The Power and Energy Ministry has taken steps to begin the construction of the second and third coal fired power plants in Sampur and Velvuur in Trincomalee in June, a ministry official said.

Like to mix beer and wine when you're drinking? Fancy some wine on ice cubes when the weather's hot? Perhaps a ''green'' beer made with sensitivity to the environment will quench your thirst?

Leading power equipment manufacturer, OSRAM, on Thursday announced that it had joined hands with the largest German power generation company RWE to launch their first energy efficiency project in India based on the Kyoto Protocol guidelines at a cost of 150 million Euros. Under the programme, high-quality OSRAM energy-saving lamps will be distributed to around 700,000 households in the Vishakhapatnam region in the first phase. The project will be financed exclusively via CO{-2} certificates under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) based on the Kyoto Protocol for reducing CO{-2} emissions in developing and emerging countries, according an official release here. The energy-saving lamps are being distributed by the local power supply company in cooperation with self-help groups. At the same time, ordinary light bulbs will be collected from the households and sent for eco-friendly recycling. In all, this project is likely to save up to 400,000 tonnes of CO{-2}. "The project together with our partner RWE will reduce CO{-2} emissions in India and help the country keep its energy requirements down. It will also give a broad cross-section of population who would not otherwise be able to afford energy-saving lamps the opportunity to save money,' said Wolfgang Gregor of OSRAM.

Energy Conservation is the need of the hour. And, awareness about it is the key. Keeping this in mind, the BYPL has planned the Bijli Gyan Abhiyan that targets students across 500 schools in East and Central Delhi. Delhi education minister Arvinder Singh Lovely launched the Abiyan at the Delhi Secretariat today. A Bijli Gyan CD was also released. The CD carries information on energy conservation. "The content of the 10-minute long CD has been carefully chosen and scripted by professionals,' said a BSES official. Besides covering topics like

For promoting usage of energy saving compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) in the country, leading lamp manufacturer Osram will distribute more than 2 million CFL units to poor families in Mahrashtra, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh. A unit of CFL will cost around Rs 10- 15 while actual cost of the unit is around Rs 300. Osram has already carried out the ground works for the project, which is expected launched over the next few weeks. "We have signed MoUs with respective state electricity boards and the project would be financed through carbon credit generated through the clean development mechanism (CDM) under United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC),' Gagan Mehra, managing director of Osram India told FE. However the company is yet to decide volume of carbon credit needed for the implementation of the project. Osram model for CDM is an arrangement under the Kyoto protocol for reducing CO2 emission in the lighting industry. The company in collaboration with state electricity boards will distribute special CFL bulbs with a longevity of 15 thousands hours amongst the poorer section of the population. "We have identified as present districts such as Visakhapatanam in Andhra Pradesh, Sonepat and Yamuna Nagar in Haryana and Pune in Maharashtra for distribution of CFL units and gradually the programme would include other districts in the state,' Mehra said. Osram would be importing most of the components of the CFLs to be distributed in the three states and it would be assembled at the Sonepat plant of the company. "As the project would be in operation for seven to 10 years in three states, after two years of implementation, we plan to manufacturer the CFLs at our plant,' Mehra said. Mehra admitting that despite the low energy consumption by CFLs, the disposal of these bulbs has been a key issue. "All the manufacturers of CFLs are working out a strategy for proper disposals of these bulbs with the Electricity Lamp and Components Manufacturers Association of India (ELCOMA),' he said.

Companies will find it makes sense to reduce pollution and adopt good governance

Beijing will ban sales of new cars that fail to meet new emission standards starting from March, state news agency Xinhua said on Saturday, in another move to clean up its air before the August Olympic Games. All new cars are required to meet the new national standards that are equivalent to Euro IV standards, Xinhua said, citing Du Shaozhong, deputy director of the city's Environment Protection Bureau. The tougher emission standards will extend to heavy vehicles used for public transportation, sanitation and mail services from July, the report said. About a third of the main pollutants in Beijing such as nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide come from vehicle exhaust, said Du. The new standards are estimated to cut emission of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides by 48,000 tonnes, 5,300 tonnes and 4,100 tonnes, respectively, this year. The capital city will keep a ban on diesel vehicles which emit three times as much nitrogen oxide as gasoline-power ones, Du was quoted as saying. Beijing already ordered petrol stations in the city to sell gasoline and diesel that meet Euro IV standards at the start of 2008. The city has about 3.1 million motor vehicles, and every day about 1,200 new ones hit the road, Xinhua said. (Reporting by Chen Aizhu; Editing by Jeremy Laurence) REUTERS NEWS SERVICE

If the invitation letter was anything to go by, the organizers of the International Conference on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises seemed in dead earnest. The card quoted a World Bank report.