The state government had offered lucrative packages to sponge iron units to switch to coal-bed methane (CBM) as an alternate fuel, but none of the units came up with a proposal, rued state environm

A £23m demonstration programme to encourage UK transport operators to buy and use low carbon commercial vehicles is set to receive over £11m in Government support.

Hydrogen-propelled locomotive is the next big thing that the Indian Railways has set its eyes on.

The State government is contemplating providing 50 per cent subsidy to the citizens willing to use solar lights. The chief minister has agreed to issue a government order to this effect soon, according to Ananth Hegde Ashisara, the chairperson of the Western Ghats Task Force.

Speaking to media after submitting a list of recommendations to the chief minister, Hegde said the task force had recommended to take up more research on generating power from agriculture waste and garbage. The use of ovens and driers that emit less smoke had also been recommended as this would reduce the use of firewood by 50 per cent.

Aims to unseat Maharashtra from second spot in country

The State would soon dislodge Maharashtra from the second spot in biofuel production in the country, by increasing its production to 200 million litres by this year end, said Y B Ramakrishna, executive chairman of Karnataka State Biofuel Development Board (KSBDB) on Thursday. Presently, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra occupy the top two slots.

The use of diesel in gensets has a serious health implication, too. A WHO report released recently certified diesel fumes as a carcinogen. “The toxicity of diesel fumes has been confirmed beyond doubt after this report. It has been established now that diesel fumes cause cancer, especially lung cancer,” says CSE’s Roychowdhury. There have been no large-scale studies on how much the fumes generated by DG sets contribute to air pollution but a recent Bangalore-based study by TERI has found such sets to be the largest source of toxic gases after the transport segment. “The study reveals that in Bangalore, diesel gensets have been the biggest source of nitrogen dioxide emissions after vehicles,” says Sharma.

The operators of commercial spaces such as malls, shops and other such establishments in Uttar Pradesh have won their supposed fight for customers’ right to shop and spend leisure time in a comfort