India emerges a leader in green IT potential

India is a world leader in green IT potential, according to a recently released global enterprise survey. Indian respondents scored over respondents from 10 other countries in expecting to pay 5% or more for green technology if its benefits for the environment and return on investment (ROI) are proven. The rest of the countries lag because they scored either on expectation to pay at least 5% or more or preferring green technology with proven ROI—and not both.

Green technology, the survey explained to respondents, is technology with efficient power consumption, recyclable/reusable packaging, recycling offers for older equipment, use of non-toxic materials, or making investments in future green concepts such as alternative materials.

The survey was conducted by Green Factor, which researches and highlights green marketing opportunities. It’s a joint initiative between marketing intelligence company Strategic Oxygen, GCI Group and Cohn & Wolfe, which are from the WPP family of communication companies.

“Initially, it seems counter-intuitive that India would be number one,” explained Paul Walker, president, GCI Group, in the green enterprise report, “but this is a country experiencing a high-rate of IT investment and data centre growth—coupled with brown-outs. It makes sense that IT decision makers there would be more sensitive to environmental challenges and increasingly supportive of growing their green IT solutions.”

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Just how many brains does a PC need?

Just how many brains does your personal computer need, anyway? Not that buying a PC was ever as easy as, say, buying a toaster or an electric toothbrush, but the companies that make the electronic brains, or microprocessors, for PCs today have managed to make it even more complicated It used to be Intel Corp, the biggest maker of chips . Rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc would sell to PC makers versions of the same chip that run at faster speeds.

As far as consumers were concerned, Intel made Pentium chips and AMD made Athlon chips. Yet that hasn’t been the case for a while now, and in the last few years, the choices facing consumers when they go to buy a PC have mushroomed. With computer games becoming more mainstream and more people making and editing digital pictures and home movies, PCs can now boast microprocessors with two brains, four brains, and soon, even more. But does the average Joe really need such souped-up chips?

It’s an interesting question, said Tim Bajarin, a long-time technology analyst and consultant with Creative Strategies. If the basic issue is productivity like Web browsing, word processing and e-mail, you don’t need all that much. A dual-core processor is good enough.

If only I had two brains...

Duel-core processors have two brains instead of one. Intel sells dual-core Pentium and Core processors, as well as quad-core chips for more demanding PC uses such as editing high-definition video of a family vacation or intensive games.

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Oil bill may swell by 75%

Global crude oil prices on Thursday crossed another important level of $145 a barrel to touch a life-time peak of $146.34 a barrel in the August oil futures trade.

At the current oil prices, India's oil import is expected to shoot up by 75% this fiscal to $110-120 billion from $68 billion in 2007-08. "It will go up even more if the prices rise further,"petroleum secretary MS Srinivasan said.

Speaking on the implications of this upsurge on the Indian economy,the Deputy Planning Commission chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said the country's economic growth could slow down to 8% in the face of high crude prices and inflation.The nation should be ready for a "high oil price regime" because of the continuous surge in global crude prices, he said.

The latest surge followed a warning from Iranian oil minister Gholam Hossein Nozari that his country, a key crude producer, would react fiercely to any attack against it. The new price record set by crude in the international oil market at $146 a barrel, is all set to cast a major impact on the economies of the oil importing nations. India, which imports nearly 80% of its crude oil requirements, is expecting a major jump of nearly 76% in its oil import bill for 2008-09.

"At the current prices,India's crude import bill may jump by up to 76% to $110-120 billion this year. It will go up (even more) if the prices rise further," petroleum secretary M S Srinivasan said on Thursday.

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Country may soon have bio-jets

This is a development expected to bring cheer to airlines. The state-run Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) proposes to develop bio-fuels for aircraft engines, namely bio-jet, from ethanol, bio-diesel and bio-butanol through a collaborative research & development (R&D) project.

The aircraft to be run on the proposed bio-fuels would be termed bio-jets. With this, Indian bio-jets will join the big league of Boeing and Virgin, which have already announced their plans to work on bio-fuels for aircraft.

