Nature Living Organisation

Information Technology and Internet have contributed greatly to the global progress during the last two decades. Now the IT infrastructure accounts for over 2% of the global energy consumption and is growing exponentially.

The energy consumed by your IT infrastructure can be reduced by around 90% without compromising on performance. BicneT Infoservices has been working with energy efficient computing technologies for last few years and have condensed this knowledge in a first online interactive training course in Green IT.

We will be pleased if you can participate in this course which requires a total of 10 hours of time that can be spared over a few days as per individial convenience. On sucessful completion, the participants will be awarded certificates and outstanding participants will be invited for a 2 days hands on workshop.

You can expect the sucessful participants to be able to implement substantial savings in energy comsumption, software licensing and maintenance of your corporate IT infrastructure.

Registration for the course can be done online at BicneT eLearning After registration, an enrolment key will be sent by email which has to be used to begin the training.

Hurry!. Registration is free for first 100 participants. After first 100 participants, the regular fee will be Rs.4,500/- or US$99.

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What makes Mark Ginsberg important for the city? Well, the answer is — he is the guy who is working on making Ahmedabad and Surat ‘O energy community cities’. This means, reducing energy consumption of the city as much as possible.

Ginsberg, senior executive adviser to the office of secretary of state for renewable energy, USDoE from United States who is working with the central government and Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation as well as Surat Municipal Corporation on the project, said, “We have developed Davis City in Northern California as ‘O energy community’.

This, according to Ginsberg, is the first city of its kind in the world. He said they are working with the same concept in India too.

“So far we have replicated the same model in 20-odd cities of the country and the idea is to take this figure up to 80 cities in the country. Here, ‘O energy’ buildings are sufficient in reducing the energy consumption,” he said.

On being asked about his future projects with the central government, Ginsberg said they are working on two projects in India – ‘Energy Policy 2021 plan’ and ‘Energy Plan 2030′. “Our department is working with the urban development department, government of India which also includes Gujarat. The work is in progress.”

He added that Gandhinagar will be running on solar energy in future and work is in progress on that front too.”

The idea behind this is to reduce energy consumption in different ways. Explaining the strategies that will be followed for the ‘2030 and 2021 plans’, he said that this will not only include the light and water consumption of the city but we will also focus on including the energy consumption in the upcoming special economic zones (SEZ) and energy efficient equipment.

There are also plans to introduce energy efficient home appliances that cut down on both power and cost.

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Since before the Copenhagen summit, India has been making positive steps towards achieving greater focus on renewable power sources, including wind and solar power. Dr. Farooq Abdullah, who heads the ministry of renewable energy at the Centre is a busy man. From launching solar lanterns to unveiling the country’s plans to tap into solar power, he is giving solar power its day in the spotlight.

At the end of November, the minister launched the Jawaharlal Nehru Solar Power Mission in Parliament. The move is part of Dr. Manmohan Singh’s National Action Plan on Climate change announced in June 2008. The Action Plan envisages eight missions to focus on renewable energy sources – Solar Energy, Enhanced Energy Efficiency, Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change, Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainable Habitat, Water, Himalayan Ecosystem and Green India.

According to Dr. Farooq Abullah, the mission encompasses the twin objectives of providing India with energy security as well as ecological security. The initiative has great potential due to the high level of solar radiation over the country which can be tapped into for a long-term sustainable solution to the energy requirements of the country.

The objective of the Solar mission “is to create conditions, through rapid scale-up of capacity and technological innovation, to drive down costs towards grid parity. The Mission anticipates achieving grid parity by 2022 and parity with coal-based thermal power by 2030, but recognizes that this cost trajectory will depend upon the scale of global deployment and technology development and transfer.” Grid parity means the cost of one kind of power is equal to the average power generation cost on the grid from all power sources.

The advantages of solar energy are manifold: it is pollution free, is secure in terms of a fairly uninterrupted flow, and is widely available thanks to India’s geographical location in the equatorial belt. The mission aims to achieve a generation capacity of 20,000 MW by 2022. Fiscal incentives like subsidies on the sale of power, creation of a single-window clearance mechanism, zero import duty on equipment and components, and the setting up of two to three large solar manufacturing technology parks are helping push the development of this abundant resource.

