2019-03-26 19:33:35
HeroX - https://www.herox.com/ - Wow. Cute. A crowdsourcing platform for innovation. Why do I think I have seen something like this closer home!
2019-03-12 17:24:47
Sustainability roadmap for hospitals - a really nice compendium of ideas on energy, water and environment for hospitals & medical hospitals
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2019-03-12 10:49:58
ClimateChangeWiki - a really nice compendium over 200 tools and technologies to combat climate change
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2019-03-09 13:45:57
Handbook of sustainability science & research - lots of case studies and perspectives from around the world. Looks like a comprehensive and useful book to read. A bit on the pricey side, but keen to purchase and read it - excerpts and chapter previews from here - https://www.springer.com/in/book/9783319630069
2019-02-02 10:47:15
40-800 times more gold in 1 ton of Printed Wiring Boards (PWB) than in 1 ton of ore - remarkable!
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2019-02-01 16:17:37
Making the most of corporate social responsibility - an old, but excellent paper that provides a framework to make CSR work
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2019-02-01 11:05:41
A framework for shaping sustainable lifestyles - A detailed analytical paper from UNEP
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2019-01-25 20:14:16
Global Food Waste Management - Implementation Guide for Cities - an excellent doc from the World Biogas Association
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2019-01-25 19:36:51
Low carbon communities handbook - This handbook has been produced to assist local community responses to climate change in Oxfordshire, though much of the material will be useful for community projects elsewhere in the world too.
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2019-01-17 11:47:22
European research projects on sustainable urban issues - a 2013 document - wow! there are so many projects in EU (and this was in 2013!, imagine how many more there could be in 2019!). A good reference list for those keen to know more on the latest in sustainable urban development
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2019-01-17 11:42:11
Strategies for sustainable urban planning - an excellent document that gives broad perspectives on how urban planners should think when they try to make cities sustainable. I liked the holistic thinking that forms the core of the white paper
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2019-01-01 09:28:29
Take Action for a Sustainable Huron - What a comprehensive town plan for sustainability! Also quite practical. Wondering how much of the work has been completed...especially as this is a 2010 document
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2018-12-20 21:53:41
Met Chetan Solanki, IITB Professor who has done sime remarkable work in making solar power make a real difference to the lives of millions of poor, rural Indians
2018-12-13 11:59:06
Ideas for ground water management - a bit old, but excellent and eminently readable resource on ground water mgmt. Ground water is super important, and this is why - Only 2.5% of all water is freshwater (rest is saltwater). 70% of freshwater sits in the glaciers; 99% of the remaining freshwater is ground water, with just 1% is in rivers & lakes. That is, pretty much all the water you and I live on is ground water. Which is why I think this well done report on ground water mgmt is useful!
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2018-12-10 11:52:34
Energy storage options for future sustainable energy systems - an excellent white paper from Technical Univ of Denmark. While the report is slightly dated (2013), the details are provided in a clear and organized fashion.
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2018-12-08 04:13:42
water needs to be priced correctly. Otherwise people in india will not realise its value and save it. ground water the main source for india in both urban and rual areas, is depleting.
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2018-12-04 17:53:51
E2 a great platform where we can build a great professional network .
2018-12-04 17:52:50
Water is so important in our daily life . We use use water for drinking,bathing , washing any more . So isn't it important to monitor the water that we consume every day ,every minute ? I have uploaded a documented that monitors water quality for drinking and waste water . If in case of any requirement please write to me on shruti@aeronsystems.com
2018-12-04 11:31:23
Want to breathe fresh air at home without spending a bomb to buy an air purifier? Get a snake plant or a bamboo palm . Read to know all your options
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2018-12-01 15:01:37
Good composting practices minimize greenhouse gas emissions. The use of compost provides numerous greenhouse gas benefits, both directly through carbon sequestration and indirectly through improved soil health, reduced soil loss, increased water infiltration and storage, and reduction in other inputs.
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2018-11-29 12:05:17
Are we taking water crisis too lightly? Is it time to start filling up our buckets be ready to face the drought?
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2018-11-29 10:45:53
Moderated an interesting panel discussion at Pune on Nov 13th on the topic - EV Charging Infrastructure - The Roadmap for India. Panelists included Maxson Lewis from Magenta Power, Prabhjot Kaur from Centre for Battery Engg & EVs, Manikandan from Spero Mobility and Anant Misra from GreenFuel. Interesting deliberations.
2018-11-29 10:39:25
I will be moderating a session at Intersolar India (Bengaluru, Dec 12 2018) - Solar-Wind Hybrid with Storage - Way to Manage the Grid and Optimally Utilize the Infrastructure. Presenters at the session will include Anil Vishwakarma of Sterling & Wilson, Rajsekhar Budhavarapu of Greenk Group, Dr. Alejandro Santis from Bern University of Applied Sciences, Dirk Eeraerts from Mind4Energy, Belgium and Zakir Khan from Wartsila India.
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2018-11-21 23:16:42
Increasing the temperature at which the AC runs from the 21 deg to 25 deg can cut electricity consumed by the AC by almost 25%. Wow. 25% savings, and more comfort (as 25 deg C is the temp at which our body is most comfortable!).
2018-11-21 23:13:39
PepsiCo to develop infra to collect, recycle plastic in Maharashtra - partnership with Gem Enviro to set up the infrastructure for collection and recycling of PET plastic bottles
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2018-11-21 20:34:06
The Problems With Bioplastics - a well done, factually accurate update on bioplastics
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2018-11-21 10:48:59
Why India should be worried with the chinese waste ban???
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2018-11-20 23:22:55
When people doubt sustainable city concepts in advanced countries here’s an oasis in the desert. Sustainable City located in the Dubai is a model village that is self sustaining environmentally and economically
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2018-11-19 14:29:12
Why would Scientists send more ice to Antartica
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2018-11-17 21:45:19
Movies tend to have a bigger impact to documentaries on larger public. It could of the emotional connection it makes with you than the technical knowledge it gives. For the same reason Okja, a bilingual Netflix original hope to open more eyes wider to what goes behind the Meat on your table. Without mention brilliant CGI VFX work, the powerful close shot of Okja's eyes is full of life. Having watched it some months ago, some of the visuals still are fresh in mind( Wish it wasnt though).
2018-11-17 18:33:34
Climate Change abatement toolkit - a really exciting and valuable toolkit for policy makers, and that too for the top 8 emitting countries. WOW! WOW! Once you are at the portal, choose the country you wish to from the top drop-down, and there you go! Do use it!
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2018-11-17 18:30:39
Designing Climate Solutions - A Policy Guide for Low-Carbon Energy - Looks like an interesting read that emphasises on policies just a few high impact sectors - plan to purchase it
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2018-11-17 14:41:50
There is a chance that the soaps, perfumes, deodorants that keep you fresh might be as air-polluting as your vehicle emissions. In a study led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), scientists found that the top contributor to urban air pollution is actually a close race between vehicle emissions and chemical products that are created from petroleum — products like perfume, cleaning agents, pesticides and paints.
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2018-11-17 10:49:28
Biofuel from edible oil can save $10 billion forex - an interesting report about Shiva Vig who has set up a biodiesel processing facility in Delhi, BioD Energy, and plans to make biodiesel from used cooking oil
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2018-11-16 22:32:24
The 3 legs of Smucker & Co's sustainable sourcing strategy, especially for their coffee supply chain: The first focus is responsible sourcing. The second is smallholder support - helping vulnerable small producers to be more successful with their farming practices, resulting in stronger yields. The third is integrated environmental efforts.
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2018-11-16 22:27:27
ING maintains a lending portfolio of more than 500 billion euros that is geared towards combating climate change. As an incentive for companies to improve their overall sustainable performance, ING offers a sustainable improvement loan to certain eligible companies. It provides a discount to the margin if certain targets on sustainable performance are met.
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2018-11-16 22:24:40
How The Biggest Corporate Sustainability Trends Of 2018 Have Really Paid Off - 4 interesting trends from this Forbes article: 1) Cos are increasingly setting science based targets for CO2 reduction; 2) Higher focus from companies on their supply chain emissions; 3) Tech companies are showing that they are serious about sustainability; 4) Cos are following innovative approaches that fit their operations rather than copy standard templates from others...interesting Forbes article (see link)
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2018-11-16 18:53:36
Sibanye-Stillwater moves beyond environment and sustainability compliancy - interesting to see a metals company going beyond sustainability within its scope and investing in a South African-first agri-processing joint venture initiative
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2018-11-16 14:46:12
Get your gadgets charged while you get your skin tanned. Beach umbrella that can withstand wind and comes with a solar panel to charge your gadgets.
