The government has decided to fund establishment of e-waste treatment facility as part of its waste management programme for 140 highly contaminated sites in the country, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said today at two sites in Andhra Pradesh and eight in West Bengal on pilot basis for a period of four years.
This is part of the larger objective to develop a national programme for rehabilitation of polluted 140 sites identified by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The need for such a programme has been felt to treat the 6.2 million tonnes of hazardous waste generated in the country, of which roughly 3.5 million tonnes is recyclable. For the balance 2.7 MTA, only 1.5 MTA is treated, stored and disposed of in 33 facilities set up in various states. As per our environment minister Mr. Jairam Ramesh, to meet the capacity gap, we need Rs 85 crore of which Rs 22 crore has been allocated for the first three years of the XIth plan. By 2012, India is estimated to generate over 800,000 million tonnes (mt) of e-waste every year in view of increasing demand for laptops, refrigerators and mobile phones.

Clean energy (megawatts and negawatts) and water management present a huge potential opportunity in India. With a large power deficit and a clear government directive to provide power for all, clean energy can help in meeting the demand-supply mismatch, while minimizing the impact on environment and natural resources. Similarly, given the increasing pressure on water resources required to meet the demands of population growth, agricultural output enhancement will be necessary.
Policy initiatives taken on by the government can improve the growth rate of the markets. These include entrepreneurial incentives for setting up clean energy projects (generation based incentives, renewable energy certificates, attractive debt funding), promoting energy efficiency measures in the industry including ease of cheap funding availability, and clear directives for water management and waste management.

As per IDFC's Mandhana's discussion with Cleantech group:

In the recent economic times summit it was agreed that INDIA needs to design and construct green buildings to control the use of electricity as it accounts for nearly 90% of the carbon footprint of a single structure. Green buildings can help reduce electricity consumption.
helping to assuage the challenge of electricity demand With an estimated 10% increase in the built-up area of residential and commercial buildings every year. About 70% of the renewable energy in the country is sourced from wind. “Energy generation from biomass and hydro should also come up with uncultivable land being used for bio-mass energy generation,” Climate Connect director, Nitin Tanwar said. The panelists said developers as well as end consumer should be given incentives in the form of tax benefits to encourage development and uptake of green homes. Even though some banks have started looking at subsidising home loan rates for green units, the benefit for a developer is yet to come. The country’s largest lender SBI offers 50 basis points interest discount to borrowers for green homes.
Panelists argued for tax benefits for developers so that such homes are available for the consumers. At present, the total area under green construction in the country stands at 406 million sq ft, but with corporates waking up to the cost benefits of a green building this is expected to reach about 6 billion sq ft in next five years.
A green building incorporates several features, such as effective use of existing landscapes, use of recycled and environment friendly building materials, non-toxic materials, efficient use of water, use of energy efficient and eco-friendly equipment, using renewable energy and better indoor air quality for human comfort.

When buildings are built, they are typically designed for a specific use and occupancy. This tends to change over the years. Building systems should be commissioned as construction is completed to verify that they operate as designed, but often the commissioning process is neglected. A National Energy Management Institute study estimates less than 5% of existing buildings have been commissioned. Buildings that have changing uses and those that haven’t been commissioned after construction can be secretly wasting energy. In both cases, retrocommissioning can help

Trying First post for social media integration

Mini Apps for Sustainability

Mini Apps for Sustainability