The one big change that India requires urgently and in large measure is for the population to develop a deep reverence for nature. Indian culture and our traditional beliefs have for ages ensured that nature and its bounty are treated with profound respect and value.

With the fate of Mukesh Ambani

President Pratibha Patil has asked educational institutions to include energy-efficient design technologies in the curriculum of engineering and architecture courses. Stressing on the need to adopt energy efficient designs during constructions of new buildings, the President asked for including these methods in academic courses so that pollution levels can be reduced. Ms Patil said National Action Plan on Climate Change is a major step forward in India

President Pratibha Patil inaugurating the TERI University campus in Delhi on Thursday. Also seen are R. K. Pachauri, Chancellor of TERI University, and Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister of State for Commerce.

NEW DELHI: Alleviating poverty is imperative and all efforts, resources and technologies should be utilised in that direction, with education, health and social welfare measures being the instruments of empowerment of the poor and women, said President Pratibha Patil inaugurating the new campus of TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) University at Vasant Kunj here on Thursday.

Smriti Kak Ramachandran

NEW DELHI: Spread over two acres, the 80,000 sq. ft. campus of TERI University at Vasant Kunj here, which will be inaugurated by President Pratibha Patil on Thursday, has emerged as a template for energy efficiency and conservation.

The University, which is the first of its kind dedicated to the study of environment, energy and natural sciences, will consume only 60 per cent of the energy that a building of its dimensions uses.

Glaring gaps in Gangotri glacial melt study Science seems to have been the casualty in the study on glacial retreat in Gangotri, source of the Ganga. The Uttarakhand government had commissioned a study to an expert committee in 2006. The committee came out with a report in December 2007, which scientists said was dated and

Vibha Sharma

In the endevour to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and cut carbon emissions to achieve a clean environment, humble algae appears to be taking a lead over the more-talked-about biodiesel source jatropha.

Experts say that algae farming in less than 1 per cent of India's total land can make the country self-sufficient in liquid fuel. Algae yield from one acre of wasteland can be 10 times more than jatropha and by a conservative estimate over 10,000 litres of oil can be produced from one acre of waste/degraded land, they add.

BY RASHME SEHGAL
NEW DELHI

Dr Prodipto Ghosh, former secretary in the ministry of environment and forests, currently a special energy adviser with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), believes the future lies in developing renewable forms of energy.

Dr Ghosh, who played a key role in penning the recently released PMO report on climate change, believes: "Renewable forms of energy, including solar, wind and tidal, must be mainstreamed in order that they can substantially displace oil, gas and coal.

Pachauri meets West Bengal Chief Minister
They discuss impact of climate change on State's ecosystem
TERI proposes setting up of climate-related research centre

Kolkata: The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) is working on a project on the Sunderbans delta, a fragile ecosystem now threatened by rising sea-levels, TERI director-general R.K. Pachauri said.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has constituted a six-member experts committee headed by Rajendra K. Pachauri, director-general, Tata Energy Research Institute, to look at an alternative alignment, avoiding the Ramar Sethu stretch, for implementing the Sethusamudram Shipping Channel Project.

He is the chairman of the inter-governmental panel on climate change, which shared the 2007 Nobel peace prize.

On Wednesday, Fali Nariman, senior counsel appearing for the Centre, informed the court of the constitution of the panel.