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2018-11-16 12:37:49
WHAT LESSON CAN DELHI LEARN FROM BEIJING? 1. A regional action plan & coordination mechanism involving Delhi & its adjoining states must be put in place. 2.Time-bound targets to reduce pollution levels; without targets, action plans are meaningless. 3 The action plan should be an integrated one involving all pollutants and all key polluting sources. 4.Concerted action rather than incremental change is the key to reduce pollution levels quickly.5. Strict enforcement. [copied from Link]
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2018-11-16 12:19:32
While Tamil Nadu is one of the most cyclone-prone areas in India. Should we expect another man-made disaster also to hit TN this year? Just curious on if the State Government and Meteorological Department are doing enough to mitigate the effects or should we just blame Mother Nature for all that is happening?
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2018-11-16 08:26:04
Govt Move To Entrust Coal India Ltd Subsidiary To Mine Coal Opposed
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2018-11-15 12:34:50
The future of mobility in India: Challenges & opportunities for the auto component industry - an excellent white paper by McKinsey & Co. Interesting data on power train component cost breakup comparison between EVs and conventional vehicles, on Li-ion battery price break-ups and trends in the same, different business models and how auto cos in China are operating in the different value chain components of electric vehicles. Good read (see link)
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2018-11-15 11:50:48
Removing carbon dioxide that is already in the air is seen as a potential way to combat global warming. There are various approaches, lumped together as “negative emissions technologies” to distinguish them from technologies that reduce or eliminate emissions from power plants and other sources.
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2018-11-15 11:37:52
a team of researchers from Duke University in North Carolina are looking to revolutionise the world of lithium-powered devices with the idea of creating custom-sized lithium-ion batteries using 3D printing technology. In new research published in the ACP Applied Energy Materials, postdoctoral researcher Christopher Reyes and Associate Professor of Chemistry Benjamin Wiley explained the ability to 3D print lithium-ion batteries in an “arbitrary geometry” would allow a battery’s “form factor” (
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2018-11-15 11:32:46
Charge at the same amount of time it takes to add petrol !!?? The investment reflects the capability of Enevate in breakthrough Li-ion batteries capable of extreme fast charging with high energy density. Enevate’s technology, which could enable electric vehicles (EVs) to charge in the same time as refueling conventional cars, is seen as a leader in its field.
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2018-11-15 11:30:10
Why paper remains a top pick for recyclable packaging - an short article on the sustainable virtues of paper. One interesting comment I found in the article: "Paper is stronger than you might think. Employing the engineering of Sealed Air’s systems, which crimp and create multi-ply solutions, paper has the power to protect heavy-duty products such as auto parts during transit."
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2018-11-15 11:27:33
India’s first award for sustainability in fashion invites entries - The Circular Design Challenge, launched earlier this year as part of R Elan’s Fashion for Earth initiative, is open for entries. It will recognise the environmental champions of tomorrow in the Indian fashion and textiles industry. The design challenge was launched in partnership with the UN in India, puts the spotlight on circular fashion. The registration for the challenge is open till November 30.
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2018-11-15 11:25:36
Transforming sustainability through AI: Olam International partners with Canvass Analytics - “Some of the initial projects will be looking at production processes to identify how we can optimize them to improve the quality of yield and reduce waste. Next in line, are projects to create energy efficiencies throughout different production processes and to optimize energy production through energy assets.”
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2018-11-15 11:23:56
Clariant wins Sustainable Beauty Award for Eosidin - Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals is the recipient of the 2018 Sustainable Ingredient Award for Eosidin, an innovative active ingredient that is unique in protecting skin from indoor pollution damage. The citrus unshiu cultivation, which includes no use of pesticides, and the extraction process have been designed to reduce waste, limit the environmental impact, and be non-food competitive.
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2018-11-15 11:20:44
How Novozymes harnesses the sustainability superpower of enzymes - an excellent, detailed report on how the enzymes major Novozymes is contributing to lower carbon footprint through sustainable operations internally and much more importantly, through its products which contribute to millions of end users reducing their CO2 footprint. The company has an aim to contribute to reduction of 100 million tons of CO2 per annum through its solutions and has reportedly reached 76 million tons. Remarkable!
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2018-11-15 11:09:21
Central banks undecided about sustainable financing - interesting article. While a very few select central banks (such as DNB — the Netherland’s central bank) are weaving sustainability in their financing policies, for most central banks worldwide, environment is not part of their scope while putting together financial frameworks and regulations. My guess is this will become increasingly so as these banks get a more tangible idea of risks posed by climate change (DNB seems to have got there!)
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2018-11-15 10:56:04
BBC builds on plastics pledge with new sustainability strategy - The BBC has unveiled a new sustainability strategy, which sets out commitments to achieve zero waste to landfill and source 100% renewable energy, with the broadcaster also revealing it has cut out more than 500,000 pieces of single-use plastics since April 2018. Laudable!
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2018-11-15 10:54:43
Four futuristic scenarios to steer your sustainability strategy - an interesting article that tries to crystal gaze to 2030 and see what type of a global society we could be at that point in time. CEOs and top management keen on knowing what they should do in sustainability to increase their companies' competitive advantage can think about each of these scenarios - they provide interesting starting points!
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2018-11-14 15:51:16
If E trio , a start up in telengana can successfully make a retrofitted e car from wagon R and Alto , doesnt it open up a large business opportunity ? Why cant more such cars be retrofitted for the rural markets. Most second hand cars can be retrofitted. This has been my dream. It surely can happen. Then INdia will have more % of electric cars than USA. USA can only have brand new cars , whereas india can have second hand cars. https://auto.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/passenger-vehic
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2018-11-14 15:39:07
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/technology/new-fast-charging-station-electric-cars-comfortdelgro-10924582 Singapore to get fast chargers ! 30 mts to charge. Thats super fast is int it. India wont be far behind. I heard / read somewher that Maruti suzuki is coming up with an electric car by 2019 !! If that happens, all other small car makers in India will gear up and launch their versions soon.
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2018-11-14 10:46:26
UN Environment, Partners Identify 25 Air Pollution Solutions in Asia Pacific
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2018-11-14 10:43:51
Spain plans switch to 100% renewable electricity by 2050 !! Thtats good but not great. 2050 is far away. The world needs to adapt to anything green and anything clean fast. The good news is Spain has a plan for shutting down coal mines. India has no such plans .
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2018-11-13 10:12:38
India's dept of science and tech has announced plans to have a Global Cooling Prize to motivate scientists and innovators more energy efficient cooling solutions. Estimates suggest a good solution could reduce burden on grid and also save about $1.5 trillion. That's a massive saving, even if it happens over a decade, as it is almost three fourths of India's GDP...just imagine what this could also mean to trade deficits, forex reserves, as well as fiscal deficits! Sometbing worth attempting!
2018-11-13 10:06:16
India will have 25% of all the world's AC units by 2022. Wow. So much more energy needed. So much more refrigerants and GHG.
2018-11-13 03:04:31
Is there a clear business opportunity for setting up a Charging station for EVs. ? Is the policy clear ? Are Mahindra , ola and uber happy ? Have they announced plans to appoint agents for charging ? Is it a common charging station for all these vehicles ? What about fast charging stations and slow charging stations ? What will be the power cost ? Why is the gov not clear about these ?
2018-11-13 01:55:07
How many clean energy funds are there in India ? In what areas do they operate ? Are there angel funds in clean energy areas ? What kind of projects have been funded so far ? I was reading an article by Heather Clancy Editorial Director GreenBiz
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2018-11-12 15:40:22
Apple Vs Tesla Teska getting compared to Apple is nothing new. But this article is simply superb. Bang on.
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2018-11-12 15:23:25
Why A Transition To Clean Energy Alone Is Not Enough For A Sustainable Future Avoiding the two degree temperature rise threshold is probably the biggest challenge mankind has ever faced. A transition from fossil fuels to clean energy could be a major step in reducing our carbon dioxide emissions, but focusing on carbon emissions is only half the battle. The gains from such a transition can be seen as a temporary fix or even worse, a distraction from the real roots of the problem. from
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2018-11-12 13:08:34
India on road to achieve 2 of the three climate targets under Paris accord. Interesting read indeed. Two that are likely to be achieved: greenhouse gas emission intensity of GDP will be reduced by 33-35% below 2005 levels by 2030. Also, target of 40% of India’s power capacity to be from non-fossil fuel sources is also likely to be achieved, says the report. What's the one we are lagging behind on? Creating an additional ‘carbon sink’ of 2.5-3 billion tonnes of Co2 equt thru additional tree cover
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2018-11-12 12:41:35
Studies reveal that cryptocurrency requires far more electricity per dollar than it takes to mine usual metals. As the cryptocurrencies gain momentum, should we question the environmental impact of cryptocurrencies more?
