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Sustainability Outlook Headlines
GM announces new engines to be built in 4 countriesGeneral Motors will invest $200 million in Flint, Mich., and four other cities worldwide to produce a family of new small, fuel-efficient engines starting in 2015. GM plans to be producing engines in China, Hungary, Mexico and South Korea by 2017, when annual global production should reach 2.5 million. The engine family will range from a 1.0-liter three-cylinder to 1.4- and 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder models. Power will range from 75 horsepower to 165 horsepower. GM calls the engines Ecotec, the name it also uses for its current four-cylinder engines, some of which... Read more.. Date : Mar 20 Source: Tennessean
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GM announces new engines to be built in 4 countriesGeneral Motors will invest $200 million in Flint, Mich., and four other cities worldwide to produce a family of new small, fuel-efficient engines starting in 2015. GM plans to be producing engines in China, Hungary, Mexico and South Korea by 2017, when annual global production should reach 2.5 million. The engine family will range from a 1.0-liter three-cylinder to 1.4- and 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder models. Power will range from 75 horsepower to 165 horsepower. GM calls the engines Ecotec, the name it also uses for its current four-cylinder engines, some of which... Read more.. Date : Mar 20 Source: Tennessean
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Growth in Green / Smart Buildings is Driving India Building Automation and Control Systems MarketThe automation & control systems in buildings provide various benefits such as lower operating cost, conserve energy resources and lower CO2 emissions. Further, the systems facilitate in continuous energy monitoring and energy optimization of a building. India is one of the major building automation & control system markets, exhibiting double digit growth. The building automation & control systems market is largely driven by electronic security & safety segment due to increasing demand for CCTV and biometrics based security systems in the buildings. In HVAC building... Read more.. Date : Mar 20 Source: PR Wire
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Uttarakhand farmer's seed saving movement holds promiseJardhar village comprises of nearly 26 small hamlets in Uttarakhand. Like hundreds of villages in the country agriculture is a major occupation here. But the village is known for more than just agriculture. It houses some of the country’s best and ‘lost’ ancient seed varieties. This is thanks to Mr. Vijay Jardhari, a small farmer and founder of seed saving movement called Beej Bachao Andolan (seed savers movement), who has managed to save some hundreds of ancient seeds from different crops till... Read more.. |
Odisha to award Rs 1000 cr smart grid project contract by JuneThe Odisha government, which had announced a smart grid power network for the Phailin-affected Ganjam district earlier this year, today said the process of awarding the contract for this project would be completed by June. The global tender for the project was floated by Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Ltd (OPTCL) in two phases in last couple of weeks. The cost of the project is estimated at Rs 1,000 crore. While Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to provide a loan of around Rs 650 crore and the rest Rs 350 crore will be... Read more.. |
SCADA system to better monitor India city's water distribution networkThe city of Bangalore, India, has planned to receive a new SCADA system for its Centralized SCADA Monitoring Center, which will monitor the city's water distribution network and wastewater facilities. The technology will be provided by Yokogawa India Ltd., a subsidiary of Yokogawa Electric Corporation, and will serve as the company's first order from a water municipality in India. Yokogawa will deliver the FAST/TOOLS™ SCADA software and the STARDOM™ network-based control system, which will monitor all data from Bangalore Water... Read more.. |
Discovery could yield more efficient plants for biofuelsGenetically modifying a key protein complex in plants could lead to improved crops for the production of cellulosic biofuels, a Purdue Univ. study says. Clint Chapple, distinguished prof. of biochemistry, and fellow researchers generated a mutant Arabidopsis plant whose cell walls can be converted easily into fermentable sugars but does not display the stunted growth patterns of similar mutants. The finding could maintain yield while reducing the need for costly pretreatment processes that make cellulosic biofuels more inefficient to produce than corn ethanol. "This study... Read more.. Date : Mar 19 Source: RD Magazine
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Concentrated photovoltaic growth predicted to surge to 1GW by 2020Worldwide concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) capacity is set to surge from 358MW to 1GW by 2020 according to a new report. The report by consultancy GlobalData found China and the US dominated the global CPV market in 2013, with their cumulative installed capacity reaching shares of 35.4% and 33.3%, respectively. Spain stood third after the US with 12.2%, followed by Portugal and Italy, with respected shares of 5.1% and 4.3%. CPV uses optics such as lenses or curved mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto a small area of solar cells to generate electricity. The systems can save... Read more.. Date : Mar 19 Source: New Energy World Network
