Sustainability Outlook Headlines

Green Campus- Indian Colleges Go Green

Zero waste zone, carbon footprint, water conservation, renewable energy are the buzz words when it comes to sustainability of environment. A paper titled 'Environmental Performance Studies' on educational institutions' presented in the International Journal of Environmental Sciences states that educational campuses consume more natural resources than any small and medium enterprise (SMES).

As per the paper a developing university consumes about 8,00,000 liters of water and uses about 5,333 kilowatt hour of electricity per day for their operations. There are approximately more than 7... Read more..

Varanasi 2.0 – Narendra Modi ropes in Google

The reason Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise of a clean Varanasi by 2019 brought a smile to many faces is because Varanasi is, in at least some very important ways, representative of India. In being a city ancient by age, it represents India’s hallowed history. In being a city predominantly Hindu in spirit, it represents the cultural heritage of a majority of the country’s people. And in being a city which is largely absent from the world’s perception of India (perception that mostly defined by the Qutub Minar and the Taj Mahal), it represents the need for this country to reinvent... Read more..

Delhi's 1st solar tariff this month

Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission will finally notify regulations for net metering and the city's first solar tariff this month. It means that private players and individuals can set up rooftop solar systems and supply energy generated to the grid.

All transactions to and fro from the grid will be metered. The policy gives individuals the freedom to tap as much solar power as they require. Experts, however, say the solar tariff needs to provide more financial incentives if it is to become successful.

"The net metering proposal is at an advanced stage. It's likely to be... Read more..

Finnish firm Fortum eyes hydro assets in India

Finland state-controlled Fortum India, which made a foray in the Indian solar power market last year, plans to acquire hydro power assets in India.

Sanjay Agarwal, managing director, said, “We will look at acquisition of hydro power plants. There are a very few proper assets to acquire. We, however, would look at mid-level hydro power plants.”

Though the company’s core expertise lies in heat-based power generation, 26 per cent of its total global generation capacity of 15,128 Mw is hydro-based. Twenty nine per cent of Fortum’s generation capacity comes from the company’s... Read more..

North Eaastrn Council Tests New Base Station Energy Management Systems in India

NEC and Pixela Corporation will begin testing the use of two innovative new energy management systems to cut base station power needs.

A renewable photovoltaic (PV) energy and lithium-ion rechargeable battery system will be installed at 20 sites. At a further 52 sites high-solar reflectance photocatalytic paint will be used to coat the walls and roofs of base station shelters.

This is to find out to what extent the power used by the air conditioning units that protect radio equipment housed alongside the towers can be reduced by curbing temperature levels. A combination of... Read more..

Power up: Graveyards to get biogas plants

With residents in several neighbourhoods up in arms against setting up of biogas power plants in their localities, Chennai Corporation has now sought recourse in the silence of the dead. 

The civic body is now planning to set up biogas plants at burial grounds in the city. A corporation official said there were nearly 200 burial grounds. "Ideally, every ward should have a biogas plant to convert organic waste to energy. But most residents don't want such plants in their localities even though they generate waste. So we are now looking at burial grounds." 

He said they had... Read more..

India considers change in solar pricing model

India may emulate a solar pricing model that made Germany and Spain the biggest markets for the technology, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks to spur renewable energy.

“The government in New Delhi is considering whether to grant fixed tariffs instead of holding competitive auctions for solar power,” said Tarun Kapoor, joint secretary at the ministry of New and Renewable Energy. “So called feed-in rates allow generators to lock in prices for solar power without capacity caps, unlike the current auction process.”An overhaul would help solar investors, such as Blackrock Inc.-backed... Read more..

PTC India Financial Services approves loans of over Rs 1,000 crore to power projects

PTC India Financial Services (PFS) has approved loans of over Rs 1,000 crore to power projects, bulk of them in renewable energy space. At its board meeting, PFS approved project lending of a little over Rs 1,000 crore to established players with proven track record, official sources said.

Refusing to divulge individual company details, sources said bulk of the projects are in renewable energy space. Loan of Rs 540 crore has been sanctioned for solar projects and Rs 265 crore for wind projects.

Hydroelectric projects have got Rs 140 crore from PFS and capital thermal power... Read more..

Old power plants put India in 11th slot in energy efficiency

Germany is the global leader in energy efficiency while ageing power plants and inefficient ways of electricity generation and industrial practices put India at number 11 in the latest energy efficiency ranking of the world's 16 largest economies

The United States, having second highest per capita energy consumption in the world, comes at the 13th position — behind countries such as China, France, Japan, UK, Canada and Australia among others. 

Besides the US, four other countries — South Korea, Russia, Brazil and Mexico — are below India in terms of indulging in inefficient... Read more..

Brazil, South Arica, India and China chalk out plan for climate negotiations

Meeting for the first time since the UN-sponsored climate change negotiations in Warsaw last November, ministers of the four BASIC countries—Brazil, South Arica, India and China-—sought to craft a common position for the next round of talks at Lima. 

At the first round of ministerial level meetings held here on Thursday evening, the quartet discussed the elements they would like included in the post-2020 climate agreement.... Read more..

CYAN WINS FROST & SULLIVAN INNOVATION AWARD

 Cambridge-based Cyan has won the 2014 Europe Frost & Sullivan award for Technology Innovation Leadership in developing a smart metering technology for the power sector in emerging economies.

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has demonstrated uniqueness in developing and leveraging new technologies, which significantly impacts both the functionality and the customer value of the new products and applications.

The award lauds the high R & D spend toward innovation, its relevance to the industry and the positive impact on brand... Read more..

Centre, 5 states to set up solar power projects

 The Narendra Modi government has made the first concrete move towards expanding India's solar generation capacity.

Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh would soon tie up with the Centre to execute ultra mega solar power projects with more than 500-Mw capacity each.

To put at least 5,000-7,000-Mw solar power generation under operation as soon as possible, Power Minister Piyush Goyal has asked officials to ensure agreements are signed with interested states by the end of the month, a government official said.

Madhya Pradesh is eyeing 750 to... Read more..