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2018-11-12 10:21:31
UK-based Biome Bioplastics has launched a new a digital educational channel to help government, media and the public better understand the complexities of plastics and plastic pollution and learn more about available alternatives. Bio plastics is a great opportunity area.
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2018-11-12 10:10:04
Algae culturing breakthrough ! From 20 gms/l to 40 gm/l Amazinng
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2018-11-12 10:07:27
Ather is raising more funds !? Already they raised funds from SAchin bansal, Tiger global etc They got funding from Hero motors. Now ..
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2018-11-12 09:59:37
You know what ! Volkswagon is mulling a sub 20k electric car ! Not just that ! They are getting ready with a car to challenge Tesla. And more ! The model for the sub 20 k car could be approved this WEEK !
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2018-11-12 09:25:31
These are good batteries for indian buses ! Indian needs to electrify its buses in a hurry. Here are metal air batteries. Metal-air batteries are one of the lightest and most compact types of batteries available, but they can have a major limitation: When not in use, they degrade quickly, as corrosion eats away at their metal electrodes. Now, MIT researchers have found a way to substantially reduce that corrosion, making it possible for such batteries to have much longer shelf lives.
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2018-11-12 08:34:42
Isnt India the best market for electric two wheelers, buses and cars ? a. it has size . and b. it has very high air pollution . Why arent low money cost countries like Japan pouring in money on batteries on lease in buses . Most indian cities would be keen on lapping up such offers. When the battery is leased , the cost of the bus is just half . affordable .
2018-11-11 11:39:37
While there’s a debate on the sustainability factor of digital over analog, holding analog camera does bring back memories when photographs were a precious memory. Today when you can click 100 frames in an instant, the effort it required to patiently frame an instant is overlooked. Knowing about this forgotten process was everything worth missing Sunday morning sleep
2018-11-11 10:10:39
Should dams be blamed for flooding? Real reasons may lie elsewhere - With the recent Kerala floods and earlier Chennai floods at least partially being blamed on letting out dam water, this question is quite relevant. And this useful article by PP Sangal puts things in perspective ( see link). The key takeaway: Blaming the dam for floods is similar to blaming food because a person ate too much of it along with alcohol, and fell ill. Blame the way we use things, rather than blaming the thing!
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2018-11-10 19:50:19
Cadbury Celebrations Decided To Light Up The Lives Of Those Who Light Up Ours & Their Gesture Has Us In Awe
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2018-11-10 12:04:30
From IKEA To Swiggy, Gayam Motor Works Is Driving Electric Vehicle Adoption In India - Hats off to Raja, Rahul & Sri Harsha. These youngsters truly deserve every success they achieve. I'm aware of the real sweat these three are putting in at a ground level to get their e-autos into the mainstream, instead of waiting for government to help them all along the way. All the best!
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2018-11-10 11:59:14
One of India's biggest construction companies, Megha Engineering, has invested about $100 million for a controlling stake in electric bus maker Olectra Greentech. It took a controlling 50.1% stake in Olectra in August, according to documents filed with the Bombay Stock Exchange
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2018-11-10 11:56:36
GM's next electric vehicle is an electric...bicycle. And cool the proposed models look (see link). For the first time ever, I think I'm beginning to like GM
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2018-11-09 22:46:14
"Modern bioenergy is [an] overlooked giant," say the IEA's executive director Fatih Birol. "Its share in the world's total renewables consumption is about 50% today, …as much as hydro, wind, solar and all other renewables combined." A surprising statement, given biomass power is only 120 GW globally, while the solar+wind power installed crossed 1000 GW (1 TW) in Aug 2018. Even given the CUF of biomass power is 4x that of solar, the numbers don't match, unless of course he is also talking heating
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2018-11-09 15:03:09
What can I do to save the World, after all, I am just one of the billions? Ever had this thought? There are several things that you can do from the comfort of your couch to protect the environment and save the world. Picture attached gives 6 such simple tips you can do from your couch.
2018-11-09 10:16:42
This is historic - US oil production last week, at 11.6 million barrels per day, exceeded that of Russia & Saudi Arabia. That is, last week the United States became the world's largest producer of oil! Stunning news! Equally stunning, it is not making headlines (I picked it from an obscure portion of an obscure news report). Sure, the OPEC could strike back by upping production, but this certainly speaks of a new world geopolitical order. What it means to cleantech is another matter though!
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2018-11-08 22:44:30
Visited CAEM (Center for Auto Energy Materials) division of ARCI, an autonomous organization under Dept of Science & Tech, Gov of India. My sincere thanks to Gopalan (Asst Dir, ARCI) and Prakash (Head of CAEM) for taking me and my colleague through a super learning tour of the Li-ion cell fabrication facility they have set up at their location at the IITM Research Park, Taramani, Chennai. ARCI is keen on commercializing their cell making expertise & willing to transfer tech to Indian businesses
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2018-11-08 22:29:06
Met Arun Nagasubramanian, a member of E2 Club and a researcher working in battery storage for almost a decade. It was an enriching 3-hour discussion that I and my EAI team had with Arun, during which he explained a number of technical aspects of Li-ion batteries, and provided inputs on other emerging battery tech such as Solid State Batteries, Sodium batteries etc. Key takeaway? Don't be fooled by hyper-jargons & super-optimism, the battery field will take some time to produce big breakthroughs
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2018-11-08 18:19:51
Despite the efforts, Diwali has left the people of NCR to choke and smoke. Just curious about what can be done immediately to curb the pollution levels? At least at a common man's perspective, what are some things that one can do to reduce the effects of smoke?
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2018-11-08 13:34:24
This is a white button mushroom equipped with 3D- printed graphene nanoribbons (black), which collect electricity generated by densely packed 3D-printed cyanobacteria (green). Credit: Sudeep Joshi, Stevens Institute of Technology
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2018-11-08 09:25:19
Oil up, oil down...the swing continues. This is what happens when a critical commodity is concentrated at few places. And this is precisely where renewables score, as they are present in some form in most regions. Larger the diversity and more the number of sources, less risk of volatility. But even within clean energy, we see concentrations - solar panels from China, Lithium from just half a dozen countries - but hopefully volatilities in these won't have the magnitude of effect oil prices have
2018-11-07 16:59:59
The University of Leeds, UK and Leeds University Union have together pledged to become single-use plastic-free by 2023. The 2023PlasticFree, a 5-year long campaign will profile the University’s influential research into the environmental, social and economic impacts and opportunities of plastics in materials and processes. While at UoL,I was part of the Sustainability Services and was impressed by the many efforts they took to reduce the plastic usage. Hope to see more of it, #ProudAlumnus
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2018-11-07 15:24:32
World Energy Markets Observatory 2018 from Cap Gemini - highlights: 1. In addition to becoming the largest energy consumer, China is now a key supplier in energy equipment market; 2. EU carbon prices are increasing (@ €20) but strong economic growth worldwide resulting in increase in CO2 emitted; 3. Renewables still remain a marginal player in most countries' energy portfolio in spite of falling costs; 4. Utilities are evolving, in strategic (M&A), financial, and tech transformation (digital)
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2018-11-07 15:11:36
Got this in mail from DHL - "Exclusive new Carbon Reporting module, compliant with latest calculation protocols, provides you with reliable CO2 emission data so you know exactly how to improve your supply chain’s efficiency". They are offering this tool to (probably B2B) customers using DHL services. Once again, proof that climate change is going mainstream.
2018-11-07 13:03:59
While the pollution levels are alarmingly increasing daily, the public is still not completely aware of the effects of it. “There is much work to be done when it comes to educating people that indoor air is as polluted as outdoor air. Air purification is still a very Delhi-centric phenomenon,” says Gulbahar Taurani, senior director and head of marketing for personal health at Philips India
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2018-11-07 09:55:25
Citizen science (CS) is a freely accessible and meaningful way to explore and experiment with the world around you. Also known as community science, crowd science, crowd-sourced science, the initiative allows the public to engage with, contribute to and conduct scientific research to broadly increase knowledge. Participation in publicly funded scientific research can allow citizens to contribute to science and sustainability. A list of CS projects worldwide, see Link
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2018-11-07 09:50:33
Some interesting sustainable farming practices from the Illinois Farm Bureau. Other than nutrient optimization, what caught my eye was the Woodchip Bioreactor - a rather simple mechanism of using woodchips aling the runoff water flow so that the microorganisms in the wood absorb the nitrogen - appears like a sustaianble solution to the nitrogen problem faced in runoff waters from the farms. The nitrogen can perhaps be even reused in the farm?? Interesting stuff...
