Blogs

This blog was originally posted on NIUA.org

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit health, livelihoods, and the economy across India. It is an added threat to the risk that climate change poses to development and shared prosperity. Similar to the pandemic, the impacts of climate change, especially extreme weather events, are also felt disproportionately by the poor and the marginalized. During the lockdown, when Cyclone Amphan hit the east coast of India and Cyclone...

Tamil Nadu has the highest installed capacity of wind energy in India, with 9.3 GW as of March 2020. The state has witnessed major strides in wind energy generation, with large scale project development commencing from the mid-90s. These Wind Power Plants (WPPs), installed at the outset of wind tapping, were located at wind-rich sites. These have now reached the end of or close to the end of their stipulated lifecycles. Most of these early machines are of low capacities (<500kW) and smaller hub heights (25-30m), resulting in underutilization. These aging turbines often result in low...

This blog was originally posted on NIUA.org.

According to World Road Statistics 2018, out of the 199 countries analyzed, India has the maximum number of road accidents and accounts for 11% of the world’s road accident related deaths, 84.7% of which occurred in the “economically productive” age group of 18-60 years....

This blog was originally posted on NIUA.org

United Nations’ data shows that the gradual shift in residence of the human population from rural to urban areas, combined with the overall growth of the world’s population could add another 2.5 billion people to urban areas by 2050. The data further adds that close to 90% of this increase will take place in Asia and Africa (Nations, 2018). As more people are now living a city-based life, challenges of...

This blog was originally posted on NIUA.org.

Fear of infection from COVID-19 and the lack of adequate bus services has forced many choice riders to shift to private modes. Cities across India including Delhi, Mumbai,...

On 25-March-2020, India went into a lockdown of historically unprecedented proportions. The energy sector felt the sting of the lockdown with a year-on-year total power consumption decline of 23.2% in April throughout India.

On 5-April-2020 India held a 9-minute blackout at 9 PM alongside a candle-light vigil to express a collective will to fight the pandemic. This event was a testament to how power...

Electric buses (e-buses) are steadily coming into focus as an answer to clean public transport. Currently, about 18 lakh buses are plying on Indian roads of which 92% are privately owned and just 8% publicly owned. At the existing ridership India requires about 460,000 buses by 2031 and COVID-19 social distancing norms will further bump up the...

This blog originally appeared on News18.com.

In 2019, about three lakh women died prematurely from diseases attributable to household air pollution from the use of polluting cooking fuels in India. Though women and children are more exposed to household air pollution, it is not limited to them. An average Indian citizen spends 80% time...

Cycling, a sustainable, healthy, and low-cost mode of travel, has seen a resurgence in popularity during the pandemic as cars and buses stayed off the roads. During the lockdown in the UK, cycle-to-work schemes saw a 200% rise in bicycle orders from emergency workers. In India, according to the All India Cycle Manufacturers Association, the cycling industry is expected to ...

This blog was originally published on NIUA.org.

Ambient air pollution became one of the major health threats for the Indian population during recent decades. It would go on to kill about one million people in the country in 2019. A vast majority of the population is continuously exposed to bad air, which does not...