Sustainability Outlook Headlines

Off-Grid Electric Raises $25 Million For Micro-Solar In Africa

A funding round of $25 million was recently raised by Off-Grid Electric to grow its African micro-solar leasing efforts. The majority of the funds came from DBL Partners, though other investors included SolarCity, Western Technology Investment, Omidyar Network, Serious Change LP, and Vulcan Capital.

KilimanjaroOff-Grid’s new funding will be used in Rwanda and Tanzania to bring clean light sources to areas where there are currently none. (The Tanzania government wants to provide solar electricity to 1 million homes by 2017.)

“Our real intention is to light considerable parts... Read more..

German Indian Solar Partnership Accelerates India's PV Expansion

The Indian government is considering a further expansion of its already ambitious energy goals: plans are currently in place for an additional 100 GW (gigawatts) of photovoltaic output by 2022. It is expected that photovoltaic systems with a total output of approximately 2.5 GW will be newly installed this year. That is twice as much compared to 2014.

An additional 4-6 GW is expected for 2016. This would put India in fourth place on the list of top solar markets worldwide. The ambitious goals of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gained additional relevance after the recent... Read more..

US welcomes clean energy commitment by India

Acknowledging a major positive shift in the trajectory of US-India relations, US officials have appreciated India’s efforts to promote new and renewable energy sources and India’s commitment towards the climate and clean energy.

Both sides also committed to explore new opportunities for co-operation during a meeting here on Tuesday between visiting Indian Minister of State of Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal and US Secretary of State John Kerry.

He will meet other prominent members of the US administration, including US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, US... Read more..

India solar power equipment market to surpass $4 bn by 2020

According to “India Solar Power Equipment Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2020” from Reportbuyer, the solar power equipment market in India is projected to surpass USD4 billion by 2020.

India consumes a large amount of fossil fuels such as coal and crude oil to meet its domestic energy requirements. Power and transportation sectors are the leading consumers of coal and crude oil in the country.

Over the past couple of decades, consumption of fossil fuels for power generation in India has increased significantly due to increasing urbanization and industrialization.

Green building market to grow at CAGR of 13.21% 2014-2019

Global green building market witnessed a healthy growth of 12.81 percent in 2014, says a new report from TechNavio.

Green building materials are manufactured using recycled waste materials from construction sites.

Many construction companies have started implementing the use of green building materials in their constructions.

As a result, the market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.21 percent over the period 2014-2019.

Rise in green building construction and government initiatives promoting sustainable environment is propelling the growth of the market, the... Read more..

Apple targets supply chain emissions with new Chinese solar farms

Apple is taking further steps to reduce the environmental impact of its huge Chinese supply chain, with plans announced today to build 200 megawatts of solar farm capacity across the country and work with partners to boost manufacturing efficiency.

Apple said its Chinese stores and offices are already powered by 100 percent renewable energy and qualify as "carbon neutral." However, its supply chain remains a major source of emissions with many of its suppliers' factories powered through fossil fuels.

The company has announced that it will attempt to tackle this carbon... Read more..

"Decarbonathon" seeks tools to reduce cities' carbon footprint

A new competition is to encourage cross-discipline teams of citizens and professionals to come up with ways to decrease the carbon footprint of the world's cities.

Parts of wind operated energy generators exempt from excise

In a boost to non-conventional energy generation, the Central Board of Excise and Customs on Tuesday issued a notification clarifying that parts such as tower, nacelle, rotor, blades and wind turbine controller of wind operated electricity generators are eligible for exemption from excise duty.

This is “to reduce litigation and to improve ease of doing business in the important sector of non-conventional energy,” said an official statement.

The notification came in response to queries raised by trade bodies and field formations of the CBEC after a Supreme Court ruling in... Read more..

Climate change: Tibet sees receding glaciers, shrinking permafrost

The Tibetan plateau, home to the third largest store of ice that feeds Asia's six great rivers, is highly vulnerable to climate change, researchers say, warning that over two-thirds of the glaciers could disappear by 2050.

Tibet is increasingly experiencing the effects of climate change. The Tibetan plateau has seen an increase in temperature of approximately 0.3 degrees celsius every 10 years, say climate researchers of the central Tibetan Administration (CTA).

In the past 50 years, the temperature has increased by 1.3 degrees celsius, three times the global average, they... Read more..

Municipal commissioners to face action for not taking measures to handle sewage and garbage in cities

Taking note of its internal report that shows severe negligence on part of municipal bodies in managing solid waste, the central pollution watchdog has issued statutory notices to civic authorities of 184 cities\towns across the country asking them to pull up their socks or face action.

Besides, the environment ministry has decided to depute 20 joint secretary-level officers to undertake assessment and periodical review of all 43 Critically Polluted Areas (CPAs) - mainly the industrial clusters - across the country to see whether the central action plan is being properly implemented... Read more..

Rocky start for UN climate talks in Bonn

 As UN diplomats convened in Bonn today, developing nations were balking at the latest draft of a global climate agreement to be inked in Paris in December, negotiators and experts said.

The five-day session is the last formal parlay before heads of states and ministers gather in the French capital to seal a deal to beat back the threat of global warming and help poor nations cope with its impacts.

Today will be the first opportunity for rank-and-file negotiators to weigh in on a new draft whittled down from 80 pages to 20 by two senior diplomats — one from Algeria, the other... Read more..

Waah!, for affordable water on the go

We saw how India seems to score poorly compared to other nations in the World Bank’s Doing Business report. Recently, EY rated India highly as an investment destination.

But somewhere between both extremes sit small ideas of merit that are scalable but aren’t making a splash in the news of millions of dollars of funding won by this or that start-up. Take Waah!, for example. “I used to travel a lot and when I felt thirsty and needed clean drinking water I had to pay ₹20 for a litre of bottled water. Just the price and all the plastic pollution created from discarded bottles and... Read more..