Sustainability Outlook Headlines

India to work with global community to tackle climate change

India will work with global community to meet the challenges of climate change, Government today said and spelt out local action plans to tackle the warming. 

The steps included conservation of Himalayan ecology, regeneration of forest and promotion of cleaner fuels to bring down carbon emission. 

"Conservation of Himalyan ecology will be a priority area for my government. A National Mission on Himalayas will be launched," President Pranab Mukherjee said in his address to the Joint Sitting of Parliament. 

Outlining the vision of the new government, the President said... Read more..

50 mini, micro hydel power projects identified in Meghalaya

As many as 50 mini and micro hydel power projects have been identified in different districts of Meghalaya aimed at meeting the state's power requirements. 

"The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) have identified nine mini and micro hydel power projects with the potential of producing 13.06 MW out of which three are commissioned and one is under construction," Chief Minister Mukul Sangma said during Question Hour in the Assembly here today. 

The projects which were already commissioned include... Read more..

Tesla Might Just Open Up Its Electric Car Patents

This is kind of unprecedented, but Tesla might just open up its electric car patents to other manufacturers.

On June 3, at Tesla's annual shareholder meeting at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, Elon Musk, the company's CEO, said that to drive the adoption of electric cars, Tesla was "playing with doing something fairly significant on this front which would be kind of controversial with respect to Tesla's patents."

Three days later, he told the BBC's Theo Leggett that he... Read more..

Farms go under buildings in Kodaikanal

The hill town's fame as a tourist destination has become a bane for its traditional agricultural practices. The endless construction of cottages, hotels and houses is gobbling up arable land, mostly used for cultivation of horticultural crops like oranges, plums and pears. Environmentalists, farmers' associations and horticulture officials say that the booming realty business is behind the decline in fruit cultivation in Kodaikanal.

The land under fruit cultivation has been decreasing by at least 5% every year. The production of... Read more..

India to Face 5% Energy Shortage this Fiscal

Though there is general euphoria on recent winning of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) sweeping power at the Centre, not all seems to be heading in the right direction as the country is likely to face a 5 per cent shortage in power in the ongoing fiscal.

“A capacity addition of 17,800 MW during the year 2014-15 comprising 14,958 MW of thermal, 842 MW of hydro and 2,000 MW of nuclear power stations has been considered,” agencies reported according to the latest annual Load Generation Balance Report of Central Electricity... Read more..

Renewable Energy Ministry aims at four solar power plants of 1000 Mw each

The government is aggressively accelerating the solar energy programme, and aiming for four giant plants of 1,000 Mw each. It also wants to bundle solar and conventional power to make renewable energy more affordable.

Giant solar projects may be put up quickly in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh as the new government is keen to promote this source of renewable energy.

To achieve the target of commissioning of 20,000 Mw of solar power generation capacity ahead of targeted 2022,... Read more..

More Bangaloreans switching to electric vehicles

If you are driving a Rs 6 lakh petrol car and travel about 35km a day in Bangalore, you'd be spending about Rs 7000 on fuel. But for an electric car, you'd shell out less than half that amount (nearly Rs 3000) to charge the vehicle. No wonder that Electric Vehicles are becoming so popular in Bangalore that it's the frontrunner in uptake for urban mobility.

The United Nations Habitat (UN Habitat) created an Action Platform on Urban Electric Mobility Initiative (UEMI) last week to promote uptake of electric vehicles for countries and... Read more..

Delhi Metro's Phase III Stations to Have Green Buildings

The Delhi Metro said all the upcoming stations in the third phase of its expansion will be designed and constructed as green buildings with provisions for conservation of energy and water, among other things. 

"All the upcoming Metro stations under the Delhi Metro's third phase of expansion will be designed and constructed as 'green buildings' with specific provisions for the conservation of energy as well as better CO2 saving, water saving and waste management arrangements," an official statement said.

... Read more..

Schneider Electric says will remain focused on India

Schneider Electric Infrastructure, part of the euro 24-billion French Schneider Electric Group, wants to remain focused on high-end power distribution equipment and solutions in India. The company sees an opportunity in the high transmission and distribution (T&D) losses in India.

“A third of the energy in India is wasted in T&D losses,” Prakash Chandraker, vice-president and managing director of infrastructure business at Schneider Electric Infrastructure said.

Chandraker refused to share... Read more..

Governor urges use of renewable energy at Times of India workshop

 BHUBANESWAR: The time has come for renewable energy to come into the mainstream and policy makers have to give a boost to this option in a concrete form, said Odisha governor S C Jamir. He was speaking at a workshop 'Be a climate champion' organized by The Times of India and the State Pollution Control Board, Odisha, in association with Nalco.

Mercedes-Benz India plant administrative unit’s solar rooftop

Coca-Cola says it is on track to meet 2020 water replenishment goal

The Coca-Cola Company and its bottling partners said Thursday they are on track to meet their 2020 water replenishment goalby balancing an estimated 68 percent of the water used in their finished beverages based on 2013 sales volume.

 Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) has replenished an estimated 108.5 billion liters of water back to communities and nature through 509 community water projects in more than 100 countries, the Atlanta-based company said.

"At Coca-Cola, water stewardship is a primary focus of our sustainability efforts across our global system. By setting and working to meet... Read more..