NATIONAL SOLAR MISSION

The National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) aims to promote the development & use of solar energy for power generation & other uses. The ultimate objective is to made solar energy competitive with fossil-based energy options for Kilowatt range of distributed solar thermal & photovoltaic to gigawatt scale within the next 20 years to 25 years. The plan includes:
1. Specific goals for increasing use of solar thermal technologies in urban areas, industry & commercial establishments.
2. By 2011, the solar mission is aim to deliver 80% coverage for all low temperature requirements & 60% coverage for medium temperature applications in all urban areas.
3. A goal of deploying at least 1,000 MW of solar thermal power generation.
Other objectives of the National Solar Mission include the establishment of a solar research centre, increased international collaboration on technology development, strengthening of domestic manufacturing capacity & increased government funding & international support.

INDIAN CEOs NEED TO BE MORE CONCERN ON CLIMATE STRATEGY

A report last year by Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) indicated that a majority of Indian CEOs did not have a climate change strategy in place. UK based carbon disclosure project, which collects emissions data of major companies the world over, got a response from just 20% of the 200 Indian companies it approached.
At the same time, however, both reports found things to cheer about. The PwC report noted that the percentage of Indian CEOs concerned over climate change has doubled over a year. The Carbon Disclosure project report mentioned that the answers of respondents were qualitatively better than earlier years.

GREEN STOCKS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL FRIENDLY COMPANIES

Now for some investors who feel strongly about eco-friendly business practices, here is an initiative to help them track the performance of Green-companies on Indian stock markets. Verdurous Solutions, a consultancy on ‘clean-tech’, have conceptualized broad-based green index initiatives. The 25-stock index incorporates firms from the renewable energy & energy-efficiency space besides the mainstream ‘old economy’ manufacturing companies. The criteria-firms must have demonstrated superior environmental performance compared to their industry peers. The index includes Suzlon energy, Hero Honda, Praj industries, Bajaj Hindustan & ITC.

BIRD POWER IN REDUCING METHANE EMISSIONS

At a recent venture capital conference in Mumbai, India heads of agribusinesses were shooting the breeze on innovative ways to make their businesses greener, & earn carbon credits. In addition, the ideas came rolling in.

       One ingenious bright spark involved feeding poultry birds with pills, which would stop them from passing wind. That would reduce methane emission (which formed a major part of bird of bird & human gaseous releases) & in turn, each earns carbon credits.

                 Scientists from New Zealand developed a vaccine in 2008, which prevents sheep passing gas. Why such extremes measures? Forty-Five million sheep & 10 million cattle in New Zealand accounted for almost 90 % of that country’s methane emissions.

WATER CONSERVATION

WASTE WATER MANAGEMENT

Water pollution is a persistent problem in India. In fact, as per a new study based on an evaluation of environment impact on 179 countries, conducted by researchers in Harvard, Princeton, Adelaide University & University of Singapore, India was ranked third for water pollution.

India, which has always been rich in its water resources, has been facing some serious water shortages lately. The fact that a large amount of untreated domestic sewage, industrial effluents & affected water from chemical-intensive agricultural farms go without treatment has been adding up to the shortage.

As per the report by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, the per capita availability of water in India has been reduced from 5277 cubic meters in 1995 to 1970 cubic meters in 2010. This figure is projected to further slump down to about 1000-1700 by 2025, making India’s water condition critical. The report says that the demand for water continues to grow & will grow by 40% from 750 billion cubic meters (bcm) currently to 1050 bcm by 2025.

Despite the current situation, about 90% of the total wastewater in India continues to be discharged without any treatment. About 1.3 billion liters of raw sewage & 250 million liters of industrial effluent is added to the Ganges every day, states the report.