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Indian Budget Cut Risks Hindering Effort to Expand Rooftop SolarIndian cuts in its renewable energy ministry’s budget by more than two-thirds risk hindering efforts to shield against blackouts by expanding rooftop solar projects, according to consultant Bridge to India Energy Pvt. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has been allocated 4.41 billion rupees ($72 million) in the financial year starting April, down from 15 billion rupees this year. “This is likely to have a negative impact on the rooftop solar market in India,” New Delhi-based Bridge to India... Read more.. |
Early signing of solar PPAs unlikely in TNTamil Nadu’s electricity generation and distribution utility TANGEDCO has sought the approval of the State electricity regulator for signing power purchase agreements with solar power developers with total capacity of 226 MW. The first hearing on the petition was held at Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) on Monday. Sources familiar with the Commission’s procedures say that early approval of the PPAs is difficult – mainly since there are ticklish legal issues to be resolved but also because of the impending elections and the currency of the model code of... Read more.. Date : Mar 18 Source: Hindu Business Line
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US, India to hold second round of talks on solar trade disputeThe second phase of India’s solar mission will come under the scrutiny of the US this week as the two countries begin consultations on compulsory local-buying requirements for certain components used in the programme. The US has alleged that the domestic sourcing requirements flout World Trade Organization (WTO) norms as they discriminate against foreign companies. The consultations, scheduled on March 20-21, will give an opportunity to India to explain its stand. If the US is not satisfied it may ask the WTO to set up a dispute settlement panel to fight the case. “We... Read more.. Date : Mar 18 Source: Hindu Business Line
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India, China hold third round of Strategic Economic DialogueIndia and China held their third round of the Strategic Economic Dialogue here today focusing on collaboration in a number of areas, including railways and Information Technology. The Indian side at the talks is headed by Deputy chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia while Xu Shaoshi, Chairman of the National Reforms Development Commission (NDRC) led the Chinese delegation. Ahead of the talks, five working groups covering different areas finalised the details for the high-level economic and trade dialogue between the two countries. Besides... Read more.. Date : Mar 18 Source: Economic Times
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Solar Power: Cost of production dropped 60%; price to equal thermal power's in three yearsEarlier this month, when Madhya Pradesh accepted the bid of Himgiri Energ y Ventures to supply solar power to the state grid at Rs 6.5 a unit, it was a figure to note even by the industry's standards of smashing records by the season. This contract award shaved off 13 per cent from the lowest price at which Indian industry was willing to supply solar power; over three years, the drop is a steep 61 per cent. More importantly, the MP tender brought the price of solar power closer to the price of thermal power — produced from coal or gas, and India's largest source. For 2012-13, Delhi... Read more.. Date : Mar 18 Source: Economic Times
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Nanobionics: Using plants as energy hubsA team of Massachusetts Institute of Technology is planning to turn plants into eco-soldiers. Plants already help control levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Now, MIT researchers plan to embed carbon nanotubes in the plant's chloroplast (where photosynthesis takes place) to produce energy that can be used to monitor environmental pollutants. In a new Nature Materials paper, the researchers report increasing plants' ability to capture light energy by 30 % by embedding the carbon nanotubes in the chloroplast. Using another type of carbon nanotube, they also modified plants to... Read more.. Date : Mar 18 Source: Times of India
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India's rice warrior battles to build living seed bank as climate chaos loomsFifty years ago, every Indian village would probably have grown a dozen or more rice varieties that grew nowhere else. Passed down from generation to generation and family to family, there would have been a local variety for every soil and taste – rice that would grow well in droughts or deep floods, which had the aroma of mangoes or peanuts, tolerance for saltwater or medicinal value. Back then, says the rice conservationist Debal Deb, India may have had more than 100,000 landraces, or local varieties. "Today there could be just 6,... Read more.. |
Standard phone charger aims to reduce e-wasteMembers of the European Parliament have gathered in favour of one common charger to be used for all mobile phones sold in the EU. This is in line with the country's EU radio equipment regulations. Only approved at a draft stage, the modernised Radio Equipment Directive that still has to be formally approved by the Council, could lead to the introduction of a common charger within three years. The draft directive lays down harmonised rules for placing radio equipment, including cellular telephones... Read more.. |
