Goodlass Nerolac Paints Ltd (GNPL) the country’s second largest paint company was awarded the prestigious Golden Peacock Environment Management Award for its Jainpur plant (Kanpur, UP) at the 7th World Congress on Environment Management held at Palampur (Himachal Pradesh) from June 10-12, 2005.

Pravin D Chaudhari, Director-Supply Chain, GNPL received the award from Dr Ola Ullsten, former Prime Minister of Sweden.

H M Bharuka, Managing Director, GNPL speaking on new developments and initiatives said that GNPL would always strive to utilize our natural resources in an efficient manner. “We encourage continual and targeted improvements to prevent waste generations at source, reduce, recover, recycle wastes and reduce and prevent pollution of air, water and land, he said.

Golden Peacock Environment Management Award is a coveted and prestigious recognition that emphasizes on maintaining ecological balance by minimizing adverse environment impact while carrying out industrial and business activities that aim at sustainable growth.

Low temp thermal desalination success to be repeated in all islands and coastal areas

With the success of the world’s first ever low temperature thermal desalination plant in the island of Kavaratti, Lakshadweep, Union Minister for Science & Technology and Ocean Development, Kapil Sibal announced plans to set up 10 million litre per day (mld) capacity plants in all islands and coastal areas to redress the acute problem of drinking water. These thermal desalination plants are reported to be useful in islands similar to Kavaratti, where there is no source of fresh water and the environment is extremely fragile. The Kavaratti plant produces one lakh litres of potable water from sea water by using a technique in which warm water is flashed inside a vacuum chamber and the resultant vapour is condensed using cold water.

The temperature difference between warm surface seawater and deep-sea cold water is utilised to produce potable water apart from power generation, air conditioning and aquaculture. At Kavaratti, deep-sea cold water is available at a depth of 350 m and at a distance of approximately 400 m from the shore. The cold water is brought to the surface through a 600 m pipe. The cost of desalination works out to be 25 paise per litre and will progressively cost less as the capacity is increased.