Cement, Energy and Environment July-Sep 2002

.- -. I . I . · NEWS BRIEF - ENERGY PO\\'ER STILL .\N \ TTR\ CTI VE DEST I:"J \ TION Pmject Jllonitor. Oct. 16-31 ,0I The powe r sector continues to evoke a lot o f interest among investors. The latest quarterly survey car ried ou t by Projects Today, a division of Economi c Research India Ltd.. reveals that the total investment committed in this sector is Rs.548,375 crore which is roughly a third of th e total investment in the country. Of this. thermal power projects account for nearly 24 per cent and hydel-based power 6 per cent. Investments in non-conventional power projects arc less than I per cent. Type of Investment %of Projects (Rs. Crorc) country total inv. Hyde! projects 107..+23 6.44 Thennal 397,6~4 23.83 -Coal/Lignite 220,8~0 13.~3 -Liquid fue l -W,520 2.43 -Gas-based 114,-D98 6.86 -Nuclear-based 26,909 1.61 -Non- COllVClllional 16,420 0.98 Sou rcc: Pr oject Today Crmrte.1:v . /·~- 1 R & t\E.·I R in ll "ater & F.nerl!J'. CBIP. .Jan 02. P 33. !·ax: <JI-II-61163F ( lilaif chip a 1/{/a. \'.ml.nel. in lreh 11"11"\l' .chip.org Ai\1 ERICAN LIFESTYLE (' \j\; BE ('0\1 PRO\IISED l.oghy [11/enwtiona/, New l'ork, Last year, the US rejected the l(yoto Protocol on climate change and reduction of greenhouse gas em issions. As former US President m I . George Bush declared at the Rio Conference, ·'The lifestyle of the American peop le cannot be compromised." What do the American people want ? If a recent opin ion poll conducted nat ionw ide is an indication. they wa nt renewab le ene rgy resources like·wind and solar power to power the country's energy needs. The American peop le want fuel e fficient cars that give better mileage and stricter energy effic iency norms for air conditioners. And they want it now. Americans have asserted that the time to act on global warming is now. These were the res"ults of a nationwide opinion poll that Zogby International, a New York-based public opinion research company, conducted between June 14, 2002 and June 19, 2002. (www.ucsusa. orgl envlronment/ :::oghy.ht111l). The company, tracking public opinion on vi 1ually all continents, conducted more than a thousand interviews with Ame ricans. Working with a panel of experts inc luding psychologists, socio logis ts, linguists, mathematicians, economists and political sc ient ists, the opini ons polled were exp lored for every nuance of language to arrive at the results. The verdict was unequivocal. More than 70 per ce n.t of the 1\ merican people chose renewable energy as against 19 per cent of the voters, who supported tax benefits to energy companies to help them bui lei more coal and nuclear power plants ~ncl increase drilling for oil and natural gas. The poll clearl y indicated that nearly 80 pe r cent o r the voters bel ieve that g lobal wannt ng IS a serious problem now or will be in the near future. They did not support the Bush admi ni strat ion ' s 'adapt to the inevitable' atti tude towards global warming. Nearly 76 per ce nt o r the voters as against 16 per cen t. did not favour a voluntary approach where fossil fuel power plants and indu stries arc sim ply as ked to reduce po llut an ts to cont rol emiss ions of carbon diox ide and other heat-trapping gases . Instead these American people wanted the government to take the in itiat ive to set industry standards. They wan t to act now to minimi se the effects of g lobal warm ing by using techno logy to build cars that give better mileage, energy efficient appl iances and clean, renewable energy sources. Do these demands or th e American people amo unt to a compromise of lifes tyle? You decide! Courlesy: Doll'll to Enrlh. Aug 15. 02. P-5-i Fax: 91-11-60858 -9 Email: cserciJcseindin.org IVeh: II'II'II'. CSeindia.org ROYALTY BOOST FOR 7 COAL STATES Rakesh Sood, The Financial Express. 6 August. 02 Seven coal producing states– Andhra Pradesh, Chhatt isgarh. Jharkhancl, Madhya Pradesh . Maharashtra. Ori ssa, and Uttar Pradesh - will be benetited to the tunc of Rs. 4842 milli on fol lowing the revi s ion of roy::Jity rate s announced by the Centre. The estimates made by the Coal and Mines Mini stry s how royalty earni ngs of these stares nrc like ly to go up from the present Rs 207 18.5 \-