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2018-11-07 09:45:03
Leveraging finance for a sustainable future - The Asia Pacific CEO of BNP Paribas explains how the finance giant approaches sustainable financing in practice. A useful read
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2018-11-07 09:41:10
British Columbia adds aboriginal consultation to environment assessments - quite a prudent move, in my opinion. And this also highlights why shotgun approaches and overnight transformations are perhaps not great ideas for sustainability projects. Because, when you are doing something for the long term, it makes sense to think long term, doesn't it?
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2018-11-07 09:35:22
The Passive House Standard Is Reaching New Heights In Boston - This could be a big thing, of scaled. Passive House building standard aims to achieve near net-zero energy use through effective window sealing, quality insulation and heat recovery. These have made Passive House popular with single-family homes. But developers in Greater Boston are beginning to seek Passive House certification on projects like student housing buildings and the future fourth-tallest building in the city
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2018-11-07 09:28:24
Meet 2018’s Top 30 Under 30 in Sustainability - A very interesting list of youngsters passionate about clean energy, environment and sustainability and environment
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2018-11-07 09:22:52
How a meat processing co is planning its sustainability strategy - Smithfield Foods of the US is taking sustainability steps encompassing its entire valuw chain. Three highlights - ONE: sustainable energy from.the use of digesters to convert manure (obvious idea), TWO: Optimising logistics and transport to cut down energy costs( interesting) and THREE: Emphasis on the upstream farmers pursuing sustainable practices (Commendable)
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2018-11-07 09:15:55
Blue Economy Conference, Nairob8, Kenya, Nov 26-28. World's first International conference dedicated to the sustainability of our oceans.
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2018-11-07 09:11:29
Seychelles Issues World’s First Blue Bond to Fund Fisheries Projects - This is an important development. While dedicated financing instruments for clean energy and GHG abatement have been around for sometime, this is the first time that institutional finance is focusing on ocean sustainability in specific. While the money raised through this is quite small, just a few million $, let's hope this sets the tone for a much larger wave in financing with a focus on oceans
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2018-11-07 09:02:12
Inside Home Depot’s Sustainability and Energy Strategy - The home improvement retailer hopes to pull ahead on clean energy projects. What's interesting is to note the retail penetration on energy and environment products, in what has so far been predominantly B2B domain
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2018-11-06 18:25:06
Is an email more eco-friendly than physical mail? The answer looks like a no-brainer, doesn't it? But, I read.stats in an Economic Times editorial (24 Sep '18) that the CO2e ( the carbon footprint) of a spam mail, legit email and an email with a large attachment are 0.2g, 4g and 50g respectively. These numbers look super high to me, but even if they are a tenth of these (more likely), email might not be such a clear sustainability winner against paper mail.
2018-11-06 17:04:55
Looking beyond Li-ion batteries - Here's an interesting article on what one can expect in the Lithium battery series in the near future - both at the cathode as well as in the electrolyte
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2018-11-06 17:03:12
Fitch flags manganese, iron as surprise li-ion battery winners - New analysis by Fitch Solutions Macro Research has shown that manganese and iron will increasingly benefit from the expected demand-pull emanating from their respective roles in lithium-ion battery cathodes. I'm aware that the metals/mining sector (beyond Al & Steel co.s) has been closely watching electric vehicles growth, and this is one of the reasons why...
2018-11-05 12:20:34
Are you that person who uses a different app for each purpose or prefers a consolidated one?
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2018-11-05 12:16:34
Attended a function where plastic cutlery was kept at bay. However, steel spoons were given for desserts and everything else, water was still served in cups called paper cups. People opt for them with a good intention of avoiding plastic cups but without realising they have a plastic layer inside. If you wish to completely avoid plastic it should include these paper cups as well. Read the link to know more and what you can do about it
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2018-11-05 09:37:06
Work for the day - catching a mouse that had been creating havoc in my house in a mousetrap, and releasing it in the "wild" not far from home. Lesson for the day - we cling to our "safe zone" because of the fear of unknown even when the alternatives are far superior. The mouse vigorously clung to the trap even after my opening it - I had to literally force it out. Once out, it seemed mighty happy! I wish I had someone who occasionally forced me out of the trap.
2018-11-04 21:10:01
There's a shortage of CO2. Yes, you heard me right. While everyone world over seems to be trying something or the other to bring down CO2 levels, this Economist report says there's a food grade CO2 shortage in Europe and this is likely to get worse. Who would have thought Read the link to know more!
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2018-11-04 20:58:41
Can pollution lead to cooling? A study says increased amounts of aerosols (fine dust, fog, gaseous pollutants...) in atmosphere can cool Indian summers by 1 deg C. Why? With more aerosols, the cloud top has more ice particles that reflect shortwave radiation, leading to cooling. The effect of aerosols on cooling has been known for a while, which in fact led some "geoengineering for climate change" proponents to press for large-scale aerosol injection! https://bit.ly/2ALcT , https://bit.ly/2zqCqn
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2018-11-04 19:32:30
I was reading a year and half old news report on Indian coal power plants ( https://bit.ly/2SKkBZQ ). It says many Indian coal power plants are inefficient and emit about 14% more CO2 per kWh than Chinese plants. Coal accounts for 75% of India's power generation (60% of capacity), and about 35% of total CO2 emissions; a 10% efficiency increase in coal plants will thus lead to a 3.5% reduction in CO2 emissions. This would be the equivalent of - hold your breath - 50 GW of solar!
2018-11-04 13:03:39
Solar Settlement is a "Plus Energy" community in Freiburg, Germany. Using rooftop solar and energy efficient building concepts, each house in the settlement produces surplus green energy that they supply to grid and get paid. Thus, not only is the settlement zero carbon, it also provides (a bit of) clean energy for others outside. More info about Solar Settlement from Wikipedia: https://bit.ly/2PBWwWl ; web site of Rolf Disch the architech and brain behind this: https://bit.ly/2ztNUH6
2018-11-04 12:30:02
Globally, 1.1 billion people do not have access to electricity (mostly in sub Saharan Africa and parts of Asia). That would be about 15% of the world population - a real lot of people. For most of them, microgrids is a more feasible option than extending the grid. This set of people is the most suitable for another reason - they are not expecting much from electricity right now, as they do not have any right now! Compare this to providing it for high-expectancy segments such as rich Americans!
2018-11-04 12:23:30
Micro-grids are essentially localized power sources (typically distributed renewable sources such as solar, wind, biomass...) that supply to a small community/region. These provide the twin benefits higher efficiency of delivery (owing to lower transmission losses) and greater resilience and flexibility to responding to emergencies in the locality.
2018-11-04 10:21:54
Over 40% of Denmark's electricity is derived from wind! For Uruguay, it is about 15%. Now, what do you think could be common among these two countries? Their small population - Denmark (app. 0.6 million) and Uruguay (app 0.4 million). Unsurprisingly, as the country grows larger, the share of wind power in total power drops - even for a wind power major such as Netherlands (17 million population), the share of wind is only about 4% in total. India? About 3% . (All data for 2017)
2018-11-04 10:14:09
As of 2017, wind power contributed about 3.5% of total global electricity (from about 300,000 turbines). Might look rather small compared to about 40% of electricity contributed by coal power plants. But things are a-changing; one can expect wind and solar together to be the single largest group of power by 2050 - about 40% of total - while coal's contribution would have gone down to less than 30%. Coal would still be there, but it won't be king anymore.
2018-11-03 21:24:37
From the book Drawdown: 32 massive offshore wind turbines have been installed off the coast of Liverpool, England at the Burbo Bank Extension. The owner of these: The toy company Lego!
2018-11-03 21:21:17
From the book Drawdown by Paul Hawken - The United States pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol in 2001, and that act has had almost no bearing on the growth of renewable energy in the country (which has been robust, by the way!)
2018-11-03 09:37:12
And today's babies have photo-op etched in their DNA right when they are born...
