Category Archives: Nilofer D’Souza

Environment Apps for Children

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Today, President Obama is expected to announce a national plan for climate change in the US. Last week, the White House released a video leading up to a speech he would give today at Georgetown University.

In the video, President Obama says, “There’s no single step that can reverse the effects of climate change.” But when it comes to the world we leave our children, we owe it to them to do what we can.”

Read more: http://forbesindia.com/blog/technology/environment-apps-for-children/#ixzz2XECRnA8l

The Urban Jungle: Small steps to a big Solution

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This week, the World Bank released a report, Turn Down The Heat: Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts and the Case for Resilience, which is a scientific analysis of climate change on specific regions. While the report gives a clearer picture of how climate change will affect each of the Sub-Saharan, South East Asian and South Asian region, there’s one interesting thing the report mentions.

It says: “Climate change poses a particular threat to urban residents and at the same time is expected to further drive urbanization, ultimately placing more people at risk to the clusters of impacts outlined above.”

Read more: http://forbesindia.com/blog/economy-policy/the-urban-jungle-small-steps-to-a-big-solution/#ixzz2WovMmyBz

Govt should tender electric buses to drive adoption

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In January this year, the Government of India put together an ambitious plan called the ‘National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020’. It envisages electric vehicles like two-wheelers, three-wheelers and buses. But since January, there has been no action on the ground.

The report states, “These ground realities would necessitate mid- to long-term stable government policies, schemes and pilot projects to be approved and launched in the first phase itself.” But industry leaders feel pilot projects may not work. Indeed, they were started many years ago.

Read more: http://forbesindia.com/blog/economy-policy/govt-should-tender-electric-buses-to-drive-adoption/#ixzz2WB4yuHQm

Chetain Maini: The ‘chalta hai’ attitude doesn’t work with me

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Something that always motivated me was this vision that I had gone to a traffic light in Bangalore and everything was quiet [because it was powered by electricity]. That was so powerful for me right through; of looking at what this future was and what we could do as part of this. This was my own little internal inspiration in this area. In the late 1990s, electric vehicles were supposed to be 2 percent of the cars in California. There was a huge push by the government, tonnes of startups were launched, and there was a whole environment buzzing on electric mobility. 

At that point, I was working with an American company called Amerigon (where the Maini Group was a small investor). There, I led a team of over 100 people who were working on electric cars. [President Bill] Clinton had announced a full electric facility, we were making kits there. It was buzzing, and then suddenly the regulation said this was going to go away. So everyone shut shop.

There was a possibility Reva would not have happened because the company shut down; there was no funding available (I sought funding from auto companies, but they weren’t convinced) and I was not an entrepreneur. I was a technologist. I had never got into the financing, marketing or any other aspect of business.

Read more: http://forbesindia.com/article/fourth-anniversary-special/chetain-maini-the-chalta-hai-attitude-doesnt-work-with-me/35361/1

Back to basics: Paint the town white to save power

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In a previous post I had described the features of AR Shivakumar’s self-sufficient home in Bangalore built 19 years ago when water shortages were unheard of in the green city. Shivakumar’s house has a green element in every nook and corner, including plants in the balcony and coconut shells converted to garden pots. What surprised me, however, was his terrace.  It does not have even a hint of green and is painted a stark white.

“A white roof brings down the temperature inside the house by at least two degrees,’’ he told me. “In India, our architects are too set on building the next Taj Mahal. They need to get back to the basics.”

Read more: http://forbesindia.com/blog/economy-policy/back-to-basics-paint-the-town-white-to-save-power/#ixzz2VmhGJsml

Back to basics: Paint the town white to save power

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In a previous post I had described the features of AR Shivakumar self-sufficient home in Bangalore built 19 years ago when water shortages were unheard of in the green city. Shivakumar’s house has a green element in every nook and corner, including plants in the balcony and coconut shells converted to garden pots. What surprised me, however, was his terrace.  It does not have even a hint of green and is painted a stark white.

“A white roof brings down the temperature inside the house by at least two degrees,’’ he told me. “In India, our architects are too set on building the next Taj Mahal. They need to get back to the basics.”

Read more: http://www.firstpost.com/economy/back-to-basics-paint-the-town-white-to-save-power-852189.html#disqus_thread

India’s clean energy at the cost of biodiversity?

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Of India’s more than two lakh megawatt power capacity, only 12.2 percent is generated from renewable sources. If you add hydro power to this, the ratio goes up to 30.81 percent, according to the ministry of power.

After the launch of the National Solar Mission in 2010, solar energy’s share in renewables went up from zero to 18 percent in under two years. Even though energy generated from renewable sources is increasing, many complain that capacity addition is not happening fast enough in the country. In 2012, while China invested almost $65 billion in clean energy, India invested only a tenth of that at $6.9 billion.

While environmentalists are egging on the government to invest more in clean energy, advocates of biodiversity conservation are taking up cudgels against them. They argue that the energy may be clean but it comes at the cost of eroding biodiversity. There are two areas where this clash is intensifying: wastelands and forests.

Read more: http://www.firstpost.com/blogs/indias-clean-energy-at-the-cost-of-biodiversity-842789.html

Forest lovers see red over green power

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Biodiversity conservationists say that solar, wind and hydel power projects sound the death knell for many animal species

Of India’s more than two lakh megawatt power capacity, only 12.2 percent is generated from renewable sources. If you add hydro power to this, the ratio goes up to 30.81 percent, according to the ministry of power.

After the launch of the National Solar Mission in 2010, solar energy’s share in renewables went up from zero to 18 percent in under two years. Even though energy generated from renewable sources is increasing, many complain that capacity addition is not happening fast enough in the country. In 2012, while China invested almost $65 billion in clean energy, India invested only a tenth of that at $6.9 billion.

While environmentalists are egging on the government to invest more in clean energy, advocates of biodiversity conservation are taking up cudgels against them. They argue that the energy may be clean but it comes at the cost of eroding biodiversity. There are two areas where this clash is intensifying: wastelands and forests.

Read more: http://forbesindia.com/blog/economy-policy/forest-lovers-see-red-over-green-power/#ixzz2VJEQULMY