Waste Management
Articles related to waste managment,recycling and reuse
June 15, 2023
If you have a business that holds periodic events, you may have found that your commitment to being a sustainable and environmentally responsible business kind of […]
December 14, 2022
It is disheartening to see mounds of waste piled up in nooks and corners in your cities. India is a land of growing opportunities and expanding […]
December 8, 2022
The problem of waste management is exponential in India. A country with a growing population and rising industrialization generates an ample amount of waste and a lack […]
July 26, 2021
As the pandemic recedes, people are thinking of getting back to their official workspaces from the comforts of their homes. As more and more people get […]
August 18, 2020
Many residential societies in major cities are being educated about domestic waste management. There are multiple benefits of waste management and by our little effort, we can save our […]
April 23, 2013
Solid Waste Companies and individuals should take waste management seriously to help save the environment. Unfortunately, too many people worldwide aren’t aware of how to properly […]
November 26, 2012
by Anandh Sundar Ganesh Ecosphere Ganesh Ecosphere formerly Ganesh Polytex Ltd. is a 57600MT PSF fiber company, valued at just Rs 67 crores equity (with debt […]
May 10, 2012
India’s fast growing middle and upper classes are consuming electronic gadgets at an astounding rate.The replacement cycle has also decreased dramatically as growing disposable incomes means […]
January 14, 2012
The Indian Solar Power has been one bright spot in the gloomy infrastructure and engineering sectors in 2011. With share prices crashing with growing corruption, land acquisition and financing problems, Solar Energy has surged in India thanks to government support and subsidies . While a number of Green Technology companies have started up to capitalize on the growing renewable energy trend, the established constuction companies in India have not been far behind . While utilities like Tata Power, Adani, Reliance Power, NTPC have already built or are setting up power plants based on solar panels , L&T has become a major solar EPC players . L&T is now raising debt with a $100 million issue to fund its solar expansion plans .
January 11, 2012
Green Jobs in India is going to grow at a high double digit rate driven by the Real Estate and Construction Industry. The hiring will be done by Real Estate Companies in India looking for Energy Efficiency and Green Building professionals. Note the Green Industry globally has had a torrid 2011 with most of the major sectors like wind, solar, biofuels and lighting facing oversupply amidst slowing demand due to global macro problems. However the Green Industry has a great fturue driven by secular drivers like
January 11, 2012
Green Industry in US continues to flourish despite the general apathy towards global warming from a significant section of the population and parties. USA is the hotbed of green innovation despite stiff challenge by China which is spending billions of dollars to become the No.1 in Green Industry and Technology. US has the lead in Fuel Cell Technology with a number of top companies like Fuel Cell Energy, Bloom Energy. Now a start up ClearEdge Power has got one of the biggest fuel cell orders in the world worth $85 million from Austria's Gussing Renewable Energy. The deal calls for supplying of 50 megawatts of power by the year 2020.
January 5, 2012
Biomass Plants in India are shutting down as feedstock costs have increased rapidly while government regulated electricity tariffs have yet to increase.60% of India's Biomass Plants have closed down as they are longer profitable.Note India has a massive growth target for biomass electricity capacity up from 1 GW at present (2 GW if you count cogeneration).A number of agricultural companies have set up a number of plants besides dedicated green utilities.However inflation in India has affected the operation of plants specially those who don't have inhouse feedstock supply.
July 5, 2011
Desalination facilities exist in about 120 countries around the world. According to the International Desalination Association (IDA), the global desalination market is expected to grow to US$ 95 billion through 2005 to 2015. According to a report by Global Water Intelligence (GWI), the worldwide desalination industry is expected to grow 140 percent over the next decade, with US$ 25 billion in capital investment by 2010 and US$ 56 billion by 2015. While countries like the US, Spain, and the Gulf countries have been able to build mega plants, other countries in Asia, Africa, and South America have inadequate resources to do so. Initiatives have been taken by the governments in Spain, the Middle East, and Australia to construct desalination plants to turn seawater into drinking water.
July 5, 2011
A growing population has increased the demand for drinking water and rapid urbanization has required increasing sewage treatment. Many industries have been forced to adopt water-recycling systems due to the scarcity of water. Growing public concern, media pressure and renewed legislation has left industries with no option but to install water treatment equipment. The water treatment companies offer sustainable solutions that serve as the economic basis for a region and provide enhanced quality of life for people. They aim at the conservation and ecological utilization of water. However, Indian companies have limited capabilities and technology for the design of water treatment plants. There is a distinct opportunity for U.S. companies to offer technical consulting.
