Delhi Metro creates an eco-friendly park near Shastri Park Station

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has created an eco-friendly station at Shastri Park Metro Station and it is decorated with artistic installations that has been created from waste material recovered from Metro construction sites.
The park is powered by the solar energy and water required for horticultural use will be provided by the Sewage Water Treatment Plant (STP).
This has been reported in thestatesman.com dated 21 February 2017.

The park located near Shastri Park Metro Station is spread across 10 acres and will be offering a host of facilities like auditorium, amphitheatre, meditation corner, playground for children and gymnasium apart from a lake with a fountain in it.
Top soil from various underground station sites have been used in the park and it is furnished with "medicinal and pollution absorbing plants". It has received 'Platinum' rating from the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC). With this Prakriti Park, the DMRC has initiated a new chapter in CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility).


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A total of 26 out of 1381 offshore islands have been identified to boost tourism

India has a total of 1,382 offshore islands and 26 of these, most of which are in Andamans and Lakshadweep, are under consideration for development as tourist destinations. This is what PM Narendra Modi wants, in order to boost tourism.
The selected islands will be provided necessary infrastructure to attract tourists.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 22 September 2016.

Developmental activities of the elected islands would center around basic infrastructure, tourism, agriculture (including organic agriculture and fisheries) and carbonneutral energy generation (renewable energy). PM Narendra Modi has stressed about the potential for tourism in these areas and has also added that solar energy should be used extensively in this exercise.
The scale of infrastructure development will vary from island to island depending on the environmental conditions. However, the biggest task would be to provide connectivity with the mainland. Therefore, some of the islands can be developed only for day-time tourism. That way, tourists can go, spend some hours there and return before nightfall.


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Government to create 40,000MW of rooftop solar power capacity in ashrams

Government has drawn up plans to create 40,000MW of rooftop solar power capacity in ashrams spread across the country. For this, the Union new and renewable energy ministry is roping in religious and interfaith gurus who will demonstrate the virtues of green energy and set an example by ensuring that their ashrams are solar powered.
In the month of May, Radha Soami Dera in Amritsar became the world's largest single rooftop solar power facility. Its Rs 140 crore solar energy system which is spread over more than 80 acres of rooftops has the ability to generate an estimated 19MW of power.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 12 September 2016.

As indicated by the new and renewable energy secretary, the gurus will act as spiritual partners of International Solar Alliance. This is a global grouping of over 100 'sunshine countries' between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn that had been launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Paris climate summit last December.
Since spiritual and interfaith gurus have a large number of domestic and overseas followers who visit their 'ashrams' (hermitages), or meditation centres, in big numbers, these gurus are ideally placed to showcase and demonstrate the values and virtues of solar energy to a global audience.
A data bank of at least 100 large ashrams is being drawn up to seek their cooperation and commitment for setting up solar power projects. They will, in return, get a 'commitment certificate' that will recognize their contribution to the solar cause. There are further plans to hold a global conference of interfaith leaders to showcase the commitment.
The government has an ambitious target of creating 175GW of solar energy capacity by 2022. This would include 40,000MW rooftop solar power capacity and it will be a part of the strategy to reduce the country's carbon footprint.


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Ahmedabad airport eyeing solar power to reduce operational expenses

Ahmedabad airport is poised to take off on a power-saving mode by extensive use of solar energy. With the intention to reduce operational expenses, it wants to introduce cost cutting measures. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has installed solar panels on the roof of the domestic terminal at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel international airport towards achieving this objective.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 17 June 2016.

As indicated by AAI officials, the electricity generation capacity of the solar panels installed is 750 kilowatt (KW) per panel. The monthly power consumption of Ahmedabad airport is 22 lakh units and it is expected that these solar panels will help save around 1 lakh units per month.
It is a Rs 4.6-crore project and took one year to put into place. The present consumption of Ahmedabad airport is approximately 25,500 megawatt per year, which works out to around Rs21 crore. Once the solar power initiative is activated, there are possibilities of saving Rs 1 crore- Rs 1.5 crore every year. The savings will increase further once panels are put on the roof of the international terminal.
AAI also has plans to install solar panels on unused land in the airport premises apart from installing LED lights, solar-powered streetlights, and energy appliances with five star ratings.


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Sai Prasadalaya is a community kitchen of Shri Saibaba Sansthan Shirdi and it has bagged the coveted Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST) and Solar Cooker Excellence Awards - 2016 by the ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE). This setup is saving 1 lakh kg of LPG (estimated to cost Rs 20,00,000 every year) through this project.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 21 May 2016.

Shirdi Sai temple attracts thousands of devotees every day and it has one of world's largest Solar System Projects for community cooking. It was installed in 2014 and, with 73 solar dishes each of 16 sq meter size, the total steam generation capacity of this project is 4200 kg/day. Food consisting of more than 2 tonnes of rice is cooked for more than 25000 individuals every day in the Kitchen. The saving of cooking gas is of the order of Rs 20,000 every day and, till date, it has saved Rs 60 lakh for the trust.
Incidentally, community cooking by using solar energy has become a popular application in both educational and religious organizations. The process is also being adopted to meet the requirements in dairying, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, textiles and other industrial sectors.


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