Arunachal’s one-shot nod for hydel, related projects pegged to MoEF stanceTHE empowered group of ministers (EGoM) for hydel power projects in Arunachal Pradesh will find it tough to get the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) on board for the proposed all-at-a-time clearance mechanism for supporting infrastructure projects. According to sources, at the upcoming EGoM meeting the power ministry will pitch for a simultaneous process for environmental and forest clearances as well as the approvals for land acquisition and preparation of detailed project reports (DPRs) for supporting infrastructure projects like roads and bridges. This... Read more.. Date : Mar 18 Source: Financial Express
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EDF EN makes India PV debutFrance’s EDF Energies Nouvelles (EDF EN) has commissioned its first solar plant in India and said it will help to bring 120MW more online next year. The 30MW Khilchipur PV plant entered service in Madhya Pradesh following development by ACME Solar Energy – a joint venture in which EDF EN has a 25% stake. ACME Solar aims to commission five further plants totalling 120MW in Rajasthan during 2015 after being awarded the capacity in a government-backed tender. Date : Mar 18 Source: RE Charge
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Mytrah sees path past 1GW in IndiaIndian wind developer Mytrah said it remains on course to take advantage of changes in the country’s power sector, despite apparently tempering previous forecasts for its capacity build over the next few years. Releasing its full-year results for 2013, London-listed Mytrah told investors its access to land, relationships with a variety of equipment suppliers and ability to raise domestic finance all help it to keep costs under tight control – and mean it is set fair for continued growth beyond the 460MW currently in operation. Mytrah said a further 88MW is in the final stages of... Read more.. Date : Mar 18 Source: RE Charge
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'Climate change to reduce crop yields sooner than believed'Global warming will displace millions of people, trigger falling crop yields, stoke conflict and cost trillions of dollars in lost economic output, a United Nations report will warn. A draft of the report to be finalised later this month by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and obtained by The Independent in Britain, says “hundreds of millions of people” will be forced to move because of coastal flooding and land loss as sea levels rise. Food security will increasingly be... Read more.. |
Loop Solar targets 3 GW off-grid marketIndian solar lamp supplier Loop Solar says the country's off-grid solar lighting market will explode over the next five years. The company says the market will grow despite, rather than because of, a federal incentive scheme. Loop Solar says the Indian off-grid solar lighting system market will be worth 3 GW within three years. A partner from an Indian solar lamp company says the country's rural communities could offer a 3 GW market over the next five years, despite an Indian government incentive program which has deterred solar players and driven up system prices. ... Read more.. Date : Mar 17 Source: PV Magazine
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More Indian companies warming up to lowering carbon emissionsWhat started as a voluntary initiative by a clutch of business houses to report their carbon emissions may help India keep its promise to reduce carbon intensity by 25% by 2020. Hundreds of companies are likely to join them in the next few years. Godrej & Boyce, Infosys, ITC, Tata Chemicals, NTPC, GAIL, Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), Jet Airways, Ambuja Cement, Yes Bank and Ford Motors are few of the companies that are part of the India Greenhouse Gas Programme. India made this commitment in 2009 by a declaration in Parliament by then environment minister Jairam... Read more.. Date : Mar 17 Source: Hindustan Times
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Mahindra Reva to export E2O electric car to UK, Norway and Sri Lanka by year endMahindra Reva has not managed to sell enough of its latest electric car, the E2O in India. The high price of the electric hatchback is a major dampener for prospective buyers and the Indian government’s silence on the NEMMP 2020 isn’t helping things. In markets abroad, government’s heavily subsidize electric cars in order to reduce air pollution levels and minimize use of fossil fuels. Mahindra Reva will start exporting to electric car friendly countries by the year end. Norway and the United Kingdom are on Mahindra Reva’s plans by... Read more.. |
'Breathing' battery to power future electric carsScientists are working on a new type of battery to power gen-next electric cars that could be up to three times more efficient than existing ones. With electrical vehicles becoming increasingly popular, researchers at the Mie University in Japan are starting to feel hard-pressed to come up with a new class of batteries, capable of extending the driving range of these cars far beyond their current limits. The breathing battery, researchers led by Professor Nobuyuki Imanishi say, may enable... Read more.. |
Electric Car Maker Tesla Motors Looking to Enter India Next YearYes, you read it right ! American electric car maker, Tesla Motors, is looking to enter in to the Indian market next year. Tesla Motors manufactures fully electric luxury cars. Deepak Ahuja, the chief financial officer of Tesla Motors, said, “India is a huge potential market where we need to be. “I think sometime in 2015 seems to make sense to enter India, but it’s difficult to make an official announcement.” Tesla is currently developing its least-expensive, third-generation car that Ahuja said is ideal for markets such as India. Speaking on the car makers entry into India... Read more.. Date : Mar 14 Source: Motoroids
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