Cement Energy and Environment

and technologies in the solar energy area," Fabius said. All countries located with in the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn will be members of the alliance. These countries are rich in solar resources, despite which large sections of their populations have little or no access to energy . The alliance aims to remedy this situation by offering cooperation for better technology diffusion, faster costs reductions, and sound policy lessons to partners of the coalition. Member countries of the alliance will focus on finding solutions that are locally appropriate and for difficult conditions, while remaining affordable. Energy minister Piyush Goyal said that the alliance will serve as a "platform for engagement, platform to encourage and promote solar energy to achieve the sustainable development goal of affordable energy access for all by 2030. " It will build on the massive expansion of solar energy that is already underway. Global solar energy capacities increased between 2010 and 2014 from 23 GW to 180 GW. At the same time prices of solar energy have fallen drastically. In India, solar prices are down from the highs of Rs 4.60 . 18 per unit to · per unit, making it competitive with power sourced from coal. Pointing to the interest in the alliance, Upendra Tripathy, Secretary, Ministry of Renewable Energy said , "Of the 121 countries that are interested in the solar alliance, 88 were present at the inaugural including the heads of state or government from 28 countries, and ministers from another 23 countries were present." The International Solar Alliance was launched on Monday in Paris by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, French President Francois Hollande, and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Courtesy: The Economic Times, Paris, 03.12.2015, From Internet Sustainable Construction GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL SOON TO COME OUT WITH NORMS FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING The Indian Green Building Council of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is set to come out with the much awaited rating system for the country's affordable housing segment during the forthcoming global conference on Green Buildings to be held in Gujarat next month. The 13th Edition of the Green Building Congress 2015 and International Conference and Exhibition on Green Buildings is slated to be held at Gandhinagar in Gujarat during November 19-21 . The conference theme, "Green , Smart and healthy Cities," expects to bring together more than 2,000 delegates from India and abroad at the platform. A number of initiatives have been taken by the Centre and various State Governments to encourage affordable housing, a segment which has immense demand in both urban and semi– urban and rural parts of the country. S Raghupathy, Executive Director of Cll Green Business Centre, told Business Line, "CII IGBC, the Union Min istry for Housing and Poverty Alleviation, and various stakeholders from the industry have worked for the more than a year to come out with a comprehensive guidelines and a framework, which will guide prospective developers in setting up affordable homes. " "All the elements of quality, comfort and basic amenities would become part of these affordable homes. As against say Rs. 1400 per sq ft required for a conventional home for construction, we are looking at bringing it down toRs. 1200 per sq.ft. And typica lly, these affordable homes would be in the 300 to 500 sq.ft size and part of the larger building complex," he explained. GreenPro The council has begun certifying green products categorizing them under the GreenPro product category. "Thus far, we have certified four products - Zuari Superlite AAC Concrete Block, 50