CA – JAN 15 – ENVIRONMENT SNIPPETS
- Posted by CERC India
- Posted in monthly
ENVIRONMENT SNIPPETS
No second life for 15-yr-old vehicles in Delhi
It’s the end of the road for old vehicles in Delhi. All 13 regional transport offices (RTOs) in the city have been told to stop registering vehicles that are 15 years or more old, in keeping with a National Green Tribunal order of November 26, 2014 aimed at checking pollution in the capital. Sources said implementation of the NGT order will affect owners of around 22 lakh vehicles – mostly scooters and motorbikes – that will have to be sold off or scrapped.
The ban on re-registration is good news for the auto industry in the long term. The Tribunal made it clear that the ban order will apply to buses owned and/or under contract with Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab and all other states whose buses are coming to Delhi.
First global standard to measure GHG emissions
Cities, the main source of global emissions, are central to the fight against climate change. At the Lima Climate Change Conference (COP20), the first global standard to measure greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) from cities was launched. Called Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories (GPC), the standard will help cities voluntarily report their emissions, compare it with emissions from other cities, help them create targeted action plans to reduce emissions and consistently track performance.
The 35 cities, which had adopted GPC on a pilot basis last year, have achieved success. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, conducted GHG inventories for 2005 and 2012 as part of the GPC pilot programme. With these results, Rio implemented a series of low-carbon transport, waste management, forestry, and energy efficiency projects.
Holidays down the drain
Luxury tents are pass̩. A hotel in Mexico and one in Austria use recycled concrete pipes as rooms! The rooms in these hotels are round like a barrel and seek to provide maximum comfort in a minimal amount of space. Those who want to have an adventurous holiday may welcome the chance to live in a recycled storm water drain pipe Рunusual but eco-friendly accommodation.
Despite their former uses, the recycled drain pipe-rooms in the hotels do not come with a toilet. The rooms are compact, minimally decorated and set in the outdoors. Each tube comes with a bed, a night-lamp, fan and storage area inside. The interior space is somewhat reminiscent of an igloo, with thick concrete walls. The designers have incorporated the ideas of reuse and micro-housing.