2018-11-03 09:34:08
Earlier this morning, picked Pavazha Malli flowers (also called Parijat or night-flowering jasmine, L:Nyctanthes arbor-tristis) from my garden. This is a brief, enjoyable activity that I do everyday (the fragrance is blissful). But what made it far more enjoyable today was that I had with me the baby of the house who also picked flowers with me. With such early habits, the baby will hopefully grow on to like flowers and plants and nature a lot more than he would have otherwise...
2018-11-02 10:40:51
Apple’s ‘Recycled’ Macs Aren’t What They Seem. The company’s move to recycled aluminium is good PR… and that’s about it. Apple is the most profitable company on earth. If it wants to dramatically reduce its environmental impact, it can. Don’t let the 100 percent aluminium pledge fool you. Perhaps another case of green washing?
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2018-11-02 10:31:21
Playing and ending hunger 10 grains at a time. Got across the website, Free Rice that donates 10 grains of rice under UN World Food Programme for every question you answer right. I tried not sure if their claims are true, but hey it is just a free game to play. Would you play for rice?
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2018-11-01 16:46:09
While all the paddy farmers in Punjab and Haryana are blamed for the sudden increase in the Delhi Air Pollution Index, there is very little focus on their own health. The farmers are the most affected ones of this pollution and yet they continue the practice due to economic pressure and unavailability of alternate machinery
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2018-11-01 14:30:51
IMO ((International Maritime Orgn) regulations on shipping fuel come into effect from 2020 - from when on, oil used by ships need to be cleaner, esp lower on sulphur (from 3.5% to 0.5% by mass). Shipping uses about 4 million barrels per day of oil (about 80% high sulphur), of the about 100 million barrels oil used in all applications. A 85% drop in sulphur in 4% of total volume of fuel means about 3.5% total reduction in sulphur emitted globally. Certainly a great first step!
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2018-11-01 13:19:05
How to build a better air conditioner? - More people should be asking this question and even more innovators working on it. The ACs we use are a product of the 1920s, invented at a time when sustainability and climate change were unknown terms! Radical changes in air conditioning needed as ACs will suck in a large part of electricity from power plants by 2040 - and the countries leading this big change will be India and China. Here's a detailed report on building better ACs - see ref link
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2018-11-01 13:16:08
Low cost, energy-saving radiative cooling system ready for real-world applications - if this can really scale, it is big news, as air-conditioning needs from large and fast growing economies such as India will need large portions of the extra power installed capacities between now and 2040.
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2018-11-01 13:05:23
India's first engineless train - looks cool, travels faster, and hopefully will make more people go on trains than by cars!
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2018-10-30 17:21:17
Looking for cool gifting options for Diwali? Check out these cool products from upcycled glass bottles for any budget by Wonky Works By shopping from these indie businesses you are not only making better eco choices but also help sustain them and contribute to their market growth. (Link Below)
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2018-10-30 15:09:03
Was talking to a senior exec from a leading Indian battery maker, and he said that the lack of formal policies for Li-ion battery recycling was a constraint for those keen on investing in Li battery (cell) production. Anyone has any ideas if there are any current recycling policies or regulations at all in India for Li-ion batteries?
2018-10-30 12:54:38
It is no surprise that India with the highest population of mobile users (and other personal electronics devices) is one of the biggest e-waste producers. Though there are written laws for E-waste management in our country, they look good only on paper, laws with poor implementation and lack of monitoring do not help the situation.How do you dispose of your e-waste?
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2018-10-30 09:58:08
Scientists have spent years investigating ways to manufacture plastics without ruining the planet, and a Toronto biotech startup called Genecis says it’s found a good answer: factories where vats of bacteria digest food waste and use it to form biodegradable plastic in their tiny microbial guts.
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2018-10-30 09:50:43
Firecrackers are beautiful, exciting to watch but ever wondered what goes in to create the fascinating colours? Watch the video to know about the toxic metals added to firecrackers
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2018-10-29 15:45:43
11. The Pollution Control Board of Madhya Pradesh uses pet coke as fuel in cement factories, because of excellent scrubbing system and efficient treatment of flue gas by the industries. 12. Authorities from the Govt. of India collect electronic wastes and get value added products from them. 13. It is to be noted that after implementation of water restoration project by Govt. of Tamilnadu, Adyar has doubled its breadth.
2018-10-29 15:43:17
9. In UAE, Dubai, big plants collect plastics without categorizing and convert them into sand. 10. The most important for effective plastic recycling is sorting at source. The bio products contained in them are used for minting, non-bio products such as metals, plastic, glass, electronics, PVC, rubber and others are used for various purposes. 10. ACC Cement uses these waste derived fuel at 10%. 5% ash is added to cement.
2018-10-29 15:36:17
Gelatin is used for making films and capsules. However, the effluent has CaCl2 and the energy and cost required for its recovery are very high. 7. In Pune, a person makes interlock bricks using waste plastic which is 10 times stronger than the normal bricks. The binder used is only sand. 8. Many countries have venting machines, where people can use the plastic bottles, return them and get money. Such measures can reduce littering of plastics.
2018-10-29 15:31:28
3. Two technologies currently prominent for waste management include biomethanation and pyrolysis, where waste is converted to Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) 4. Through incineration process, waste can be converted to bricks, partition walls, road pavement etc. 5. Waste water from food industries can be used to make many byproducts including livestock feed, products for inland fishing and more 6. Nita Gelatin India makes gelatin from animal bones where bones are crushed and gelatin extracted with HCl.
2018-10-29 15:15:43
The forenoon session also involved felicitation of eminent and young engineers who have contributed significantly for the growth and development of chemical and biotechnology sector. The session ended with some of the following notable points. 1. 60-70% waste comes from packaging industry 2. Waste contains lot of NPK which can be recovered - the organics can be converted to biogas and inorganics can be separated, packed and supplied to farmers
2018-10-29 15:10:53
The forenoon session of event dealt with guest lectures by some notable personalities including Rajiv Mittal (MD and Group CEO, VA Tech WABAG Limited), Thiru K. Pandiarajan (Hon'ble Minister for Tamil Development, Culture and Archaeology, Govt of Tamilnadu) and Dr. M. Chandra Dathan, Scientific Advisor to CM of Kerala, who gave their perspectives on current use of plastics, its enormous benefits, human activities that project these beneficial plastics as a pollutant and also about bioplastics.
2018-10-29 15:00:18
At the conference, I had an opportunity to meet leading industry stakeholders and academicians who are pursing their research in the field of biodegradable materials and biotechnology. The stakeholders included companies such as Total Corbion, BASF, and Professors from leading Universities like Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Osmania University and more.
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2018-10-29 14:00:22
Recently, I got an opportunity to attend the 34th National Convention of Chemical Engineers & National Seminar on "Bio - degradable Materials and Bio-technology for Environmental Protection in Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industries" on Oct 26th and 27th at LE Royal Meridien, Chennai. The event was conducted by The Institute of Engineers (India) (IEI), Tamil Nadu State Centre. Total Corbion, the leading bioplastics manufacturer in Netherlands, was one of the sponsor among the total 4 sponsors.
2018-10-29 11:24:29
China Is Developing New GB/T Fast Charging Standard @ 900 kW - (1500 V at 600 A) - Gosh! That's huge. At this capacity, a car of 50 kWh battery capacity can get charged in under 4 minutes = (50/900)*60! They say by 2019 this will be out, let's say by 2021 they get this out (GB/T protocol). CCS and ChAdeMO will surely follow suit, and by 2025 who knows, a 1500 kW charging (1.5 freaking MW) might be the norm. Zoom in and out of a charging station in under 3 minutes. Phew!
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2018-10-29 11:13:21
Eco India, a joint initiative by Scroll India and Deutsche Welle (DW), Germany’s public broadcaster, features weekly stories on ecological innovations in India. The series aims to show that "passion for the environment is the only requirement for change — age, income and profession no bar". Being a fan of Scroll Videos, I hope they will help citizens to take more informed life choices. Watch the 1st episode on How local citizens came together to revive a dying lake of Bangalore.
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2018-10-29 10:58:46
Watching hospital staff use much single-use plastics/non-bio degradable products (latex gloves, needles, covers etc) made me wonder of how much waste is generated per day at each hospital. When we are struggling to dispose of even biodegradable waste, how well as a country are we dealing with Biomedical waste. Not surprising to read India would generate 775.5 tonnes of medical waste daily by 2020. What is the best way to tackle this issue?
