Smart Cities in Karnataka: Experiences and the Road Ahead
The Smart Cities Mission was launched in 2015 to enable cities that ensure a decent quality of life. Five years later, it’s time for stocktaking—to see how far we have come, and the experiences and challenges along the way.
CSTEP Conducts Capacity Building Workshop for IoRs
CSTEP conducted a hands-on-training workshop on 5 April 2021 for Institutes of Repute (IoRs). The online workshop was held to build the IoRs' capacity in identifying data sources, data collection, and data management and storage for developing an emission inventory.
CSTEP Partners With IIT Kanpur for Policy Conclave
CSTEP partnered with Public Policy and Opinion Cell, IIT Kanpur, for Lok Niti, a public policy hackathon. The event was held from 9 April to 11 April 2021 as part of the third edition of IIT Kanpur's annual flagship event Policy Conclave.
Lok Niti aims to encourage young minds to come up with innovative policy solutions and contribute to the development of frameworks to overcome challenges. The participants had to develop pragmatic solutions to a case study or problem.
CSTEP Signs MoU With BESCOM
CSTEP signed an MoU with the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) on 7 April 2021 to expand the scope of collaboration and pursue high-impact research projects in areas of mutual interest. As part of the agreement, CSTEP would be a "Knowledge Partner" to BESCOM for projects of importance at both national and state levels.
Indoor air: Is it as safe as we assume it to be?
With many of us being forced to spend more time indoors due to work-from-home policies and digital classrooms, it is important to take the quality of air inside our homes more seriously than before. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) fact sheet, indoor air pollution is one of the main reasons for respiratory diseases and premature deaths in developing countries, contributing to nearly 40 lakh deaths annually.
Power Markets in India
Electricity, like any manufactured product, can be bought and sold in a market — in this case, a power market. The buying and selling transactions of electricity occurs in the units of either power (in megawatts, MW) or energy (in million-units, MU). Like all transactions, power transactions involve a buyer and a seller, which can be a distribution company (DISCOM), a generation company (GENCO), a power exchange, or a bulk consumer.
What are the current challenges & future outlook about lending to rooftop solar projects?
India has set an ambitious target of 40 GW of clean energy generation through rooftop photovoltaic (RTPV) installations to be achieved by 2021–22. RTPV uptake, however, has been sluggish with only ~6.1 GW installed so far. Of this, more than 75% capacity comes from commercial and industrial consumers and the rest from residential and public sector rooftops.
Residential Solar—Thinking beyond Capital Subsidies and Lower Equipment Costs
The Sustainable Rooftop Implementation for Solar Transfiguration of India (SRISTI) scheme was announced in early 2019. It was expected to rejuvenate the roof top photovoltaic (RTPV) sector, which by then had achieved only ~1.2 GW of the 40 GW target for 2021–22. SRISTI targeted the underserved residential category by offering attractive capital subsidies of up to 40% for 1–3 kW systems and 20% for 3–10 kW ones. The scheme also had a subsidy component of 20% for large apartment complexes and group housing societies.
What are the ways and strategies to tackle complex fleet electrification challenges?
Electrification of vehicle fleets has gained considerable momentum as many companies involving urban mobility in their operations are committed to reducing their carbon footprint. On the one hand, reduced battery costs, innovative business models, and policy incentives are driving the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) from fuel-powered ones. On the other hand, high purchase costs, limited range, and lack of a well-established charging network continue to be major roadblocks. To overcome these challenges, efficient fleet operation and planning strategies need to be adopted.
Why a net-zero vision should drive India’s climate strategy
Globally, efforts are underway to prepare country-level climate strategies in the run-up to the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (UNFCCC COP26) at Glasgow in November this year. But, like several developing countries, India seems to be taking a wait-and-watch approach to submit its long-term strategies (LTS) under the Paris Agreement. The Agreement urges all Parties to ‘formulate and communicate their long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies’.