Sustainability Outlook Headlines

First ethanol powered bus taken for final test

pAs a step towards launch of ethanolrun buses on commercial basis throughout India the first ever bus running in the city on pilot basis has been taken for final test Swedish bus maker Scania took the bus for homologation test to be conducted by Central Institute of Road Transport CIRT Homologation test is meant to ensure a vehicle meets the regulatory requirements of the countryp

pMayor Pravin Datke told TOI the test will be conducted at Vehicle Research and Development Establishment VRDE Ahmednagar quotNMC had already requested citybased National Environmental Engineering... Read more..

Canadian Solar Plans Expansion into India

pThe company has plans to set up solar NYSEARCATAN parks in the country It had set up a JV called Sarus Solar with an EPC contractor Guycan Solar and investor Mackie Research Capital Corp to expand business in India The company has tied up with an Indian firm Neelkanth Solar Energy to facilitate business in India Guycan will engage in the EPC work on the projectsnbspMackie will look after financing the schemes and Canadian Solar will supply solar panels and technologyp

pCanadian Solar thoughnbsp headquartered in Canada has its major manufacturing in China The company is amongst a... Read more..

An Airport that runs on 100 per cent RE

pBaltra Airport of the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador is now running on 100 per cent renewable energy ever since it reopened after the renovation The airport had earlier been acclaimed as well for its green initiatives The airport now constitutes of 80 per cent recycled material from the earlier infrastructurep

pGalapagos Islands over time have acquired a reputation among tourists travelling across the South Americarsquos west coast Due to increase in tourism the Islands had been facing challenges in preserving its local habitat and marine life The initiative by the government to run... Read more..

By December Pune likely to get 50 electric public transport buses

pAs part of National Electric Mobility Mission Plan NEMMP more than 6 to 7 million electric and hybrid vehicles will be introduced in the automobile market by 2020 Buyers will also get incentives on purchasing these vehiclesp

pThis year in Maharashtra there is a plan to introduce at least 50 to 60 electric or hybrid public transport buses in various cities Ambuj Sharma additional secretary department of heavy industries addressed a meeting of automobile companies and technology developers for electric and hybrid vehicles at the citybased Automotive Research Association of India... Read more..

Bullet owners face the music for noise pollution in Pune

pThe thumping sound of your Bullet may not be music to the policeman39s ears who could fine you for causing sound pollutionp

pA total sum of Rs 36000 has been collected from as many as 180 Bullet owners since Tuesdayp

pThe traffic police started the special drive after receiving several complaints from citizens who said that bikers intentionally modify silencers to get that loud peculiar sound popularly known as 39Indori Pataka39 The traffic police who are focused on Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycles right now stop the riders and check their vehicles for modificationsp

... Read more..

Greyp G12 HighPerfomance Electric Bike From Rimac

pThose that are wealthy and in the lookout for an electric bicycle may want to check out the Greyp G12 mdash a highperformance offering that can reach speeds of up to 44 miles per hour 70 kilometers an hour The bike is retailing for euro6500 7200 currentlyp

pInterestingly the bike which we actually caught word of back in 2013 is the offering of the creator of the ConceptOne electric supercar the Croatian company Rimac Automobilip

pThe electric bike features a 13 kilowatthour kWh battery pack that allows for up to 75 miles 120 kilometers of electric propulsion The Greyp G12 is... Read more..

NGT slams states on municipal solid waste warns of fines

pThe National Green Tribunal has come down heavily on states for not complying with its orders on municipal solid waste management and gave them three weeks to submit status reports on the issue while warning them of slapping hefty finesp

pA bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar directed the secretaries of Environment and Urban Development departments of each state to file affidavits on collection storage and disposal of municipal solid waste in their statesp

pThe NGT warned of imposing a cost of Rs 50000 each on the defaulting states UT boards and concerned... Read more..

Govt plans wastewater plants in Varanasi to help clean the Ganga

pThree wastewatertreatment plants in the northern city of Varanasi are being planned to help stem the flow of raw sewage into the Ganga Indiarsquos holiest river water minister Uma Bharti saidp

pThe works in Varanasi Prime Minister Narendra Modirsquos political constituency will cost Rs457 crore and quadruple the cityrsquos sewagetreatment capacity the minister saidp

pIndia where studies show more than half of the worldrsquos secondmost populous nation is facing high water stress amid urbanization farm and industry demand treats about onethird of the waste it generatesp

Govt to raise energy efficiency targets for industry

pIndia is raising energy efficiency targets for the industry environment secretary Ashok Lavasa said on Tuesday adding his ministry will reveal the countryrsquos ambitious plan to address climate change by the end of Augustp

pBy September end around 196 countries will announce their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions INDCs which would form the basis of the December Paris summit aimed at striking a new global climate deal INDCs are a set of voluntary actions that each country will announce to address the issue of climate change It could range from cutting down reliance on... Read more..

Gallium phosphide found to increase solar cell efficiency

pA team of researchers has come up with a solar cell that produces fuel rather than electricity A material called gallium phosphide enables the solar cell to produce clean fuel hydrogen gas from liquid waterp

pTo connect an existing silicon solar cell to a battery that splits the water may well be an efficient solution but it is very expensivep

pSo researchers were streamlining their search to a semiconductor material that is able to both convert sunlight into an electrical charge and split waterp

pThe team found gallium phosphide GaP a compound of gallium and... Read more..

Fourstorey commercial building in Bengaluru is 100 solarpowered

pThis building in Jayanagar hasn39t paid an electricity bill for the past few months No it39s not a defaulter The 10000sqft commercial complex is 100 energy efficient all lights electrical equipment airconditioners and lifts run on solar powerp

pThe building owner MA Jayaprakash said generator backup would have easily cost him Rs 67 lakh so he invested a few more lakhs and went in for a solar panel connection He had to shell out around Rs 14 lakh The structure has been operati p

pThe ideal Bescom bill for the selfsufficient building amounts to Rs 2000030000 per month However... Read more..

Most new cars run on diesel NGT

pThe National Green Tribunal on Tuesday gave the Centre a note pointing out it may be overlooking important aspects of air pollution particularly related to diesel vehiclesp

pQuoting from a 2012 report by the ministry of petroleum and natural gas it said only 4 of the cars sold in 2000 ran on diesel whereas now the number is 60p

pNot only is the number of diesel engines growing but also they tend to be bigger than petrol engines quotWhereas close to 87 of the new petrol cars sold in 201011 had engine size less than 1400cc more than 40 of diesel cars had engines that are more... Read more..