NATURE CALLING

Now, a new organization formed to monitor the ecological state of the planet & its natural resources. The initiative taken by the United Nations Organization. It forms a task force. The intergovernmental science policy platform on Biodiversity & Ecosystem services.
More than 230 delegates from 85 nations formed the task force, which have given the green light to the formation of a global science policy panel (akin to the intergovernmental panel on climate change) on biodiversity & ecosystem services. The new body expected to bridge the gulf between scientific research & urgent political action need to halt biodiversity loss.
It expected that the task force would mitigate the crisis-48,000 species were assessed to be at the risk of extinction in 2009. The annual damage to ‘nature capital’ is estimated to be around $2-4.5 trillion.

ENERGY CONSERVATION

LEDing the way for conserving energy

    Light Emitting Diode (LED), now used heavily on TVs, which had brighter & whiter light but consumed less energy. However, this less consumed light has possibility to illuminate the office space? The answer is yes, & the first company to do so on a large scale is an Indian company i-GATE in Chennai.

                  Phanesh Murthy, CEO, i-GATE invested RS. 37 lakh to light 57,000 sq. ft. office space at iGATE’s new development centre inside the DLF SEZ at Chennai. The benefit:-

1.     Reduction in carbon emission by 78 tonnes annually.

2.      AC requirements are down by 11-12%*. The load will come further because of LED by 4-5%.

*LED usage will help optimize this as the light is ‘cool’ & dissipates lesser heat.

                 LED gives out 63.8% & 76.8% less carbon emissions than CFL & tube light lighting respectively over five years. Total energy savings from LED is 63.8% more than CFL & 71.5% more than tube, lighting over five years.

REDUCTION OF CARBON FOOT PRINT

BY USING IT. Edition-4

Now technology has truly developed to a stage where the grid is about to be transformed completely. The fundamental problem with electricity grid is electric consumption goes through peaks & lows, there is no way to manage this except through load shedding if the demand is too high. The smart grid can help utilities to manage their distribution better switching off high consumption devices remotely.

                  Smart grid could help utilities charge differential tariffs for consumption during peak & off peak hours, & let enlightened consumers pay more for electricity from renewable sources. A smart grid is considered so essential in our fight against climate change that without it no renewable energy technology will work fully.

                  Electricity is the most efficient form of energy. Simply by using electricity wherever possible can reduce global energy consumption significantly. For example, a study by two California professors, Mark Jacobson & Mark Delucchi, found that world could cut its energy needs by 2030 by 5.4 terawatts (about 30%) just by using electricity wherever possible. They say that these needs can be met mostly by just three technologies: Solar, Wind & Water.     

REDUCING CARBON FOOT PRINT

BY USING IT. Edition -3

Popularly called as the smart grid, this automated electricity distribution system can have a substantial impact on global energy use & carbon emissions. The electricity grid is one of humanity’s greatest technological feats. However, like many other achievements, also a technology has hardly changed for a century.

             It consisted of a few elements: a source of power, a point of consumption, & wires to carry from the source to consumption. This structure remained until the 1990s, when the birth of IT began to change things a bit. IT companies realized that constant inputs from sensors in the network could change the way the grid is managed, but high costs & low bandwidths prevented massive adoption immediately.

WASTE MANAGEMENT

Problem of e-Waste                                                                                        


Urban India generates about 48 million tonnes of waste per year. Of this, Delhi & Mumbai contribute over 7,000 tonnes each. The per capita generation of waste is growing by 5% every year in India.

According to the center for Science & Environment, India generates about 350,000 tonnes of e-waste every year, & imports another 50,000 tonnes. It also generated 5.9 million tonnes of hazardous waste in 2009.

India is the second largest producer of e-waste in Asia, second to China. The volume of e-waste is growing at 10% every year & 90% of it goes to the urban slums for segregating.

The total volume of e-waste generated pr year in India is expected to exceed 8,00,000 tonnes by 2012. Toxic substances in e-waste, such as lead, cadmium & mercury, among others are hazardous to health & can contaminate soil, ground water & air.

                                                                                                        By Himadri Saha