HPCL sources told FE on Wednesday that the project, which is in a preliminary stage, would soon be undertaken as part of the Canada-India Scientific & Technological Co-operation Agreement. The bio-fuels will be developed from feedstock specific to India and Canada.

HPCL plans to partner in this collaborative R&D project with the Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehra Dun and the National Chemical Laboratory, Pune. The project will be completed in phases in four years. HPCL has already entered into discussions with Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC), the company responsible for formulating the roadmap for the programme.

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They discussed recent national

WITHOUT spelling
anything
out, the Samajwadi
Party
took another calibrated step
towards backing the UPA government.
Its chief Mulayam
Singh Yadav once again said
today that his party had “no
political enemies” and his
general secretary Amar Singh
announced, after last night’s
meeting with Pranab Mukherjee,
the Government’s key interlocutor
on the deal, that the
UPA’s National Security Adviser
would brief the SP leadership
on the deal.
The briefing by NSA M K
Narayanan — he is on his way
back from Iran — at Amar
Singh’s residence is ostensibly
a response to SP’s longstanding
call that so long it has been
dependent on the Left for
feedback on the deal and was
willing to reconsider it if the
UPA “shared new facts.”
Parallel to this, the Government,
brushing aside the
Left’s not-so veiled warnings,
announced the PM’s visit to
the G8 summit in Japan beginning
July 7. Yesterday and
even today, CPM leaders said
that a visit to the G8 by the
PM would tantamount to going
ahead with the deal.
But Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh met President
Pratibha Patil at Rashtrapati
Bhavan today for 50 minutes
after which a statement was issued
by Rashtrapati Bhavan:
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Labels: BHEL, capacity, coal sector, distribution, green house gas effect, investments, McKinsey, nuclear power, performance, power ministry, power sector, target

Trickles of woes, torrents of panic

India's equity markets continued to move in inverse proportion to crude prices, which touched a historic $144 a barrel on Tuesday, as the calendar year passed into the second half on Tuesday. Extending the losses for a third consecutive session, key Indian share indices breached psychological levels on Tuesday as investors started dumping more stocks.

The sharp fall in the stock market, combined with high crude prices and a record monthly trade deficit, took the rupee down to a 15-month low on Tuesday. The local currency ended at 43.34/36 a dollar, taking its fall this year to more than 9%. It briefly fell to a low of 43.50, it weakest since April 2,2007.

The 30-share Sensex of the Bombay stock Exchange (BSE), after witnessing subdued opening,turned south wards with weak opening in the European markets to end the day with a loss of 499.92 points, or 3.71%, to end below 13k-mark at 12,961.68 points.

The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) posted a loss of 143.80 points or 3.56% breaking the 4k level to close at3,896.75 points.

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Jack up distribution to light up India: McKinsey

The Planning Commission has asked the power ministry to take urgent steps to reform the distribution sector. Speaking after releasing ‘Powering India-the road to 2017', a report by global consultancy firm McKinsey, deputy chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said the power ministry should set targets for achieving reforms in the distribution sector. The McKinsey report has advocated a radical new approach through a 10-point programme that primarily suggests methods to reduce the aggregate technical and commercial losses (AT&C) losses to 15% from the current 30-40% by 2017.

Responding to Ahluwalia's suggestion, minister of state for power, Jairam Ramesh said, "We are in close coordination with Mckinsey regarding the suggested 10-points and I look forward to work for implementing them". Ramesh added that, "As per the estimates of Bhel, today we have 8,000 mw manufacturing capacity, which by the end of 2009 would be 14,000 mw and by the end of 2012 would touch 15,000 mw."

Speaking about the investments required in the power sector, Ahluwalia said it would not be of use unless power was properly and evenly distributed. "If you improve generation and not distribution, then it would be a loss," he said.

"The power sector values are linked to the coal sector and the issue of climate change. So, the question of energy and demand are integrally related.

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