Kristina Johnson, Program Assistant, Food and Agriculture, India Initiative, Urban, San Francisco
January 20th- January 30th, 2014
India Green News is a selection of news highlights about environmental and energy issues in India
Energy
Indian State of Andhra Pradesh Adopts Energy Conservation Building Code, Becoming a National Leader in Building Efficiency
Andhra Pradesh, India’s fourth-largest state, announced today that it will adopt an Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) for large commercial and public buildings and major retrofits. The ECBC is expected to dramatically reduce energy consumption by as much as 40-60%, increase electricity reliability, and enable consumers to save money. In fact, adopting the code in Andhra Pradesh could save the amount of energy by 2030 that’s needed to power 8.9 million Indian households annually over that time frame, according to a new analysis by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI).
(NRDC Environmental News, 1/27/2014)
India solar auction three times oversubcribed
Bidding for the second phase of India’s national solar mission (JNNSM), which offered 750MW of solar capacity, was flooded with bids totalling 2,170MW, according to solar consultants, Bridge to India.
The two bidding rounds received 68 bids from 58 developers, proposing 122 projects. Half of the 750MW on offer had a domestic content requirement (DCR) with the other half unrestricted. The DCR round received 36 project proposals amounting to 700MW for the allocated 375MW. The remaining 86 project bids, in the second open half of the auction, received 1,470MW of proposed solar projects.
(PV Tech, 1/20/2014)
MPs urge Prime Minister for clean energy push
NEW DELHI: Amid Centre's ongoing efforts to increase the share of green energy in India's overall electricity mix, a group of MPs from different political parties has requested the government to incentivize states to increase their shares of 'Renewable Purchase Obligation' and introduce tax benefit instruments to mobilize low cost funds for the sector.
These MPs on Monday also submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, requesting him to bring out a road-map for gradual replacement of kerosene and LPG with renewable energy for lighting and cooking.
(Times of India, 1/29/2014)
GPMDG launched to promote renewable energy among corporates
In a key step towards promoting renewable energy among corporate India, the Green Power Market Development Group (GPMDG) was launched on a nationwide basis in New Delhi on Wednesday.
The GPMDG initiative seeks to create a demand for renewable energy among corporate and help companies in meeting their renewable energy purchase obligations and also make them sustainable in the long term. The GPMDG - India is a joint initiative of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and World Resources Institute (WRI) and supported by Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation.
(The Hindu, 1/29/2014)
Environmental Health and Governance
Beijing’s Bad Air Would Be Step Up for Smoggy Delhi
NEW DELHI — In mid-January, air pollution in Beijing was so bad that the government issued urgent health warnings and closed four major highways, prompting the panicked buying of air filters and donning of face masks. But in New Delhi, where pea-soup smog created what was by some measurements even more dangerous air, there were few signs of alarm in the country’s boisterous news media, or on its effervescent Twittersphere.
Despite Beijing’s widespread reputation of having some of the most polluted air of any major city in the world, an examination of daily pollution figures collected from both cities suggests that New Delhi’s air is more laden with dangerous small particles of pollution, more often, than Beijing’s. Lately, a very bad air day in Beijing is about an average one in New Delhi.
(The New York Times, 1/25/2014)
Climate Change
Chickpea gets cover against climate change
Legumes, a crop of poor and small farmers, have got a lending hand from scientists. Farmers will soon be able to get climate change ready chickpea (gram) varieties that can withstand extreme weather conditions.
Scientists at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat) have identified 40 lines of germplasm of chickpea with resistance to drought, high temperature and salinity. They had screened about 211 lines of chickpea over a period of 14 years to zero in on the 40 lines.
(The Hindu Business Line, 1/27/2014)
Industry Awakens to Threat of Climate Change
WASHINGTON — Coca-Cola has always been more focused on its economic bottom line than on global warming, but when the company lost a lucrative operating license in India because of a serious water shortage there in 2004, things began to change.
Today, after a decade of increasing damage to Coke’s balance sheet as global droughts dried up the water needed to produce its soda, the company has embraced the idea of climate change as an economically disruptive force.
(The New York Times, 1/23/2014)
Black carbon in air a worry, say scientists
PUNE: The amount of black carbon or soot, a potential cancer-causing substance, has been gradually increasing over Pune city since 2005, shows a study conducted by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM).
Soot is a human carcinogenic which is considered second only to carbon dioxide in causing climate change or global warming.
(The Times of India, 1/26/2014)
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