India Climate Change and Energy News - Week of August 24, 2010 to August 30, 2010
Posted September 2, 2010 in Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming
Climate Change
Environment May Make Pakistan More Bellicose Towards India: US Report
“Environmental factors - like the present floods - could further weaken an already weak Pakistani state and add impetus to a return to military rule or a more bellicose posture towards India, warns a new US Congressional report….'Environmental stresses, when combined with the other socio-economic and political stresses on Pakistan, have the potential to further weaken an already weak Pakistani state,' says the background report prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) for US lawmakers.”
(Sify, 8/24/10)
Asia’s Glaciers in Retreat, Could Signal Drought and Crop Failure in the Future
“Asia's glaciers are retreating, which could mean drought, plus crop losses upstream and flood conditions downstream for millions of people…. A report published by the U.S. Geological Survey, in collaboration with 39 international scientists, looks at the status of glaciers throughout all of Asia, including Russia, China, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan…. ‘Of particular interest are the Himalaya, where glacier behavior impacts the quality of life of tens of millions of people,’ USGS scientist Jane Ferrigno said in release. ‘Glaciers in the Himalaya are a major source of fresh water and supply meltwater to all of the rivers in northern India.’”
(USA Today, 8/25/10)
Energy
US Ex-Im Bank Approves Funding for Massive Coal-Fired Plant in India
“The 3,960-megawatts (MW) Sasan project is one of nine "Ultra Mega Power Plants" (UMPP) being pursued by the Indian government. Each UMPP is roughly the equivalent of eight average U.S. coal fired power plants. Sasan alone will be responsible for 26 to 27 million tons of carbon dioxide annually--one fifth of all proposed coal fired power plants in the United States combined. With India averaging some of the highest transmission losses in the world of 25-40%, as well as facing an increasing need for imported coal, which leads to price instability for end users, many question the ability of these plants to deliver India's much needed boost in energy supplies.”
(Reuters, 8/27/10)
“India’s Parliament approved a final, critical piece of a long-delayed landmark civil nuclear agreement on Monday, a pact regarded as a cornerstone of a Bush-era effort to transform the relationship between the United States and the world’s largest democracy…. But even as supporters praised a historic victory, the end result is probably not what the United States had hoped for, nor does it seem likely to signal a new era in relations between the United States and India.”
(New York Times, 8/30/10)
Nuke Bill’s Success Will Depend on Legal Hair-Splitting
“India’s nuclear energy future lies in the hands of corporate lawyers. Nuclear industry, both overseas and at home, are assessing how difficult the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages Bill will make it for nuclear suppliers to do business in India. The initial reaction in the US has been negative. But the final word, say analysts and industry sources, will lie with insurance companies. By including a clause on suppliers’ liability, the Indian bill seems to deviate from an international norm of holding the reactor operator solely liable for nuclear damages. The problem: such liability means nuclear suppliers must acquire insurance. Without this, they cannot sell components to an Indian reactor.”
(Hindustan Times, 8/25/10)
Govt Clears Road for Vehicles’ Fuel Efficiency Norms
“The Centre will shortly notify fuel efficiency standards for vehicles under the Energy Conservation Act of 2002, the Minister for Environment and Forests, Mr Jairam Ramesh, said here on Thursday…. He was delivering the key address at the annual convention of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM)…. ‘We have solved the issue and the standards will be notified. There is still some fine-tuning to be done,’ he said. While October 1 will see a regime of voluntary labelling, 2011 would ‘ideally' kick off with mandatory fuel efficiency standards.”
(Hindu Business Line, 8/26/10)
No Need for ‘Green’ Cars, Says India’s Environmental Czar
“Mr. Ramesh told hundreds of auto executives and analysts assembled at the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers annual conference that electric cars don’t make sense in India even for “green” drivers. Not only are they too expensive to be practical but they also lead to more (mostly coal-generated) electricity consumption which hurts the environment as well.”
(Wall Street Journal, 8/27/10)
India to Launch Shale Gas Exploration by End of 2011-Official
“India plans to have a shale gas policy in place by the end of 2011, and is currently working on a resource assessment of its basins and drafting a fiscal policy for shale gas exploration, the country's upstream regulator said late Friday…. ‘In India very little work has been done on shale gas and now we have taken up the resource assessment of different basins,’ S.K. Srivastava, Director General of Hydrocarbons, told reporters…. He said India has agreements with the U.S. Department of the Interior for exploring shale gas potential, and areas with shale gas reserves could include the Cambay basin in west India, Krishna Godavari in the east and the Assam Arakan basin in the northeast.”
(Wall Street Journal, 8/28/10)
India Overtakes Japan in Demand for Oil
“India overtook Japan in demand for oil among Asian nations in the second quarter of 2010, reflecting its rapid economic growth, according to Platts, a provider of information on energy and metals…. The country’s demand for oil in April-June stood at 3.1 million barrels per day (mbpd), marginally higher than Japan’s 3 mbpd. China, with a demand thrice the size of India’s, registered the highest demand for oil in Asia.”
(LiveMint, 8/25/10)
CERC Asked to Okay Renewable Energy Certificate Contracts
“Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) and Power Exchange India (PXI), both involved in day-ahead trading, have approached the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) for introduction of renewable energy certificate (REC) contracts…. CERC sources said it had asked IEX and PXI to undertake a test run of the software for various scenarios, with at least 10 test cases covering the different types of demand/supply curves. The CERC (Terms and Conditions for recognition and issuance of Renewable Energy Certificate for Renewable Energy Generation) Regulations, 2010, have already been notified.”
(Business Standard, 8/30/10)
Consultative Paper Soon to Help Fix Energy Savings Targets
“The Bureau of Energy Efficiency will release the consultative document for fixing the methodology of energy saving targets for select industry under the proposed PAT (Perform, Achieve and Trade) scheme, in early September…. We are hopeful that the exercise (consultation with CEOs) will be over in October and the energy savings targets for all the industries will be notified in December,” Mr Ajay Mathur, Director-General of BEE, told newspersons here on Friday…. The Bureau has set a five per cent energy saving target for 685 industrial units (from sectors like power, iron and steel, textiles, paper pulp, fertiliser, cement, alumina and railways), consuming 55 per cent of the 450 million tonne oil equivalent fossil fuel consumed in the country every year, in a three-year cycle beginning April 2011.”
(Hindu Business Line, 8/27/10)
Environmental Compliance and Governance
India’s Ramesh Kills Mega-Projects
“Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has given green activists cause for rare celebration, with the government deciding - though possibly for non-green reasons - to scrap several notable large projects that would have displaced vulnerable communities or caused damage to the environment…. The latest victory was in preventing the multinational group Vedanta from opening bauxite mines in the eastern state of Orissa and trampling on the rights of the local tribal population.”
(Asia Times Online, 8/27/10)
(Prepared by Andy Gupta, Program Assistant)
Note: The linked articles in this post are provided for informational purposes only and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the India Initiative or of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
