The Energy and Resources Institute Creating Innovative Solutions for a Sustainable Future

India and the US must pool in their resources to develop policies and solutions to address challenges being faced in the fields of climate change and clean energy, Dr R K Pachauri has said. "It is imperative for India and the US to pool their resources, the skills, technological capabilities and innovativeness, to develop policies and solutions to the challenges of energy security," Dr Pachauri, Director-General of TERI said in his address to the third India-US Energy Partnership Summit.

TERI launched Phase IV of a joint initiative, Project Search (Sensitisation, Education and Awareness on Recycling for a Cleaner Habitat), with a vision to create awareness among school students and teachers about waste and popularise reducing, reusing and recycling garbage. The Phase IV of the project, which envisages setting up of collection centres in member schools for the collection of dry waste and recyclables, aims to reach 1.70 lakh children in 170 schools in Delhi, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune as well as in the Dhaka. Packaging major Tetra is a partner in the initiative.

Gujarat's overall integrated renewable energy potential is estimated to be around 748.77 GW, according to a study conducted by TERI. Gujarat's potential for concentrated solar power (CSP) with water availability stands at 345.71 gw, solar photovoltaic (SPV) wind hybrid excluding CSP at 240.60 gw, only SPV excluding wind and CSP at 21.36 gw, only wind excluding solar potential at 139.21 gw and biomass at 1.89 gw.

Keen to popularise the concept of "green buildings" which is yet to catch up in the hill state, the Department of Environment has decided to make its Centre of Climate Change building, in the Bemloe area as the first structure, which will be environment-friendly and non-degrading. The building for Centre of Climate Change being set up here with the assistance of TERI, New Delhi, will be the first building in the state capital and among the very few in the state to qualify as a "green building".

TERI has established a Climate Change Forum with a view to promote informed discussion on the issues that include NAPCC (National Action Plan on Climate Change), state-level plans and other domestic responses addressing climate change; the state of international negotiations on climate change and the major issues in debate; and inter-linkages between climate change and other major global concerns, for example, trade, intellectual property rights, human rights, and human security. The Forum also discussed about how a promising start has been made at the domestic level with the launch of the Prime Minister's National Action Plan on Climate Change. The Action Plan sets out a comprehensive response to climate change in the overall context of development, identifying "measures that promote India's development objectives while also yielding co-benefits for addressing climate change effectively".

A two-year MBA in urban management has been launched by TERI University. Rapid urbanisation and expansion of our cities has brought in new challenges in management and governance. These challenges require a radical change in the way we have been managing urban development in our country. The subjects that will be taught over the four semesters include managerial economics, urban policies, urban legislation, municipal accounting and financial management, project development, management and financing and SEZ and township development, among others.

Rice husk and solar power - two very unlikely entities - will together provide rural India with a twin solution to its problems of power shortage and lack of storage for agriculture produce. What's more, the evolving system promises zero emission of pollutants as well. The government's Solar Energy Centre has managed to make use of rice husk and solar power, which are both being wasted at present, to come up with a technological marvel that would prevent wastage of food grains in rural India. The project, undertaken in collaboration with Thermax and TERI, has gone past the experiment stage and is set to be rolled out in rural India.

According to the Forest Survey of India, south Delhi lost 0.32 sq km of green cover, south-west Delhi lost 0.65 sq km, taking up the total loss to 0.97 sq km in last five years. "Areas such as Malviya Nagar, Hauz Khas, Saket and Dwarka (south-west Delhi) witnessed high amount of construction work in the form of new flyovers and Metro, which led to the loss of forest cover. Moreover, encroachment has led to demolition of native vegetation," said Dr Pia Sethi, TERI.

In an effort to improve public awareness on the options and impacts of energy subsidy reforms in India, TERI in collaboration with the International Institute for Sustainable Development's Global Subsidies Initiative convened a one-day workshop for the civil society to assess government's strategies for reforming fuel subsidies. NGOs, corporates, Civil Society Organisations took active participation in the workshop.

Rajkot-based foundry industry is now moving towards automation amid rising manpower shortage. Moreover, the customer demand has prompted the foundry units to go for automation. According to Rajkot Engineering Association, foundry units in Rajkot have invested more than Rs 50 crore towards automation over the past one year. In addition to this, TERI is also supporting the foundry industry to upgrade their units. Rajkot houses about 450-500 foundry units with a turnover of about Rs 1500 crore per annum.