Sustainability Outlook Headlines

Algae holds promise to make aviation carbon-neutral.

The group, which owns Airbus, is showing off an aircraft powered by algae juice at the Farnborough Airshow this week. EADS (FR:EAD 16.36, -0.03, -0.15%)  is betting that the small aircraft, which completed its first successful flight last month in Germany, can help make air travel kinder to the planet in the not too distant future.

As deadlines for the industry to cut its carbon emissions loom and environmental disasters like the recent spill in the Gulf of Mexico remind the world of the perils of oil exploration, jet makers and airlines alike are more eager than ever to find... Read more..

Green Plains Renewable Energy to Implement Corn Oil Extraction Technology

Green Plains Renewable Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq:GPRE) announced today that it will implement corn oil extraction technology at its ethanol plants. The Company expects to complete the technology deployment by the end of the first quarter of 2011 and anticipates the project would enhance operating income by $15 million to $19 million per year.

"Our objective is to continue to diversify our cash flows and to de-risk our overall platform," said Todd Becker, President and Chief Executive Officer of Green Plains Renewable Energy. "This project allows us to realize additional income streams... Read more..

Dropping the ball on global warming

Environmentalists are upset at Obama for putting more effort and political capital into health care and bank reform than climate change. Their frustration is understandable. As the hottest year on record marches forward, with extraordinarily high temperatures registered all over the world in recent weeks, the chances that the Senate will pass a meaningful energy bill have steadily dwindled. David Leonhardt excellent summary of the incredibly shrinking scope of energy legislation ambition in today's New York Times makes for glum reading. Not much is going to happen before the midterm... Read more..

Schoolchildren to combat climate change

The Young Climate Savers, a joint initiative between World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)-India and Tetra Pak India, is a school based climate change and lifestyle education programme based on education for sustainable development and people's participation.

The programme launched in 2007 has targeted more than 50,000 students across 10 cities in India and the programme, has been instrumental in raising awareness about the ill effects of climate change.

Students across these cities pledged to take up the cudgel to combat climate change.

Rachna, student of Rosary Convent... Read more..

How to Play the Changing Shape of Energy Consumption?

China, not the U.S., is now the world's top consumer of energy, according to a report released Monday by the International Energy Agency.

Last year, China consumed 2.252 billion tons of oil-equivalent (which is a sum-total measure of all forms of energy, including crude oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear and even "green" energy sources like wind or solar). That's about 4 percent more than the U.S., which used 2.169 billion tons.

Granted, the U.S. still consumes the most energy per capita, with the average American consuming five times more energy each year than the average... Read more..

Delhi approves project to keep Yamuna sewage-free

The Delhi cabinet Tuesday approved a Rs.1,358 crore Yamuna Interceptor Sewer Project to contain pollution levels in the river.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said that under the project, 59 km of sewers along three major drains of the river and seven pumping stations will be laid to intercept and convey waste water flows to the sewage treatment plants so that only the treated effluent is discharged into the Yamuna.

'The project will go a long way in improvement of water quality. And it is not a distant dream now,' she said.

According to an official, the project has... Read more..

Water Dispute Raises Tension Between India and Pakistanis

In this high Himalayan valley on the Indian-controlled side of Kashmir, the latest battle line between India and Pakistan has been drawn.

his time it is not the ground underfoot, which has been disputed since the bloody partition of British India in 1947, but the water hurtling from mountain glaciers to parched farmers’ fields in Pakistan’s agricultural heartland.

Indian workers here are racing to build an expensive hydroelectric dam in a remote valley near here, one of several India plans to build over the next decade to feed its rapidly growing but power-starved economy.... Read more..

CII getting ready to gauge companies on a green index

How green is your business? This may well be CII's poser to Indian companies as it readies to rate them on the environment friendliness of their practices and processes.

The Confederation of Indian Industry will use a set of eight-nine parameters to rate the companies in the manufacturing and services sectors, with the rating process covering not just their operations but their supply chain too.

“We hope to launch the Green Business Rating by September-October with the first set of companies being rated by early next year,” says Mr S. Raghupathy, Senior Director and Head,... Read more..

'Don't tag India with China in emission targets'

India should ensure it is not clubbed with China in carbon emission mitigation efforts as this will be costly for the country, a leading economist Tuesday warned.
 
Also, India should not succumb to pressure tactics of the western world like imposition of carbon tax on its exports, said Arvind Panagariya, professor of economics at Columbia University in New York.

"While developed countries will start carbon emission mitigation activities first, China will soon follow suit. Getting tagged along with China now will be disadvantageous for India in the future," he said,... Read more..

Pre-requisites for sustainable food security

The President, in her address to Parliament on June 4, 2009, announced: “My Government proposes to enact a new law — the National Food Security Act — that will provide a statutory basis for a framework which assures food security for all. Every family below the poverty line in rural as well as urban areas will be entitled, by law, to 25 kg of rice or wheat per month at Rs. 3 per kg. This legislation will also be used to bring about broader systemic reform in the public distribution system.”

Since then, various arms of the government as well as civil society organisations have been... Read more..

Australia Opposition Would Scrap Global Carbon Institute

Australia's main opposition Liberal-National coalition said Tuesday it would scrap a A$100 million-a-year Global Carbon Capture & Storage Institute if elected to office next month, among a package of budget cuts expected to save A$1.18 billion over the next four years.

The ruling Labor government launched the institute in April 2009, aiming to fast-track development of commercial-scale technology designed to capture greenhouse-gas emissions and sequester them underground--a process that would potentially reduce the environmental impact of burning dirty fuels such as coal for... Read more..

Most vulnerable nations pledge climate action - Terra Daily

Six countries seen as most threatened by rising sea levels have vowed to cut their carbon emissions as a gesture of their commitment to fight global warming, the Maldivian government said Monday. The countries, mostly ...