Though experts across the scientific and industrial experts agree that solar energy is just waiting to be tapped, many are uncertain of achieving the objectives of the mission, given the bureaucratic slowness of most government initiatives. The government does not have a strong track record on delivering on infrastructure development, irrespective of the party in power. However, a number of private firms have emerged to help drive the initiative, and a large share of the progress will depend on them. Providing a few hours of lighting after sunset in a village house can make a big difference in the education of the children in the household. This can be done by a solar-powered battery charger that, in turn, powers an LED lamp.” This is an example of thinking things through even for the small end of the market.

It is initiatives like these which will help the Solar Mission fulfill its objectives. But can India become a solar superpower? It has a lot going for it. On average, the country has 300-320 sunny days a year. Solar power generation can help make up the shortfall in urban electrification. Till last year, wind energy seemed to be getting the upper hand, but no longer. The technology relies on the one thing India has in abundance, and will hopefully be the panacea to our power generation problems.

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Solar Energy
Solar power, a clean renewable resource with zero emission, has got tremendous potential of energy which can be harnessed using a variety of devices. With recent developments, solar energy systems are easily available for industrial and domestic use with the added advantage of minimum maintenance. Solar energy could be made financially viable with government tax incentives and rebates.

An exclusive solar generation system of capacity 250 KWh units per month would cost around Rs. 5 Lacs, with present pricing and taxes. Most of the developed countries are switching over to solar energy as one of the prime renewable energy source. The current architectural designs make provision for photovoltaic cells and necessary circuitry while making building plans.

Wind energy
Wind power is one of the most efficient alternative energy sources. There has been good deal of development in wind turbine technology over the last decade with many new companies joining the fray. Wind turbines have become larger, efficiencies and availabilities have improved and wind farm concept has become popular. It could be combined with solar, especially for a total self-sustainability project.

The economics of wind energy is already strong, despite the relative immaturity of the industry. The downward trend in wind energy costs is predicted to continue. As the world market in wind turbines continues to boom, wind turbine prices will continue to fall. India now ranks as a “wind superpower” having a net potential of about 45000 MW only from 13 identified states.

Hydro Electric Power
India has a huge hydro power potential, out of which around 20 % has been realized so far. New hydro projects are facing serious resistance from environmentalists. Resettlement of the displaced people with their lands becomes major issue.

Biomass Energy
Biomass energy can play a major role in reducing India’s reliance on fossil fuels by making use of thermo-chemical conversion technologies. In addition, the increased utilization of biomass-based fuels will be instrumental in safeguarding the environment, creating new job opportunities, sustainable development and health improvements in rural areas. Biomass energy could also aid in modernizing the agricultural economy. A large amount of energy is expended in the cultivation and processing of crops like sugarcane, food grains, vegetables and fruits which can be recovered by utilizing energy-rich residues for energy production. The integration of biomass-fuelled gasifies and coal-fired energy generation would be advantageous in terms of improved flexibility in response to fluctuations in biomass availability with lower investment costs.

Waste-to-energy plants offer two important benefits of environmentally sound waste management and disposal, as well as the generation of clean electric power. Waste-to-energy facilities produce clean, renewable energy through thermochemical, biochemical and physicochemical methods. Moreover, waste-to-energy plants are highly efficient in harnessing the untapped sources of energy from a variety of wastes.

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Promising action that will help curb India’s dependence on coal, Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh, said India will have at least 6,000 MW of installed solar power capacity by 2017, bulk of which will be put up by the private sector.

Ramesh said the Jawarharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, launched in the national capital last week, has planned 20,000 MW of solar energy by 2022 and intends to drive down costs through a rapid scale-up of capacity.

“In the next two years, we are not going to see huge amounts of capacity but by the end of the 12th Five Year Plan (2017), I expect to see at least 5,000-6,000 MW of capacity,” Ramesh said.

This is higher than the target of 4,000 MW of solar power by 2017 envisaged in the solar mission document.

“We want to replicate the mobile telephony revolution in solar energy till the cost of solar energy continues to fall very drastically,” Ramesh said.

The government will create the necessary environment to attract project developers to invest in research and domestic manufacturing of solar power equipment.

“It’s a country-wide mission including the private and public sector. In fact, the bulk of the 20,000 MW will come from the private industry, not from the government,” he said.

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Japan says it wants to set up at least one solar city in India out of the 34 that the government is planing to develop during the Eleventh Plan Period.

The move is an effort to cut the country’s carbon emissions and promote the use of renewable energy.

