Sustainability Outlook Headlines

Alstom approves General Electric's $17 billion offer to buy its power business

 French power equipment maker AlstomBSE 1.34 % has approved $17 billion offer made by General Electric to acquire its global power business after deliberating on two more such proposals made by Siemens and Mitsubishi. 

The Board of Directors of Alstom received, on June 20, an update to the offer from General Electric (GE) to acquire the power and grid businesses of Alstom. It also received a revised proposal from Siemens and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries 

"Based on the works of the committee and financial and legal advisors, the Board of Directors has unanimously decided to... Read more..

Grim water situation: Lakes reach lowest drawable limit

 With the monsoon delayed and humidity levels rising, lakes supplying water to the city have reached the lowest drawable limits. The civic body is now seriously thinking about experimenting cloud seeding to check the yield.

Civic authorities have been constantly monitoring the speculations made by the meteorological department to check the possible dates when the catchment area will receive rains. Civic officials, however, knew well in advance that it would be a weak monsoon in April. But now the worry is the delay.

"If we see the average of the last 10 years, we receive 15%... Read more..

No Means to Tap into Fruit Waste

 A rise in the mercury level not only ensures brisk business at the umpteen fruit juice outlets in the city, but also a two-fold  increase in the generation of fruit waste. However, the current system of garbage collection by the Chennai Corporation does not have any provision to tap into the potential of this fruit-sugar rich bio-degradable waste.

According to owners and managers, each outlet loses up to 50 kilos of squashed fruits and peels per day, which is then dumped into the corporation garbage bins along with other types of waste. This, while many models are existing to... Read more..

Green nod for GAIL’s power plant in MP

 After giving green nods to some long pending defence projects, the government on Friday gave environment clearance to public sector undertaking GAIL for setting up a 380 mw gas-based power plant in Guna district of Madhya Pradesh. 

The project will be located within GAIL's existing LPG manufacturing facility-cum-compressor station at Vijaypur, one km west of the Agra-Mumbai highway. 

"Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) had cleared it after environment impact assessment of the project in its last meeting in May. The formal clearance has now been given, paving the way for GAIL... Read more..

Novel radio enables low-power WiFi over 900MHz

 A team of researchers at Imec is presently working on a number of radios for everything from wireless charging to millimetre-wave radar targeted for the Internet of Things. The emerging 802.11ah specification for running low-power WiFi over 900MHz at distances up to a kilometre is one of the most promising new radios.

"We believe this new standard is a very strong candidate for IoT applications in smart homes and buildings where a WiFi router is nearby," said Kathleen Philips, who heads an ultra-low-power wireless research program at the Holst Centre, a partner with Imec in the... Read more..

EV consortium pushes for energy-efficient design

 The Technical University of Munich, together with a consortium of carmakers and technology companies, has unveiled a prototype of an electric car that underscores some general design trends for electrical vehicles. According to them, the design goal of Visio.M project is two-fold: The research consortium wants to devise an electric vehicle that offers a maximum of energy efficiency and at the same time features a sporty driving behaviour.

The researchers describe it as an "efficient car with the genes of a sportsman," the latter one obviously an inheritance from BMW as one of the... Read more..

UN enlists legal help to crack down on environmental crime

 The United Nations will seek ways to toughen environmental laws this week to crack down on everything from illegal trade in wildlife to mercury poisoning and hazardous waste.

The U.N. Environment Assembly (UNEA), a new forum of all nations including environment ministers, business leaders and civil society, will meet in Nairobi from June 23-27 to work on ways to promote greener economic growth.

That drive includes giving environmental laws more teeth.

"We often have environmental legislation that is well intentioned but is not effective," Achim Steiner, head of the U.... Read more..

Agra bans plastic bags to curb pollution

 With an aim to curb the rising pollution in Yamuna, the Agra district administration has decided to strictly implement the ban on use of polythene in the city. For the same cause, the municipal authorities have been asked to place barricades at Yamuna ghats to resist locals for throwing garbage and polythene into the river. 

In December 2012, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court ordered the state government to impose a ban on plastic bags across the state. 

Heading a meeting of senior administrative and municipal authorities on Thursday, divisional commissioner... Read more..

Solving the world's plastic problem

Plastic is becoming a major problem worldwide: In 2012, the United States alone produced roughly 32 million tons of plastic waste, while only recycling about 9 percent of its plastic, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

This is because of the growing use of “nonrecycled” plastics, primarily made of polystyrene and polypropylene. Seeing little return value, recyclers toss these plastics into landfills, where they pile up and never decompose. As a result, landfill space is becoming a concern.

... Read more..

Nitta Gelatin to implement NEERI report

The Nitta Gelatin India Limited (NGIL) in Kathikkudam, which has been in the eye of a storm over the pollution of Chalakudy river, is contemplating steps to implement the recommendations by the National Environment Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) to improve the efficacy of its environment management systems.

Interacting with the media here on Tuesday, Sajiv K. Menon, the newly-appointed managing director of the company said NGIL was committed to implement all the 23 recommendations given in the report, which was submitted... Read more..

Coca-Cola's Varanasi Plant Shut After Pollution Board's Order

 Beverages giant Coca-Cola's plant at Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh has been shut after the state's pollution control board withdrew permission to operate over alleged violation of environmental norms.

"In an unprecedented move, Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) withdrew the consent to operate to the Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages plant at Mehandiganj, Varanasi," the company said.

The single-line plant produces soft drinks only in glass bottles and belongs to Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd, the bottling operations unit of Coca-Cola.

Hindustan Coca-Cola... Read more..

PEs stay away from renewable energy sector

 The new government at the Centre is widely expected to encourage the renewable energy sector. However, private equity (PE) investors are hesitant to put in money into the sector owing to various issues such as uncertainties around policies and tariff.

According to data from VCCEdge, the renewable energy sector - which includes the wind, solar and biomass power segments - has seen an investment of $109 million in six deals during January and May this year. Nithin Kaimal, director (private equity) at IDFC Alternatives, pointed out that there are uncertainties associated with the... Read more..