its export business. Naushad Forbes, Director of the Pune-based company, said it has significantly expanded manufacturing capacity at the Chakan unit in Maharasahtra with an investment of ₹250 crore and is seeking to increase its exports business.
 
Last year, around 20 per cent of the company’s ₹800-crore revenue came from exports.
 
“Our long-term objective is to increase the export mix to 50 per cent of the total business. We are eyeing markets in West Asia, East... Read more..

Yes, Organic Farming Can Feed the World

A few years ago, I was at a biotechnology trade meeting listening to a panel on GMOs. Throughout the two-hour session, the panelists all sang the praises of the technology—not too surprising at an industry event. (At the time, the GMOs under commercial planting were limited to seeds genetically engineered to produce an insecticide and/or resist a proprietary herbicide.)
 
What was unexpected was what came next: One of the speakers took the mic to say those opposed to GMOs should be tried for crimes against humanity. Seriously. Sure, the comment may have been a gross misuse of... Read more..

You can choose who distributes your power: bold proposal by panel

In a radical reform in the country’s power sector, a high-level advisory panel appointed by the NDA government is ready with a proposal that envisages the advent of multiple suppliers in the loss-laden distribution side.
 
The elimination of the territorial distinction that exists among electricity distribution companies in each state is part of the blueprint, which envisages multiple supply licencees on the consumer-end being able to compete with each other as in the telecom sector, and the retail consumer having the option to migrate from one supplier to another.
 ... Read more..

Power-hungry Indian businesses build their own solar plants

Fed up with constant electricity cuts and government-enforced "power holidays", Indian IT firm ValueLabs has turned to the sun beaming down on its head office for help. In July, it finished building a 13 megawatt solar plant - enough to power 6,000 homes - to keep the lights on and computers humming for more than 3,000 employees at its base in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad.
 
It is even selling surplus electricity back to the grid. "We plan to use the entire quantum of power generated from these plants in the coming years for our existing and upcoming campus," said... Read more..

SMEs, startups see Swachh Bharat as an opportunity and hope for simplified paperwork

SMEs and startups see Swachh Bharat as an opportunity and hope for simplified paperwork and speedy implementation to help them along the target set for cleaning up India by the Swachh Bharat programme has opened a host of opportunities for startups working in the space of water purification, sanitation as well as solid liquid waste management(SLWM).
 
​The campaign, which has roped in celebrities, politicians and business tycoons to propagate the message,aims to cover 4,041 towns by 2019 and will be mediated through civic bodies. It will bring opportunities for local players to... Read more..

Discontinuation of subsidy forcing many solar water heater makers to shut down operations

In the midst of several government announcements to provide more funds for the clean energy sector, the state of the Rs 1,000-crore solar water heater manufacturing industry has become some kind of a paradox, where discontinuation of a subsidy has resulted in shutting down of companies due to debt and halving of sales.
 
Supreme Solar, a Karnataka-based company run by young entrepreneurs, which manufactures around 40,000 units of solar water heaters annually, is planning to scale down production.
 
"A lot of people in the northern states were shifting from... Read more..

Wind energy sector in India expected to attract Rs 20,000 crore of investments

India's sluggish wind energy market is set for a revival following the restoration of a depreciation incentive, which is expected to attract about Rs 20,000 crore of investments next year as companies across sectors add 3,000 MW of capacity powered by this renewable source of energy. 
 
The reintroduction of accelerated depreciation (AD), which was withdrawn in 2012, is poised to support equipment manufacturers, including Suzlon Energy Ltd, the country's largest wind turbine maker, which received 150 MW of orders soon after the benefit was brought back. 
 
"... Read more..

Renewable Energy Act on the anvil

Government has decided to come up with a Renewable Energy Act to streamline power generation, supply and tariff and help attract more investment.
 
The concrete policy related to the Act would come in place by February next year before Renewable Energy Global Investors Meet and Expo (RE-INVEST) to be organised by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
 
"We are planning to enact a Renewable Energy Act as currently all the electricity activities come under the New Electricity Act 2003. It is a big challenge. When there is no policy or a renewable energy act,... Read more..

UN climate change report: India at risk, say report authors

A crucial United Nations report on climate change released on Sunday telling governments to cut greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2100 is "both an opportunity and a challenge for India", said an expert from India involved in preparing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Synthesis Report. Another Indian in the report's core writing team said India was assessed as among the top 20 nations most at risk from extreme events.

The report also says cutting emissions by 40-70 per cent by 2050 would likely keep global warming under 2 degrees Celsius relative to pre-industrial... Read more..

Ground-breaking Indian study benchmarks Pongamia Biodiesel 2030 pricing

Ground-breaking Indian research on the viability of Pongamia Biodiesel has today been released titled "PONGAMIA BIODIESEL 2030: Projecting a Path for Permanent Progress & Prosperity, at the culmination of almost three years of work by The Advanced Biofuel Center (CJP).The results of the unique study as part of the center's ongoing research and development programmes on nonfood biodiesel crops and technologies.. 

Researchers at the CJP- Advanced Biofuel Center, based in India, looked at the agronomy, harvesting engineering and associated financial viability of Pongamia Biodiesel... Read more..

Cancer-causing benzene not part of air quality index

The air quality index (AQI) recently launched by the Centre doesn't monitor the quantity of benzene, a component of petrol or gasoline. Constant exposure to high levels of the carcinogen (a cancer-causing substance) may have serious long-term health effects. With benzene levels found to be way higher than the safe standard in many parts of Delhi and possibly other cities, it's shocking that the Centre included lead but not benzene in the AQI. Some experts say it's time the government came up with a separate monitoring and control programme for toxic air pollutants like benzene, lead and... Read more..

Salt degradation imperils world's arid farmlands

Salt is poisoning around 2,000 hectares of irrigated farm land every day – and has been doing so for the last 20 years, according to new research. Think of an area about the size of 3,000 football fields that can no longer be used to produce food each day. And then remember that the global population actually grows by around 200,000 people every day.

 
Manzoor Qadir, senior research fellow at the United Nations University’s Institute for Water, Environment and Health, and colleagues report in the journal Natural Resources Forum that an area of farmland the size of France – 62... Read more..