A Japanese delegation led by Kazuhio Haraguchi, minister for internal affairs and communications, on Wednesday met Union minister for new and renewable energy Farooq Abdullah and discussed various aspects of cooperation between the two countries in the field of renewable energy.

A total of 34 cities have been approved by the government in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Gujrat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Chandigarh.

The MNRE is providing financial support upto Rs 50 lakh for each solar city to the respective state governments for preparation of a master plan, setting-up institutional arrangements for the implementation of the master plan, awareness generation and capacity building activities.

Further, for two modelsolar cities,financial support of 50% up to a maximum of Rs. 9.50 crore will be available towards the cost of installation of renewable energy systems.

Japan is promoting a Midori no Bunken, which aims at changing centralised society to community-based society to enhance self-sufficiency within a region through maximising natural resources (forest, sea, food, etc) and energy, with emphasis on self-sufficiency.

Midori no Bunken does not rely on electricity generated by others. It focuses on renewable energy like solar, wind, micro hydel and biomass energy. India is looking to get investment and technology from foreign countries to increase the use of renewable energy in India.

According to sources the government is in talks with other developed nations to attract investment in India’s renewable energy sector.

The Indian and the Japanese delegations also agreed to strengthen cooperation in research and development for promoting renewable energy.

As part of the exchange programme, a 10-member delegation from India will participate in the Japan-India New and Renewable Energy Seminar in Tokyo later this month.

The delegation will include representatives from central and state governments and nodal agencies. The government plans to send such delegation to other countries as well.

The proposed solar cities will aim to reduce a minimum of 10% of the projected demand of conventional energy of the city through energy efficiency measures and renewable energy installations.

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Financial Chronicle looked at a possibility: what if renewable sources — wind, solar and nuclear–are made mandatory as the only source for power generation. Though firms using other forms of generation would continue to do so, any new investment would be only in renewables or upgrading their technology to the super critical level for coal-based plants.

Experts hope that the renewed emphasis on deployment of clean fuel technology and use of renewable sources under the national renewable mission plan may help the country take the much-needed leap to only renewable-based power production. But, the jump may be tempered with limitations of huge financial costs, natural and geographical challenges and willingness on of consumers to pay higher tariffs.

India’s total installed power generation capacity is 170,000 mw, while an additional 70,000 mw is the target under the eleventh five-year plan. The demand for power is expected to double in ten years.

As a first step towards using cleaner fuel, the government plans to produce at least 30,000 mw through nuclear power and 20,000 mw via solar energy by 2020. The contribution of wind power is expected to increase to 20 per cent of the total generation capacity by 2020 from 6 per cent at present.

J Ghai, director of finance at the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL), believes an immediate transition to only renewables may be slightly stretched, as it would require economies of scale before such a step could be taken. “What the government can do is implement the 5-10 per cent mandatory production of renewable power and slowly increase the contribution,” he said.

NPCIL believes that the 17 per cent return on investment under the renewable mission plan is extremely lucrative, and as the government’s stand on subsidy sharing and bringing down the end cost of power becomes clear, it will attract many players.

“We are increasing our wind power capacity at Kudankalam in Tamil Nadu to 50 mw from 10 mw. We also plan to enter the solar power segment in a big way in the near future. We are working out the finer details on tariff and issues related to purchase of power and subsidy before we announce the plan,” Ghai said.

Banmali Agarwala, executive director, business development at Tata Power says that at Rs 3.70 per unit, wind is by far the cheapest among the renewables, while solar and nuclear at Rs 17 are too high.

KE Raghunathan, chairman and managing director, Eco Solar Industry, also admits that the country’s abundant renewable energy sources such as sun, wind, and biomass as also the skilled manpower could make India a leader in renewable energy. “For India, RE is need-based and a necessity to fill energy gap. We have the right technology, funds and manufacturing capability. What is needed is a strong political will. India will achieve a leadership position in renewable energy in the future and other countries will learn from us,” he said.

“Countries like India and China will become renewable energy leaders. We have a huge land mass and demand potential for power. India has the potential of 70,000mw of wind power and this can be reassessed even up to 200,000 mw by exploring new wind areas and re-powering by larger and latest technology turbines,” says DV Giri, chairman of Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association.

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The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) has set an ambitious target of increasing the green buildings cover in the country and the SAARC region. Currently green buildings occupied an area of 33 crore square feet in India.