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2018-10-29 10:03:56
How Reva founder Chetan Maini is trying to redefine the future of urban transport. A detailed report on Sun Mobility's plans for the electric mobility sector in India. What I find interesting in the report is what Chetan Maini says what got him here. Maini would credit model-building for providing him with fundamental engineering skills. “Model building defined me as a person,” he said. An important clue for those who wish to have their children grow up to become engineers who would do things!
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2018-10-28 19:19:51
Met up with a group of young IIT Madras students who were keen on understanding the opportunities for them in research and careers in cleantech. A lively 2 hour discussion with them. This was a follow-up meeting to a webinar I had conducted for this group earlier this month, as part of IIT Madras alumni knowledge sharing. This group of about 10 folks plan to keep in touch over a WhatsApp group and meet once again in about a month from now. Interesting experiment!
2018-10-28 16:18:14
How Google and Its Geeks Nudge Each Other to Sustainability When you think of working at Google, what likely comes to mind are the legendary perks, the game rooms, free…
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2018-10-28 16:17:01
Collected stories about forest fires, struggling honeybees, and the revival of mammoths to explore the many… - Illustrated Interviews From the Changing Russian Wilderness
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2018-10-28 16:15:40
“Folks! This is why there are oceans! Beaches, whales?—?this is probably why LIFE exists on Earth!” - Geopoetry: Space and Time
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2018-10-28 10:03:08
Avoid jogging, reduce car use, says pollution board as Delhi air gets toxic ( https://bit.ly/2O9ltnd ) - wonder where this is leading. Air pollution is a silent killer. 9 of the top 10 cities in air pollution are in India. If these do not scare us enough to do something, I don't know what will
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2018-10-27 15:19:24
Amazon (AMZN) announced last week that it would invest $10 million in the Closed Loop Fund, joining other companies including Coca-Cola (KO), Walmart (WMT), PepsiCo (PEP) and Unilever (UL). Closed Loop invests in recycling programs, sustainable goods and landfill reduction efforts. It does so through venture capital and impact investment funds designed to produce both financial and environmental returns.
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2018-10-27 15:18:35
The Swedish wasteland that's now a sustainability star. Know more
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2018-10-27 11:08:28
Yet another green energy auction flops as investors stay away. Bidders shunned auction for 1,200-MW 'hybrid' projects by SECI. I have said this before in many forums and I say it again: Don't apply the free market, laissez faire principles to cleantech right away. These need support of higher prices/tariffs for some more time before they start competing with conventional. Finance guys simply don't get it, and the result is what's happening in India last one year - dozens of RE projects cancelled
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2018-10-27 10:08:11
Precision farming is a game-changer - a timely article on what Indian farmers should do to significantly increase yield in a sustainable manner. This can be done through using data and technology that interprets the data and enables the farmer to do things more accurately. Combine the data from sensors and satellite imagery, analyse these and use these in technologies such as drip irrigation, and farmer could get a 50% increase in yield at 20% lower cost, almost double the return on investment!
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2018-10-27 10:07:07
How sustainability factor is redefining the shoe industry? In an exclusive conversation Taran Chhabra, Founder, Neeman’s talks about growth opportunity in sustainable shoes segment.Click on the link below to know more..
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2018-10-27 10:01:48
E-Rickshaw Revolution Sees India Leave China In The Dust. As many as 11,000 new e-rickshaws hit Indian streets every month, and annual sales are expected to increase about 9 percent by 2021, one estimate says. A detailed report on the Indian E-rickshaw industry
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2018-10-27 09:58:17
Waterless Internet Flower Packaging, a breakthrough in packaging of flowers by Uflex, was pronounced winner of the overall Sustainability Awards 2018. It also emerged as a frontrunner in the ‘Resource Efficiency’ category that honors innovations in packaging that do more with less, such as down-gauging material or reducing the carbon footprint without increasing the environmental impact of the packaged products.
2018-10-27 09:52:58
Car is the new cigarette of the future, and car exhaust the second hand smoke that kills, says Jaime Lerner, a Brazilian urban planner and former mayor of Curitiba, a town that tried an urban sustainability experiment and earned itself the tag of the greenest city on earth. (Dug up on Curitiba, and here's a nice Guardian report on how the city achieved it - see reference link
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2018-10-26 14:25:00
Researchers in Sweden have examined the possibility of using the vehicle shell as a battery casing itself—with the carbon-fiber body shell as an electrode.Could carbon-fiber electric-vehicle bodies double as ‘mass-less’ batteries? to know more check out the link below.
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2018-10-26 12:50:06
Read about using a building as a waste sink, using reclaimed materials (materials that can be reused or repurposed). While I would definitely consider it when building a house of my own one day, just curious about the long-term impact of having plastic buried under the soil. Though they have mentioned land under the plinth cannot sustain plants, what about the plants growing around it. Would love to get more clarity on it and even learn more about such practices
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2018-10-26 12:05:42
Our poop could soon be full of plastics. Banter on banning single-use plastics and its effects have been going on for a long time but with lesser impact. Hopefully, reports like this would help to get the message wider and deeper. Do you want to feed your kids with a plastic diet tomorrow? We are the first generation to face the impact and the last generation that can do anything to change it.
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Keisuke Sadamori, Director of Energy Markets & Security, IEA, made another observation in the context of carbon capture. He felt that carbon capture and use (CCU) should be given much higher priority than carbon capture and storage (CCS). A useful perspective that the potential to turn a cost center into a revenue avenue! In the CCS or CCU debate, here's an analysis that says that a compromise could be the answer - CCUS! See the ref link.
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Keisuke Sadamori, Director of Energy Markets & Security, IEA, made an interesting observation recently: While for ground transport, there are alternatives for clean transport in the form of electric vehicles etc., for aviation, the only avenue is biofuels (meaning, no one can think of a large airplane powered by electricity in the foreseeable future). This is an important perspective, and provides biofuels providers with a market they can target, with little competition from other clean fuels!
Nitin Prasad, Chairman, Shell India @ CERAWeek's India Energy Forum last week - When you turn agrowaste into CNG (through biogas production), you get a by-product which is in turn a fertilizer! For the uninitiated, it's like this: When biomass is converted into biogas by the bacteria in which is called as anaerobic digestion, the left-over (called the digestate) is rich in nutrients (Nitrogen, Phosphorus & Potassium) and can be used as a fertilizer. See ref link for details
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Dramatic increase in the ETS (european trading scheme for CO2 emissions) price - almost €20! As per a Forbes article ( https://bit.ly/2PC7lUA ), the price could touch €100 by 2020 - crazy! At €100/ton of CO2, that would be about €50 per MWh of electricity that a coal power plant generates (1 ton can generate about 2 MWh). Given that coal power itself costs only about €40 per MWh and renewables costing about the same and decreasing - a €100 ETS will essentially STOP all investments in coal power!
Briefly met Nitin Prasad, Chairman of Shell India at the CERAWeek India Energy Forum @ Delhi last week. During his speech, he said that, in clean energy, in addition to domains such as biofuels, other areas Shell is interested in are new materials for batteries (Mg for instance) and innovative business models. Dug up a bit on the Magnesium for batteries bit and discovered that there's some optimism on Mg-ion batteries. See the ref link...
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Exicom launches EV chargers & Battery R&D centre in Bangalore - Exicom's Harmony multi-standard fast DC chargers come with 3 output connectors and can charge all types of EVs ranging from 30 kW to 150 kW. The company claims that this charger is ideal for highway, parking and fleet operations. It has 3 output connectors complying with CHAdeMO, CCS and Type 2 AC. It will serve all types of vehicles and charging needs.
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2018-10-26 07:47:18
Reading an amazing book (or should I say compilation): Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming. An excellent compilation of about 100 solutions which together have the potential to reduce CO2 equivalent emissions by about 1000 Gigatons between 2020 and 2050 - about 35 GT a year, which is about 75% of the 47-48 GT of CO2 emissions we emit every year. Great read...will update highlights as I continue reading...
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2018-10-26 07:27:31
Bharat Stage VI norms - Extent of sulphur is a key difference between Bharat Stage IV and Bharat Stage VI norms. BS-IV fuels contain 50 parts per million (ppm) sulphur, the BS-VI grade fuel only has 10 ppm sulphur. BS VI can bring PM in diesel cars down by 80 per cent . The new norms will bring down nitrogen oxides from diesel cars by 70 per cent and in petrol cars by 25 per cent.
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2018-10-26 07:25:09
Electric vehicle charging stations may become mandatory in buildings in India. “The government is considering amendments to Urban and Regional Development Plans Formulation and Implementation Guidelines, 2015 and Model Building By-Laws, 2016 to accommodate promotion of electric vehicles in infrastructure planning and power distribution services norms,” says a report. Interesting!
