Sustainability Outlook Headlines

EU joins International Cotton Advisory Committee

The European Union has become a member of the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC), a development which is of strategic significance to the world cotton industry and the 150 million people involved in cotton production, marketing and processing. Some of the most important cotton trade and research institutions are headquartered in the EU.

Following the vote of the European Parliament, the Council... Read more..

Asian Development Bank, Punjab National Bank to finance solar rooftop projects

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Tuesday signed a financing loan worth USD 100 million, to be guaranteed by the Government of India, in order to finance large solar rooftop systems on industrial and commercial buildings throughout India.

The PNB will use the ADB's funds to sanction loans to various developers and end users to install rooftop solar systems.... Read more..

IBC SOLAR commission 22.5 MWp project in Rajasthan

Solar energy and storage solutions provider IBC SOLAR today said it has commissioned sixth PV power plant of 22.5 MWp in Rajasthan last week.

"Last week, the 22.5 MWp project Phalodi was commissioned on time and handed over to the investor. IBC SOLAR have doubled the size of their previous project for the second time in a row," the company said in a statement.

... Read more..

IIT Kharagpur researchers develop new technology to manufacture biofuel

Researchers at IIT Kharagpur have developed a new technology which will change the way biofuel is manufactured by making the process cheaper, quicker and pollution-free.

The 'soil-to-soil' manufacturing technology developed at the P K Sinha Centre for bio-energy at IIT-KGP is in the process of being patented, an IIT-KGP spokesperson said today.

... Read more..

Foam spilling out on Bengaluru roads, NGT raps Karnataka government

The National Green Tribunal on Wednesday took Karnataka government and its civic authorities to task over foam spilling over into the streets in Bengaluru near the Varthur lake, causing massive traffic jams in the city.

“What is this going on? How are you getting so much of foam? Why can’t you remove the factor which generates foam? There are traffic jams which further leads to air pollution.... Read more..

Goa government urges industries to adopt solar energy

In a bit to promote solar power generation in Goa, the state government urged industrial estates to adopt solar power technology, which would help bring down costs for industrialists. Speaking at the Verna industrial estate state secretary for power Sanjay Goyal presented the salient features of the Goa State Solar Policy while urging industrialists to take benefit of the Goa state solar policy.

"The solar... Read more..

Noida Authority plans new policy for waste disposal

The Noida authority has decided to seek participation of residents’ welfare associations (RWAs) and interested residents for solid waste disposal in residential areas. The authority has also decided to bring a new policy under which an interested person or RWA can adopt a local park for maintenance.

“We have proposed a policy which could be implemented soon. We will approve this proposal in our upcoming... Read more..

French company Engie likely to invest Rs 6,500 crore in solar energy in India

Engie, the French power giant with a global installed capacity of 115.3 gigawatts across all forms of energy, expects to invest a minimum of $1 billion (about 6,500 crore) in the solar segment in India over the next five years.

"$1 billion is the bare minimum," said chief executive Isabelle Kocher said. "We intend to win 400 MW a year, which means an investment of almost half a billion annually. It is a... Read more..

US expected to put emergency tariffs on solar imports

The United States has notified the other 163 members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that it is considering putting emergency "safeguard" tariffs on imported solar cells, according to a WTO filing published on Monday.

The move raises the stakes in a global battle to dominate the solar power industry, which has grown explosively in the past five years. As production has increased, prices have tumbled,... Read more..

China's Guangzhou to replace buses with 'new energy' vehicles

All petrol-powered buses in China's Guangzhou city will soon be replaced with thousands of public buses with greener, more energy-efficient vehicles, a media report said on Tuesday.

According to the new plan, all buses that use petrol and diesel will be replaced with pure electric buses by 2020, meaning the city will have about 30,000 new energy public vehicles by 2020, Xinhua news agency reported.... Read more..

New technology can extract fresh water from waste brine

Scientists have developed self-heating carbon nanotubes that can recover fresh water from waste salt solutions with almost 100 per cent efficiency, an advance that may help alleviate water shortages in arid regions.

The research, published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, involves the development of a carbon nanotube-based heating element that will vastly improve the recovery of fresh water during... Read more..

All new constructions in Maharashtra must comply with energy-efficiency guidelines

All new constructions in Maharashtra will have to be eco-friendly and comply with the energy-efficiency regulations, this is one of the highlights of the electricity-conservation policy that was cleared by the state cabinet on Tuesday.

The state government will be amending the development control rules (DCR) to make it mandatory for all new constructions to follow 'green building guidelines'. If the new... Read more..