May 14, 2011
Electronic Waste is a massive problem in the Developed and Developing world with Thousands of Tons of Hazardous Electronic Waste being generated each year.With Electronics getting more ubiquitous and costs falling rapidly,Electronic Waste Problem is only going to increase.E-Waste is responsible not only for releasing dangerous substances into the environment it also causes deaths and injuries to poor in countries like India,China and Africa who are forced to work in extremely bad conditions.Electronic Waste Recycling is the need of the hour but the governments around the world have not pushed hard enough.Europe has been at the forefront with the WEEE directive passed in 2002 while USA has been a laggard as usual failing to prevent toxic waste from being dumped in landfills and shipped to poor countries with lax environmental regulations.Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003 has been passed in California which again as usual has been leading the federal government on clean technology legislation.
May 13, 2011
WEEE refers to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive issued by the European Community on Electronic and Electrical Waste alongwith the ROHS Directive in 2003 which regulates the collection,recycling and disposal of electronic and electrical equipment.The Directive are 2002/96/EC and 2002/95/EC.WEEE makes it mandatory for the producers of to dispose of the Electronic Waste.Unlike the USA which does not have such a strict policy,the companies must do so in an environment friendly way and can't just export all the electronic junk ot Africa,India and China which has been the way of the industry till then.
The legislation provides for the creation of collection schemes where consumers return their used e-waste free of charge. The objective of these schemes is to increase the recycling and/or re-use of such products. It also requires heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and hexavalent chromium and flame retardants such as polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) to be substituted by safer alternatives.The EU’s WEEE and RoHS laws simply serve as a template for national laws. They are transposed into national law at national level.Member States are required to draw up a register of producers and collect information on an annual basis on the quantities and categories of electrical and electronic equipment placed on their market, collected, re-used, recycled and recovered within that Member State and on collected waste exported.
May 10, 2011
E-waste generally consists of obsolete devices such as DVDs, CDs, floppies, tapes and electronic components including chips, processors, mother boards, printed circuit boards and industrial electronics. E-waste contains many hazardous substances like heavy metals, PVC plastics, brominated flame retardants.When disposed off in a landfill, it becomes a conglomeration of plastic and steel casings, circuit boards, glass tubes, wires, resistors, capacitors, fluorescent tubes, and other assorted parts and materials. It is both valuable as a source of secondary raw material, and toxic if treated and discarded improperly. he USA discards 30 million computers each year and 100 million phones are disposed of in Europe each year. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that only 15-20% of e-waste is recycled, the rest of these electronics go directly into landfills and incinerators.India's rapidly growing economy generates more than 500,000 tons of electronic waste every year, a number expected to reach 1 million tons by 2012. The obsolete computer and cellphone parts are dismantled, refurbished and recycled manually by hundreds of thousands of unorganized villagers across the country.
March 14, 2011
Biomass Energy accounted for most of Human Energy Consumption before the 20th century before fossil fuels took over.Biomass Energy still accounts for 1/3rd of Energy requirements in a lot of countries and is the primary energy source for heating and cooking in rural communities.Biomass Electricity accounts for around 1% of the world's electricity capacity of around 5000 GW.With advancement in Biomass Technology a number of Large Scale Biomass Energy Plants are being built in Europe.Even in developing countries like India,the government is strongly supportive of biomass energy and is giving various subsidies to support this alternative energy.Biomass Energy can play an essential role in off grid markets where there is a decent availability of feedstock.Each year millions of tons of crop residue and animal waste is converted into carbon emissions without being used up.Biomass Energy can convert this feedstock into useful electricity without adding carbon to the atmosphere.Waste to Energy is the most unexploited forms of energy and there exists enormous potential here also.Here is a list of the Biomass Energy and Wood Pellet Companies in the World.Note most of the companies are small in nature compared to the wind and solar companies.Most of the biomass electricity companies still have their biomass plants in the drawing or construction stage.Wood Pellet Companies are mostly private companies and not traded on the Stock Exchange.