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2018-10-25 20:46:31
Nitin Prasad, Chairman of Shell India, mentioned during a talk at the CERAWeek's India Energy Forum in Delhi last week that solar power in some parts of the world is seeing negative prices. How can prices (or costs) be negative. Got curious and dug up, and here's one that might just about explain it - see ref link
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2018-10-25 18:35:36
Events such as heatwaves, flooding and droughts will become more severe. By the 2080's, average summer temperatures will rise by up to 8 degree centigrade , winter rainfall will increase by up to 70%, and summer rainfall will fall by up to 60%. Sea levels could also rise by up to 70 cm by 2095 - DEFRA’s report warned
2018-10-25 15:35:03
Oil & Gas Climate Initiative - Came to know about this interesting initiative from the Chairman of Shell India Nitin Prasad during his speech at the CERAWeek India Energy Forum held at New Delhi recently. Prasad mentioned that the OGCI had already committed $1 billion for carbon capture & storage projects, and said that if the oil companies put their minds to it, they can solve the CCS challenge similar to what they did for the LNG sector challenge
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2018-10-25 15:26:40
Keisuke Sadamori, Director of Energy Markets & Security, IEA, while speaking at the CERAWeek India Energy Forum recently at Delhi said that saw significant interest in the hydrogen economy, not just for the promise it held for transport, but also as a storage medium for other energy applications, as well as potential for use of hydrogen in sectors such as Ammonia etc.
2018-10-25 12:01:11
Just completed a detailed market research on the potential for biodiesel in India. And the key takeaways? 1. The potential exists, but the ground reality somehow is just a shade of the potential (even at 5% blending of diesel, demand in India should be 5 million tons per annum, but actual demand only about 500,000 TPA). 2. With the high price of diesel and expectations that low price oil regimes are over, private market uptake of diesel (esp pvt transport cos) could accelerate significantly
2018-10-25 10:15:52
UK is as confused about current plans as India is re electric mobility policy. !! Is the UK government’s ‘Road to Zero’ strategy ambitious enough? It sets out a goal to become a world leader in zero emission vehicle technology, with targets for 50% of new cars to be ultra low emission by 2030 and “effectively zero emission” by 2040. However, it has been criticised for cuts to subsidies, ....
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2018-10-25 09:27:06
An Algael biofuel obitury ! Investors and taxpayers funded many ventures that were destined to fail. Technologies that were abandoned decades ago because the economics weren't viable were revived and received government funding to once again prove that the economics aren't viable. Cellulosic ethanol was probably the biggest offender. It isn't cheap to convert straw into ethanol, but companies continue to try. In fact, "co
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2018-10-25 09:22:57
Eighteen-year-old Shivam Chauhan, a city lad studying in class XII, has designed and developed an electric bike (e-bike) which would cost just Rs 13 for a 100-km ride. The bike's lithium-ion battery will need to be changed only after running 50,000 kms. "The bike has regenerative braking, including front disk and .. Read more at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/66342019.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppsthttps://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home
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2018-10-25 09:18:42
Electric buses in Nepal https://www.nepalisansar.com/news/electric-bus-services-launched-in-nepal/
2018-10-25 09:11:55
i am a huge tesla fan. When i was in usa, i drove a tesla 3. Amazing experience. zero to 60 felt like a rocket taking off. Although this was the first time i felt a rocket travel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAsxnV4k_Zc
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2018-10-24 20:04:28
Met Yukio Kogure, Chairman of Japan Water Guard at an event at Chennai yesterday. His organization is doing excellent work in water body reclamation through the use of sustainable processes and technologies, and he is keen to try these in India too. His organization has already started helping out in the Clean Ganga program. Excellent.
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2018-10-24 20:01:41
I was the moderator for a panel discussion organized day on challenges for water body reclamation. Organized by Kankyo Cleantech in Chennai. Panelists included Arun Krishnamurthy of Environmental Foundation of India, Ammu Rajeshwari of Green Wish Foundation, Kandhasamy of MSME Development Institute, Simeon Joshua of CII and Dakshayini of Pratik Enviro Solutions. Biggest take-aways: 1. Most of the panel members have seen successes that can be replicated; 2. Govt is becoming far more proactive.
2018-10-23 16:20:56
At CERAWeek's India Energy Forum held at New Delhi last week, to a question on financial incentives for the Indian EV industry, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said that he was against subsidies in any form and was keen that market forces should play out instead.
2018-10-23 15:58:53
300 EV companies in India? During a discussion at CERAWeek's India Energy Forum @ New Delhi, Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog said that there were 300 EV startups in India. Cool. At our EVNext division at EAI, we have been able to identify about 100 - encouraging to know that there are 200 more that we can identify
2018-10-23 14:02:31
While talking about sustainable transportation at the CERAWeek India Energy Forum, Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog, made an interesting remark: "America built its cities for cars, India needs to build its cities for people". Surely a memorable one-liner, I guess there's also a nugget a truth in it.
2018-10-23 14:00:16
On the use of natural gas for low carbon transportation, Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog, feels one of the solutions could be the use of CNG for intra-city and LNG for vehicles intercity could be an appropriate solution.
2018-10-23 10:11:38
Dr MM Kutty - Secretary in Oil Ministry - the main sustainable energy options being considered by the oil & gas ministry are: 1. Ethanol blending of gasoline; 2. 2G ethanol; 3. Biogas from a variety of waste biomass; 4. Converting used cooking oil into biofuels. On biogas, he said that the government has given EOIs with guaranteed offtake and prices.
2018-10-22 18:15:01
Recently met Santosh Verma, co-founder of My Eco Energy, who produces a drop-in diesel substitute branded Indizel. This is not produced through transesterification, but through the hydrogenation of vegetable oil where the oxygen molecule is replaced by hydrogen. While biodiesel through transesterification is not a 100% drop-in substitute, HVO is. But HVO comes at a cost - Putting up a vertically integrated facility for HVO for 1 million tons will cost $1 billion, according to Santosh.
2018-10-22 15:02:27
Sanjiv Singh, Chairman, Indian Oil Corp @ CERAWeek's India Energy Forum - felt that IC engines would be there for quite a long time to come, though the fuel might not be just petrol or diesel, but could blends of fossil fuels and biofuels.
2018-10-22 14:51:40
Heard at India Energy Forum, CERAWeek from Hital Meswani, Executive Directoer @ Reliance Petroleum - while Petcoke might have been banned for use as direct firing at thermal power plants, Reliance now has a Petcoke to syngas refinery. Syngas can be used as a cleaner fuel, and in addition, syngas is also the starting point for a range of value added petrochemicals.
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2018-10-22 14:46:41
Met an international EPC who assists oil and gas companies. He mentioned that he has an Indian partner who has developed unique IP for cleaner fracking, and this company was looking for investors to take their product to the next stage of commercialization. If anyone is interested in knowing further about this firm, do let me know!
2018-10-22 14:44:33
A GAIL executive I met said that while natural gas is of course the cleaner fuel amongst the alternatives, at the current pricing in India of $3.36/mmBtu, it is not sustainable. He preferred a price of at least $4,
2018-10-22 14:42:21
Met an executive from strategy division of BPCL who spoke about three refineries BPCL is building for 2G ethanol from lignocellulosic sources. He said his team was also interested in getting CNG from animal waste and rice straw. While animal waste to biogas (and then on to CNG) is a well known route, this was the first time I was hearing rice straw to biogas. A bit of digging up, and I found that this is possible - once again with pre-treatment as in case of lignocellulosic biomass for ethanol.
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2018-10-22 14:29:04
Met Vijay Swarup, a research director at Exxon Mobil's facility in NJ, USA. It was interesting to know from him the fundamental research that Exxon Mobil is undertaking in the domain of algae biofuels. In collaboration with Craig Venter's (the man who was instrumental in cracking the human genome) Synthetic Genomics, it is trying out genetic modifications through which microalgae could deliver much higher oil yields. The target is to have a 10,000 barrels per year algae fuel refinery by 2025.