“We aim to increase this to 11 billion square feet by 2012 across the SAARC countries and then to 10 billion square feet across the region when India completes 75 years of independence in the year 2022. The objective is that these countries should be able to produce such a large area of green buildings to show the world what it means to save the world,” P C Jain, chairman, IGBC, said at the SRM University on Sunday.

Participating in the inauguration of the 52nd annual convention of the National Association of Students of Architecture (NASA), an event which included participation from colleges nationwide and from SAARC countries at the university, Jain emphasised on the importance of promoting environment-friendly architecture such as green buildings for the future of the planet.

Indian Institute of Architecture president Vinay Parlekar pointed out that it was important for students of architecture to work part-time to develop their skills as well as be familiar with office software as well. Over 5000 students would be participating in the three-day event which has the theme U2 to signify You and your preferred environment’ as it aimed to analyse the quality of built environment in the city. SRM University registrar N Sethuraman hoped students would touch upon concerns of environmental sustainability and global warming in their deliberations during the convention and try to find solutions for these issues.

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West Bengal expects to generate 115 megawatt solar power by March 2013, an official said Monday.

‘We are expecting to generate 110 mw from land-based solar power plants to be set up with the help of private sector companies. Another 5 mw will be produced through rooftop panels by 2013,’ West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation (WBGEDC) managing director S.P. Gon Chaudhuri told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar here.

Around Rs.1,500 crore will be invested to produce the 115 mw.

The government has given a proposal to the union New and Renewable Energy Ministry to get this amount. At present, the state produces only 15 mw of solar power.

According to the National Solar Mission, India should have an installed capacity of 20,000 mw by the end of the 13th Five Year Plan in 2022, implemented in three stages. For the first phase, scheduled to be over by 2013, the solar power capacity is expected to be around 1,300 mw.

‘Out of 20,000 mw by 2022, we want to produce 2,000 mw,’ Gon Chaudhri said at the seminar, which was part of the Industrial India Trade Fair organised by the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

He said the state would take up the task of making solar modules with a generation capacity of at least 500 mw of power by 2013.

By 2013, the whole country is expected to produce that much module, which can generate 5,000 mw of solar power, according to the mission.

Gon Chaudhuri said six companies – Webel, Moser Baer, Reliance Industries Ltd, Synergy Solar (P) Ltd, Astonfield and Videocon – have shown interest in making solar modules in the state.

He said solar lighting in around 100,000 homes will be done by 2013.

According to the mission, solar home lighting of 20 million homes in remote areas is planned by 2022. Of this, West Bengal will account of two million.

The investment or this will be to the tune of Rs.2,000 crore. The programme would be undertaken in areas like Sunderbans, West Midnapore,Bankura, Purulia, part of Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri districts.

These home lighting will be done by small units called integrators in the remote areas. There are around 30 such integrators in the state, he said.

The state government has formed the West Bengal Green Energy Development Corp Ltd to boost private investments in non-conventional renewable energy sources. It is promoted by the West Bengal Power Development Corp, West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Co Ltd and the West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency.

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You might have heard of eco-friendly corporate offices, but the concept of a green hospital is still relatively new in India. On Sunday, the country got its greenest healthcare centre when Kohinoor Hospital, a 100-bed multi-specialty hospital, was inaugurated at LBS Marg in Kurla, Mumbai.

It is the first hospital in the country to bag a platinum rating in the Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (Leed) certification for a ‘green building’. The US certification sets standards for environmentally sustainable construction.

“Several corporate buildings have been developed as eco-friendly structures, but no one really thought of constructing an eco-friendly hospital,” said Shailesh Dalvie, CEO, Kohinoor Hospital. “Thus, we decided to tap this environment-friendly concept and relate it to healthcare.”

According to Dalvie, the hospital will be one of its kind for patients, whose healing process will begin as soon they enters the premises. “We have made many arrangements for energy conservation, which will automatically reduce our operational costs,” said Dalvie, adding that the quality of air and the environment in the hospital will help boost the healing process.

The hospital will also recycle water, a scarce resource in the city these days. Besides, the hospital is built to maximise absorption of natural light to save electricity. Special carbon dioxide sensors, which trigger injection of fresh air when CO2 exceeds a certain level, have also been installed.

The hospital has a team of over 150 doctors who are well-known in the medical fraternity. “Gradually, we plan to add 75 more beds, and also get more reputed doctors,” said Dalvie.

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