March 14, 2011
India's Biomass Electricity Capacity at 2 GW (including cogeneration) is around 4% of the world's total Biomass Power Capacity of around 50 GW.US is the leader in Biomass Capacity with around 20% of the world's biomass potential.India has set ambitious plans for expanding the biomass power capacity in the next 10 years.India's Ministry of Renewable Energy has set a very high target of multiplying the power capacity by 10 times in the next 10 years.India's Total Biomass Potential with existing Technology is around 25 GW of which around 8% has been realized till date.India produce s 500 million tonnes of biomass per year, 120-150 million tonnes is surplus
March 10, 2011
India had set up around 500 MW of Biomass Capacity by 2007 and has increased it by almost 150 MW since then to reach around 1 GW capacity today.Most of Indias' Biomass Electricity is being generated in Andhra Pradesh,Maharashtra,Tamil Nadu,Karnataka and Rajasthan.A lot of new capacity is being built in Punjab and Chattisgarh as well.India with a total biomass capacity of around 1 GW is planning to increase it by 10 times to 10 GW by 2020 by setting up a number of 1-2 MW biomass plants around the country.Around 400-600 acres of land are required to support 1 Mw of Biomass Capacity and 200-300 acres using energy intensive crops.This is much more than what is required for even thin film solar energy which is around 10 acres.The large land requirements make Biomass Energy Scalding a difficult proposition,however it has a great use in niche applications where there is a large amount of crop and animal residue/waste
Biomass Energy is clearly seeing a massive investment of private capital by a number of Green Energy companies.A number of these companies are backed by Private Equity Players.Almost all Sugar Companies in the country co-generate biomass power at their sugar plants.The size of the segment is quite large and has not been listed here.In India 3 types of companies are focused on biomass electricity - Sugar Companies,Rice Companies and Green Energy Utilities.The first 2 categories will be successful as their cost of feedstock is essentially zero while the the success of the third kind will depend on the management and execution.
March 8, 2011
India is set to see a massive infrastructure capex cycle over the next decade as the existing infrastructure fails to support India's massive population.$500 Billion is expected to be spent in India's next 5 year plan with expenditure concentrated on roads,railways,ports,water,power,transportation etc.Capital Goods,Construction and Real Estate Companies will benefit hugely from this capex cycle.A Number of Companies have been raising capital from the Indian Stock Markets as India requires massive amounts of capital to fund its ambitious growth plans. Here is the list of top construction companies in India on the basis of their tie-ups with their international counterparts, technological advancements, generating money from the market to trigger their expansion plans and for establishing an entire township in the wastelands and making it the hottest commercial destination.Note Infrastructure companies in recent days have taken a massive beating falling to their 2008 Lehman lows.This is due the the numerous scams hitting the country,delays due to land acquisition,high interest rates and slow execution.However the long term potential of these construction/EPC companies in India remains excellent due to the massive investments.
December 7, 2010
Ragpicking is a developing and poor country concept alien to developed countries of the West busy bickering over responsibility over carbon emissions.Millions of people in India […]
December 7, 2010
A2Z Maintenance and Engineering Services is a Private Equity Promoted Facilities Management,Waste Management and EPC Company which is getting into the business of biomass energy.Company has fixed a price band at Rs 400-410 comprising of fresh issue of Rs 675 crore (~$150million) by the company and an offer for sale of upto 4.5 million shares by the selling shareholders.Note Renewable Energy in India has a bright future with around 5 GW of Renewable Energy Capacity to be installed per year over the next decade.However Biomass Energy may not be the best area considering the considerable expense and uncertainty in acquisition of feedstock.The Company already operates in 3 distinct sectors namely
Summary
A2Z is very similar in nature and valuation to VA Tech Wabag which did a successful IPO recently.The margin profile,growth and management is very similar.As such A2Z is a decent company however its not a compelling buy given the valuation.Note Biomass Energy is a tough sector to operate in and Orient Green Power has done badly since its IPO without having done anything badly as such.A2Z given the overall qualitative and quantitative factors seems a good stock at fair valuation.This makes the company a decent one to buy.
November 29, 2010
The Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) which is being jointly developed by India and Japan will also see the development of 24 Green Cities.The ambitious infrastructure project being built with $50-90 Billion will see a freight/railway/road transport corridor between India's 2 most important cities of Delhi and Mumbai.The resulting development along this transport corridor which will be passing through 6 states will make use of Green Technologies.Japanese Conglomerates like Hitachi,Toshiba,Mitsubishi will be involved in the building of this massive projects and will use their advanced energy efficient technologies to develop these Green Cities.
November 15, 2010
Green Buildings are a huge multibillion dollar industry but from an investor's point of view the information and investment avenues about this very important Green Sector remains surprisingly scare.Most of the investment options in Green Buildings remains confined to huge conglomerates like Johnson Controls,Honeywell,Schnieder Electric,Siemens and a few small startups like Serious Materials.Most of the information about Green Buildings can be gleaned from the US Green Buidling Council and EPA.Interest in Green Buildings started in the 1970s and still remains a niche concept despite huge strides in the 21st Century.Certifications like LEED has brought awareness about Green Buildings but they still occupy a remote corner in the Green Investor's mind.In the Green Building Series,I will try to explain the concept of Green Buildings.For a start here is the Definition of a Green Building also known as a Sustainable Building.
July 3, 2010
Toshiba,the leading Japanese Electronics Producer is diversifying into the Green Industry like its counterparts in the rest of the world.Samsung,NEC,Panasonic,LG,GE and Siemens have all been strongly […]