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2018-10-21 12:07:52
According to its global CEO Bob Dudley (heard at India Energy Forum by CERAWeek), British Petroleum produces jet fuel from feedstock such as MSW and other waste. Googling on this, found two interesting article on BP's partnership with Calif. based Fulcrum - https://on.bp.com/2PML5YI & https://on.bp.com/2QYLgAq
2018-10-21 12:03:05
Brazil is the Saudi Arabia of biofuels - Bob Dudley, BP Global CEO - and as a result, he says, we should not try to extrapolate what happens in Brazil to other countries
2018-10-21 11:59:06
Digital technologies will significantly reduce the cost of oil production - Bob Dudley, BP Global CEO at the India Energy Forum by CERAWeek. Motivated, I Googled on this topic and found an interesting McKinsey white paper on how digital is driving oil & gas industry efficiencies - https://mck.co/2Al7gA7
2018-10-21 11:37:13
Bob Dudley (BP Global CEO) emphasised that as much as CCS (carbon capture and storage), equally important are the efforts to recycle the captured carbon into something useful, so that would be CCU (carbon capture & utilization). Broadly, so one can look at CCUS - carbon capture utilization and storage - to round out all options!
2018-10-21 10:31:03
World Energy Outlook 2017 - https://www.iea.org/weo2017/ - a really exciting read. What made my eyes go pop was the first chart in the page - the change in primary energy demand between 2016 and 2040, in mtoe. Which country do you think comes first - yep, it's India, with a massive 1000+ mtoe change between now and 2040, leaving EVEN CHINA far behind at 790!
2018-10-21 10:28:50
This is how Bob Dudley, global CEO of British Petroleum, sees the world in 2040: 25% oil, 25% coal, 25% gas and 25% renewables. He did not say whether it was by installed capacity or generation, but I presume he must have meant generation.
2018-10-21 10:24:51
Heard Khalid A. Al-Falih, the chairman of Saudi Aramco and Saudi's energy minister speak at the India Energy Forum by CERAWeek, Delhi (it must have been a difficult time for him, considering the Khashoggi murder details were fast unravelling during these days, but he certainly seemed cool) - what was interesting was the acknowledgement from the head of the world's largest oil producing company (this co alone produces 12.5 mbbd!) that solar is the next big thing. Yay!
2018-10-21 10:16:09
And for those beginning to write oil's obit because electric cars and electric scooters are here, listen to this: passenger vehicles consume only 25% of the total oil! While transport sector might consume much more (perhaps 60-70%), a good part of it is consumed by large trucks, buses and other commercial vehicles. So if we are looking at a massive impact from electrification on oil demand, we should look at electrification for vehicles larger than cars too!
2018-10-21 10:11:20
While EVs might be the future, you might temper your expectations of how quickly we will get to an EV economy once you hear the following stat: electric cars currently constitute only 0.2% (1 in every 500) of the total number of cars on the road. Look at it this way: You are sitting on a roadside, counting cars: 499 have passed by, and you have not seen an electric car once. Doesn't it give you a different perspective?
2018-10-21 10:08:23
For those expecting the oil economy to be gone soon, here are some sobering forecasts from OPEC (heard at the CERAWeek India Energy Forum) - from the current global production of 97 million barrels per day, by 2040, OPEC expects oil production to be 111 million bbd by 2040, an actual increase. The OPEC research head further said even under faster growth of renewables and other "negative" factors, he does not expect a downturn of more than 4-5 million bbd from this estimate.
2018-10-17 15:18:46
Predictive analytics can help avoid schedule slippage in product development. For example, a company had a tight deadline to complete a new release for a big customer, with competitors vying for the work. A predictive analytics models warned that with the company’s current resources and project plan, it was going to miss its delivery schedule by 50 weeks.
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2018-10-17 15:17:23
ABB wins $18 million transformer order from Indian railways and will supply traction transformers for most powerful electric passenger locomotives
2018-10-16 17:52:23
Apple is now completely powered by clean energy. The tech giant announced that all of its retail stores, data centers and corporate offices now run on 100% clean energy.
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Socially responsible investing is in demand. Ask investors what they want in their portfolios these days and a growing number of them will say the same thing: sustainability. A 2017 report by EY, formerly Ernst & Young, determined that sustainable investing strategies have grown 107.4 percent annually since 2012, currently representing 18 percent of assets under management in the U.S. The sustainability model is increasingly being applied to real estate, led by a solid crop of sustainable real
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Princess Eugenie who has stood for various charities and events working against plastic pollution chose to go for a plastic free royal wedding. As a sustainability ambassador herself, could not have done it a better way to shed some light and bring focus on the issue.
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If you wouldn't mind missing your morning sleep for a greener city, participate in the ReGreen Chennai Mini Marathon this Sunday at OMR. Initiative taken by like-minded people from different societal sections aims to enhance the green cover of Chennai, specifically in the background of green cover loss caused by cyclone Vardah. You register for the event at www.regreenchennai.com
When sustainable efforts also have a social aim. Reach to know how a city in Paris, once a wasteland, is converted to address the housing crisis & economic disparity in living standards. Great efforts not just to adopt environment-friendly living but also ensuring the green benefits reach the poor as well as the rich. https://wef.ch/2O5jF3m
The UNSW Main Library tower will be illuminated for the next two weeks to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's birth. It's an opportunity to reflect on his profound contributions to India as a nation and to humanity as a whole.
Met Tejaswini, part of the Batteries and Battery swapping team, explained how battery swapping could evolve much more than a business model for EV Charging solution to converting a conventional IC Engine car to Electric, or even how the development of fuel cell cars could become the next disruption in the automotive industry. Was wonderful to see women in an automotive R&D team as supposed to usual gender bias. Women who are not just a face for the stall but explain the product they developed
Met with the Bosch R&D Team for EV and EV batteries during the FISTA Worl Conference. Bosch had exhibited a demo EV they designed, which has a high voltage system as to a conventional low voltage EV System and a higher capacityLi-ion battery pack with NMC chemistry (almost 135 kg battery) . A High Voltage system, a battery with a unsafe dangerous chemistry, are not they too many risks at one plate? Shouldn't we be trying to tackle one at a time than shoot all the birds at once?
GM’ Range Extended Electric Vehicle (REEV) built as a prototype for students participating in the national REEV competition. The competition aims at not just developing an REEV but also coming up with a sleek deisgn for the whole system
Attended the FISITA World Automotive Congress 2018 at CTC. Held for the first time in India, the 4 day conclave is themed around disruptive technologies in Sustainable mobility. EV innovations from all the top EV players, especially in the country were displayed.
Softbank has proposed to offer free power to solar alliance countries, that sign the PPA, after 25 years. This can attract countries to invest and increase the total capacity to achieve our 2020 goal https://www.reuters.com/article/us-softbank-group-solar/softbank-proposes-to-offer-free-power-to-solar-alliance-idUSKCN1MD0JO
Utilities have a problem: the public wants 100% renewable energy, and quick. https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/9/14/17853884/utilities-renewable-energy-100-percent-public-opinion
Cash-strapped environmental regulators have a powerful and cheap new weapon. Machine learning methods could more than double the number of violations detected, according to researchers.https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181001171210.htm
Interesting trip from food waste to animal feed - http://mentalfloss.com/article/558235/agriprotein-using-maggots-for-sustainable-agriculture
From zero-emission bikes to crops that grow without soil: Cleantech Venture Day innovations - An interesting list of 12 innovative companies that made it to the shortlist in this year's Cleantech Venture Day by Cambridge Cambridge Cleantech - https://www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk/news/cleantech-venture-day-innovations-2018/
When India will have a laid down structured EV policy?
Got to listen to the first Indian to go outer space. Probably because he lived in zero gravity for 8 days, he understands the value of gravity more than many of us here. So grounded, was a pleasure to listen
Visited IIT centre for innovation
Tamil Nadu s draft solar policy appears great. India should remove the import duty on solar panels. Facilitate fast growth of solar energy and wind energy. To minimise coal use. There should be a plan to phase out coal plants
When will India have a policy for EVs ?
https://www.gearbrain.com/electric-car-battery-recycling-2608068947.html
Developing Projects
https://www.financialexpress.com/auto/car-news/tax-petrol-diesel-vehicles-to-pay-electric-vehicles-subsidy-smev-to-govt/1323551/
https://www.financialexpress.com/auto/car-news/tax-petrol-diesel-vehicles-to-pay-electric-vehicles-subsidy-smev-to-govt/1323551/
Why India can take pole position in developing several categories of electric vehicles? Soaring global temperatures and melting ice caps are a grim reminder that the way the world uses energy needs an immediate overhaul. Electric vehicles provide a viable opportunity and they can easily reduce the dependence on dirty fuels. However, what the developed world offers today in terms of EV technology is in premium car segments that cost a bomb, like Tesla for instance. https://www.fortuneindia.co
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