Sustainability Outlook Headlines

Air pollution: Meerut poorer than Delhi; NGT notice to Centre

A petition claiming that ambient air quality in Meerut was worse than in Delhi and seeking curbs on the entry of 10-year old diesel vehicles on Tuesday prompted the NGT to seek responses from the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar issued notices to the Ministry of Environment and Forests, UP government, Central Pollution Control Board, state... Read more..

Environment Pollution Control Authority to submit action plan to Supreme Court on meeting national air quality standard in NCR

The Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) is set to submit a comprehensive action plan to the Supreme Court on meeting the national air quality standard in NCR.

The draft plan prepared by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and air quality experts says that annual average PM 2.5 concentrations need to be reduced by roughly 70% in Delhi to meet the... Read more..

Solar ‘mini grids’ approved for 19 Chhattisgarh villages

 A total of 19 remote villages have been approved for creation of solar ‘mini grids’  to provide them access to power supply as of February 2017 in Chhattisgarh, the Central Government has informed.

Village mini-grids are important components of universal access to electricity in the country particularly for those villages where grid connectivity is either not feasible or not cost effective, it informed.... Read more..

Bengal takes up 10 solid waste management projects

West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee government has taken up 10 integrated solid waste management projects for 14 urban local bodies, at a cost of Rs 421.69 crore, under Mission Nirmal Bangla, an official release said on Monday.

The urban local bodies are in Kolkata, Dum Dum, North and South Dum Dum, Baranagar, Bhatpara, Naihati, Ashoknagar-Kalyangarh and Habra, Asansol, Krishnanagar, Santipur, Nabadwip and... Read more..

Oman to set up waste management projects in India

Oman-based Muscat Project and Environmental Service Company is in discussions with the South Indian state of Kerala to set up its state-of-the-art waste management projects in that state, said a report.

The eco-friendly project which has been successfully implemented in Oman is the ideal one for Kerala which is grappling with issues like pollution, usage of an overdose of pesticides in agricultural farms and... Read more..

Global studies on India’s air quality flawed: CPCB

The Central Pollution Control Board — an Environment Ministry organisation that sets guidelines for monitoring and controlling pollution — says international studies linking air quality in India to disease and death are flawed because “…the ethologic, personnel immunity (sic) and demography of India are incomparable with international practices.”

Bodies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) used “... Read more..

Madhya Pradesh's solar power model becomes benchmark; Centre asks other states to replicate model

Enthused by the world's biggest solar power project in Rewa that will be producing cheapest power in India, the Union government has written to all states of the country to incorporate initiatives taken by Madhya Pradesh, so that the target of generating 100 gigawatts of solar power is achieved in quick time and at affordable rates.

Earlier on February 10, after 33 hours of bidding by 18 interested... Read more..

SDMC to set up waste-to-energy plant at Rs 351 crore

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) today said it plans to set up a waste-to- energy plant at Tehkhand here at a cost of Rs 351 crore.

The SDMC standing committee has approved the project under which 1,200 metric tonne of waste would be utilised to generate 15 mega watt power which would be sold at Rs 5.5 per unit to earn revenue of Rs 57.81 crore per year, it said.

... Read more..

Air India launches energy conservation and natural resources recycling project

This is the second such project. In the first, "while exploring alternate means for disposal of the green waste to reduce air pollution and also contribute to the “Cleanliness Campaign”, employees from Air India deliberated on the various options that were feasible.

After consultation with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) authorities, it was decided to convert the waste into organic manure using... Read more..

Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) mulls building norms - FOCUS ON ENVIRONMENT-FRIENDLY STRUCTURES

Real estate norms are set to address issues of environment as well as concerns of the elderly and the disabled with the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) gearing up to draft and enforce the Planning and Building Standards Regulation, 2017.

At present, the authorities are following the Planning and Building Standards Regulation, 2008, which is set to go for a review.

... Read more..

Waste Management goes hi-tech in Bangalore

There is a reason why television programmes that show food factories are a hit: the streamlined process, spick and span equipment and the perfect tempo of workers on an assembly line is fascinating. Believe it or not, processing garbage in this manner can be equally compelling, too. Two waste processing units in Bengaluru, which recently got upgraded, are proof to this.

In late 2016, waste management experts... Read more..

Sikkim gets on board for UDAY, Rs 356-crore benefit seen

Sikkim has become the 22nd state to join UDAY -- the scheme designed to nurse debt-laden electricity distribution companies back to health -- which will in turn hand it an overall benefit of Rs 356 crore.

"The Government of India and Sikkim signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) under the Scheme Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) today, for operational improvement of the state's Power Distribution... Read more..