Sustainability Outlook Headlines

Denmark's Cowi gets offshore wind job in India

Danish engineering firm Cowi Inc said Monday it has won a contract to design an offshore wind farm of about 50 MW off the coast of Gujarat in northwestern India.

The size of the demonstration project, which is supported by the European Commission, has not yet been determined.

“India has the capacity and the will needed to develop and establish an offshore wind industry. We're planning to design a farm generating somewhere in the range of 50 megawatt,” said Marc Normann, Cowi’s market director of industry and energy.

The Danish company says the planning phase will take... Read more..

Green nanotech to power cars: IIT-M researchers show how

At a time when India has pledged to reduce carbon emissions by 33% to 35% by 2030 and is looking for non-fossil fuelbased sources to generate electricity, Indian Institute of Technology-Madras researchers have come up with what they say is an alternate cost-effective green nanotechnology to power vehicles like hybrid cars and bikes.

It involves use of solar cells (photovoltaic method) that convert solar energy into electricity, a fuel cell device that generates power through a chemical reaction and a lithium ion (li-ion) battery that stores excess electricity produced by the other... Read more..

Infosys campus in Hyderabad claims to meet 100% electricity needs from renewables

IT firm Infosys on Monday announced the launch of its solar PV power plant of 6.6 MW capacity at its Pocharam campus in Telangana.

With this launch, combined with the existing 0.6 MW capacity rooftop solar plant, the Infosys campus in Pocharam will be one of the first corporate campuses in India that will be run completely by renewable energy. The plant, with a total capacity of 7.2 MW, has been successfully synchronized with the grid and is expected to generate 12 million kWh per annum. This initiative is expected to reduce the company’s CO2 emissions by 9,200 tons.

... Read more..

5 new CNG pumps to relieve switch worries

Huda on Thursday allotted land for five new CNG stations in the city, a day after auto drivers had expressed concerns over the current infrastructure being able to meet the additional demand for CNG created by the order to stop registration of diesel vehicles in Delhi and NCR.

The new gas stations are likely to be operational by March, taking the total count of CNG stations in Gurgaon to 12. Currently, there are over 50,000 vehicles running on CNG in Gurgaon, including buses, autos, taxis and private cars, and some 22,000 autos that run on diesel will now have to switch to CNG.... Read more..

Soon, hi-tech machines to sweep city roads clean

The civic administration, which has been reeling under staff crunch, will procure sweeping machines to keep city roads clean.

The state finance commission has granted Rs 7 crore to the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC) to address its concerns related to solid waste management. Presently, the KMC lacks the machineries to clean roads and nullahs. Even the machines the civic body has for the collection and transportation of waste are inadequate. The officials of the sanitation department said the funds granted will be exclusively utilised to strengthen solid waste management system... Read more..

Waste from 3 Chennai slaughterhouses to generate power

City residents could soon be free from the sight and stench of discarded animal waste. After a rap from the National Green Tribunal (NGT) bench over inefficient disposal of such waste, the corporation has decided to set up bio-methanation plants to treat waste from three slaughterhouses in the city top generate power and organic manure . Every day, abattoirs in Villivakkam and Saidapet generate half a tonne of waste each, while the one at Perambur generates 8 tonnes, said a senior corporation official. The case in the green bench is set to come up for hearing in early January .

"We... Read more..

Solar lanterns lit up 3k homes in Uttarakhand

An NGO in collaboration with various government agencies and border security forces is distributing free solar lanterns and mobile charging stations to households in border areas and remote villages in Uttarakhand which lack power supply.

The NGO, Society to Create Awareness Towards Life & Environment, has lit up more than 3,000 homes till date. In future, the group plans more initiatives to promote clean energy. In an event on Sunday, attended by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police in Haldwani, 300 solar lanterns along with seven mobile charging stations and 10 solar home lights... Read more..

Policy gap stops investors from expanding power grids in rural India

Lack of clarity on policy governing privately-owned renewable energy-based mini-grids is preventing investors from expanding their network in the hinterlands of north India.

Husk Power Systems, which was formed in 2007 and operates over 70 mini-grids in several districts of Bihar, is one such company that is unsure about its investment if the state government decides to install centralised grids in the areas of its operations. Each of the company’s mini-grids is connected to a 25 kW biomass power plant.

“The policy isn’t clear for players like us and while the Electricity Act... Read more..

Over $1 Billion PE Investment Recorded In India’s Renewable Energy Sector In 2015

Global investors and renewable energy project developers have responded with optimism to the change in regulatory and financial environment in India.

International private equity investors poured in over $1 billion in renewable energy companies in India in 2015. Just the top 5 deals in the renewable energy sector crossed a cumulative volume of $1 billion. The investments poured in as the Indian government announced ambitious capacity addition targets for 2022.

By 2022, India aims to have 100 GW of solar power, 60 GW of wind energy, and 15 GW of other renewable energy capacity... Read more..

Nitish seeks ban on 15-year-old diesel vehicles in Bihar

Expressing concern over the alarming level of air pollution in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has directed concerned officials for banning 15-year-old diesel vehicles in the state capital among other measures to improve the situation.

Presiding over a review meeting of the Environment and Forest Department last evening, he also directed officials to launch an awareness campaign among vehicle owners and drivers about the growing air pollution in order to elicit their cooperation against unnecessary blaring of hooters, sirens and horns.

Among the other measures, the Chief... Read more..

Arvind wins energy conservation award for 2nd time

Arvind Limited one of India's largest integrated textile and an apparel major, has again bagged first prize in the National Energy Conservation Award 2015 in the textile sector, given by the Union Power Ministry.

Arvind has bagged this award consecutively for the second year in a row, on account of its energy savings achieved through various initiatives by its unit situated at Santej in Gujarat, the company said in a press release. Thirty two other contestants were in the fray for the award.

National Energy Conservation Day, which is celebrated every year on December 14,... Read more..

‘Rapid warming of Indian Ocean can turn it into an ecological desert’

Rapid warming of the Indian Ocean may potentially turn this biologically productive region into an ecological desert, according to a new study.

Authored by Roxy Mathew Koll, scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, and others, the study has been published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
Major decline

The study points to significant decline in the marine phytoplankton in the Indian Ocean – microscopic plants in the ocean which sustain the aquatic food web and drive the marine ecosystem.

In addition, they absorb the solar radiation... Read more..