India advocates green energy tech

As he heads for crucial negotiations at UN climate change meet, India's Environment minister Jairam Ramesh says the country has the potential to become a world leader in green technology, especially in nuclear energy, writes The Economic Times.

Trying to put across the message at the global platform that India need not always be seen as a recipient of technology, Ramesh says: "I have been saying repeatedly that challenge of climate change is God-sent opportunity to Indian business to become world leader in green technology.

"Let us not always keep talking of technology transfer," the minister, who will leave on Friday for Cancun, Mexico to attend the ongoing climate change meet, says.

The US faces a 'Sputnik moment' in the global clean energy race and risks falling far behind advances by China and other countries, the US energy secretary, Steven Chu, warns, says The Guardian.

Hours before the opening of the UN climate summit in Canc'un, Chu said that the US urgently needed to invest in research and innovation - much as it responded to the Soviet Union's launch of the world's first space satellite in 1957 - if it wanted to remain a leader of innovation.

"We face a choice today. Are we going to continue America's innovation leadership or are we going to fall behind?" Chu said in a speech to the National Press Club in Washington.

A coalition of NGOs in Sabah, Malaysia, battling a proposal to build a coal power electricity plant in the state, is demanding that a federal minister steps down for failing to promote green technology, reports Free Malaysia Today.

Green Sabah Unite to Re-Power the Future (Surf), a grouping of environment-conscious NGOs, has angrily rebutted Energy, Green Technology and Water minister Peter Chin's criticism of their opposition to the controversial plant.

"Our objection to the proposed construction of the 300MW coal-fired power plant is based on studies that show Sabah has other options to meet its power shortage problem. The other factors were the environment, health and food security," says Green Surf representative Wong Tack in response to Chin's statement that it was wrong for those opposing the move to “object for the sake of objecting”.