Sustainability Outlook Headlines

US, India sign nuclear reprocessing deal

India and US have signed an agreement on reprocessing of American nuclear spent fuel by India, marking the final steps in terms of implementation of the landmark civil nuclear deal between the two countries. Upon entry into force, the arrangements and procedures will enable reprocessing by India of the US obligated nuclear material at a new national reprocessing facility to be established by India, dedicated to the reprocessing of safeguarded nuclear material under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards.

The agreement in this regard was signed on Friday by US Under Secretary... Read more..

Analysis: Global solar sector faces fresh cell glut.

Excess stocks of module-cells weighed on firms such as First Solar, Q-Cells, Suntech and Solon after a financial crisis-fueled sector bust in 2008, when prices slid 50 percent, and the same could happen again.

After piling up billions in losses during 2009, the sector has been booming again this year, as customers bring forward orders ahead of subsidy cuts in Germany, the world's biggest solar market.

Global players around the world have been massively ramping up capacity to satisfy that strong demand, but the move could prove fatal for most module makers since exposure to... Read more..

Study finds black carbon implicated in global warming.

Increasing the ratio of black carbon to sulphate in the atmosphere increases climate warming, suggests a study conducted by a University of Iowa professor and his colleagues and published in the July 25 issue of the journal Nature Geoscience.
Black carbons - arising from such sources as diesel engine exhaust and cooking fires - are widely considered a factor in global warming and are an important component of air pollution around the world, according to Greg Carmichael, Karl Kammermeyer Professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering in the UI College of Engineering and co-director... Read more..

Siemens & Economist Intelligence Unit to rank greenest cities in Asia

Siemens and Economist Intelligence Unit will rank the greenest cities in Asia. It will cover cities in 11 Asian countries - China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam. Final selection will be based on data availability.

The study will be part of Green City Index series, which sets out to compare environmental performance of cities in different regions of the world. Results will help cities to better understand and tackle their specific environmental challenges, said Dr. Armin Bruck, Managing Director, Siemens Ltd.... Read more..

More data points to undeniable climate change

Climate change is now undeniable according to a new study headed by the US National Oceans and Atmospheric Administration. It is already having a disastrous effect on small island states. The very existence of some of them, particularly in the Pacific and the Indian Ocean, is threatened. Caribbean islands too are endangered as are countries such as Belize and Guyana with low lying coastlands.

In the latter case, coastal erosion is reducing beaches that are crucial to the tourism industry on which all of the small Caribbean islands now depend. The Atlantic coasts of both Guyana and... Read more..

Firms to abide by e-waste rules

The city seems to have woken up and realized the importance of e-waste. Industries in Bangalore are willing to do their bit in the e-waste sector.

"There are things we can easily do. Little steps as to how we dispose of our e-waste. If they are not properly disposed of, then they get mixed up with common waste. Rag pickers pick them up and risk their health," said Meera Saksena, additional chief secretary, environment.

As new rules on e-waste management will be notified shortly by ministry of environment and forests and government of India, industries in Bangalore, who are... Read more..

New deal puts fusion reactor back on track

The European Union and six partner countries have reached a deal on building and financing a nuclear fusion reactor in France, officials said.

The EU and China, India, Japan, the United States, South Korea and Russia agreed on a new funding level and construction timetable for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, BNO News reported Wednesday.

The agreement was reached after massive cost overruns and project delays almost derailed the project, the Dutch news service said.

The cost of the project was initially estimated at $6.5 billion with construction... Read more..

NGOs want revised emission norms for DG engines

Two non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have written to the Union government and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to formulate emission norms for diesel genset (DG) engines. The norms have not been revised since 2004.

Both Elements of Nature Conservation Association (ENCA) and Natural Resources Conservators Organisation (NRCO) have said that these engines should follow the same norm as diesel-run vehicles.

Gensets are a major environmental hazard as they are increasingly used in urban and rural areas because of power shortage and lax emission standards, the letter... Read more..

'Every brand to track environmental impact'

It's a paradigm shift that is taking place at leading consumer products company, Hindustan Unilever (HUL), in the manner in which it scrutinizes every new product launch or relaunch. With growing awareness among consumers, investors, stakeholders, on issues like sustainability and global warming, the Rs 17,524 crore HUL has decided that, from now on, every brand will track its own environmental footprint.

Terming it as the need of the hour, HUL's managing director & CEO, Nitin Paranjpe, in an exclusive interview with TOI, said, "We've introduced in our innovation funnel, a... Read more..

OC starts low-carbon campaign for Green Games

From green concerts to kiosks to calculating the carbon footprints that you leave behind in your everyday life - the organising committee is going all out to ensure that common citizens become a part of its Green Games campaign.

On Thursday, the OC flagged off the Low Carbon Campaign for the Commonwealth Games 2010 in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Helping the OC put together the initiative was Global Environment Facility, an international organisation.

The project aims to develop and promote Low Carbon Campaign for the Commonwealth Games... Read more..

India and UK to collaborate on climate change.

India and UK will collaborate on climate change research and renewable energy despite their differences over global climate negotiations. UK’s Energy and Climate Minister Gregory Barker said the two countries could collaborate on research and development and catalyse private sector to invest in renewable energy.

“I met ministers (Jairam) Ramesh and (Faroukh) Abdullah and they were keen on the new collaboration,” Barker told HT on the day UK signed an agreement on sharing expertise on energy efficiency with Bureau of Energy Efficiency. “Both countries are looking at ways to transit... Read more..

Streetlights to cost city more

Sixty-five days before the Commonwealth Games begin in October, right to information (RTI) applications filed by HT questioning the benefit of replacing streetlights, revealed Delhi spent Rs 378 crore on new streetlights that consume more energy than their predecessors. Both the Public

Works Department (PWD) and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) have admitted their electricity bill will increase because the new bulbs are more powerful and offer higher illumination.
The RTI findings are in contrast to the climate change action plan — that entails energy efficiency —... Read more..