Reply filed by the Director, Environment-cum-Special Secretary, Forest, Environment and Climate Change Department, Odisha and Member Secretary, Odisha Coastal Zone Management Authority, May 1, 2025. NGT, had registered suo motu in response to the news item in the Hindu, May 4, 2024 titled "Swell waves likely to strike coastal areas …
DURING the first 20 years of evolving environmental policy, the name of the game was pollution control. However, this remained very much a game of the North because the South's game was development. The Brundtland Commission came up with an elegant compromise: sustainable development. And, it has proved a challenge …
THE traditional gharat (water wheel) has caught the technologist's eye and deceptively simple modifications to its design have made it at least 40 per cent more efficient and also enlarged its capability so that it can power several machines simultaneously. The gharat, in use for centuries in the Himalayan region, …
IT WAS no mean task to iron out differences to get an agreement on the atmosphere chapter in Agenda 21, the whole of which was bracketed at the last prepcom by Yemen on behalf of the Arab group. As the use of oil was singled out as one of the …
"ECONOMICS is the science of studying people's behaviour in their ordinary day-to-day life." That is how undergraduate textbooks define the subject. The book under review, however, talks about an economic revolution. But it is not clear who this revolution is being waged against. After reading the book, one learns that …
A 10-mw power plant based on rice straw, the first of its kind in the world, will'become operational in Jal Kheri village in Patiala district of Punjab in November this year. The plant will work on a very effective method of converting waste into electricity, according to M C Upreti …
It's time the green brigade joins the banker-bashing, Occupy Wall Street movement Another climate summit and another potential disappointment facing the green brigade. Even before it officially kick-starts, there is a widespread feeling that the Durban Summit is expected to be another brick in the collapsing climate wall. The reason …
It was half past four in the evening when we reached Garbadhar. It took us about 4 hours and two flat tyres along the Kali river from Dharachulha to get there. The Border Roads Organization remained inactive that day as it was a Sunday. Otherwise, as we were told and …
Less than a kilometer from Asia's largest Solar Termal plant, west of Bikaner, Rajasthan, lives the farmer Sabhu Khan. His hamlet is still unreached by the grid. Instead of the grid connection, he decided to go for an off-grid solar system – He bought it himself, at full market price …
Tuticorin, a coastal district in southern Tamil Nadu, is a large hub for coal-based thermal energy generation with many more such projects in the pipeline. Currently there are 2 power stations commissioned so far. The Tuticorin Thermal Power Station being the largest of them all, as of now, produces power …
With the carbon market in doldrums, emerging economies like India will have to announce bolder schemes for a low carbon future The just-concluded Durban climate meet has been branded by many as a great saviour with even greater hopes being expressed for future. Reams have been written on how the …
Jonas Hamberg stumbles on fictitious companies dealing in public funds. It was all there on the Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation (RREC) website—names of companies, addresses and phone numbers. But calling them up did not work. We were to find out the reason later. I am talking about the companies that …
Solar mission is too important to let doubtful dealings hijack it. In public perception the renewable energy sector is a do-good sector that promises environment-friendly and affordable energy. It is for this reason that this sector gets overwhelming support from all sections of society. Civil society organisations, including the Centre …
Karno GuhathakurtaIt was a trade exhibition abuzz with the restrained chatter of busy suited executives at company stalls making contacts and finalising deals. Nothing out of place except that this trade was about renewable energy technologies, which have unconventional reasons for growth. First, these technologies are seen as the most …
Delhi needs to critically rethink its move to abandon roof top solar scheme In many countries it is now possible to feed electricity from solar roof top systems into the grid. What that means is you put up a solar photovoltaic (PV) panel on your roof and when it produces …
Two monopolies. One private and the other public; one in gas and one in coal. Both equally disastrous for the environment. I speak here of Reliance Industries Ltd and Coal India Ltd. We know that air pollution in Indian cities is hazardous. We need urgent solutions to cut emissions from …
Two consecutive days of grid collapse has left almost half of India’s population without power. Three major grids – northern, north-eastern and eastern – have crashed. Reportedly, over 20 states have been affected. Trains have stalled, markets have closed down, and institutions and offices have been forced to announce holidays. …
Extreme caution needs to be taken while mulling of linking different carbon markets Ever since the green shoots of carbon markets sprung up in countries outside the European Union (EU), economists all over the world are sharpening their modelling and forecasting tools to once again create a new chaos – …
This November brought back reflections of my two study visits of Swedish power plants. The visits were done during the same months of previous two years while pursuing higher studies at a Swedish university. They were the Älvkarleby Hydroelectric Power Station and natural gas based Rya Combined Heat and Power …
Grid-connected solar power is growing fast in India, going from just a few megawatt (MW) in 2009 to over 1000 MW by mid-2012. 1000 MW of solar power can supply over 20 lakh Indians with electricity. Solar uses no fuel and is therefore one of the greenest ways of generating …
