Greenpeace India says IB report over coal mining malicious

Greenpeace India said it believed that the leaked IB reports was a concerted effort by parties with vested interests to ensure elimination of any opposition.

"Since Greenpeace India has emerged as one of the primary voices opposing coal mining and nuclear power projects, the NGO has been specifically targeted to show the world, how the Indian government wants to crush any kind of opposition," said Greenpeace India.

"The strategy, it seems, is to discredit the organisation towards the long term goal of removing obstacles for pushing fast clearances. But discrediting Greenpeace will not save the world from climate change. Ours is probably the last generation that can make a difference to curb climate change," said Samit Aich, Executive Director, Greenpeace India.

Over the past few years Greenpeace India's activities has led to anger among people in the government as well as corporate entities. And the timing and the purpose of the leak seem very suspicious.

Such malicious reports however, will not stop Greenpeace India in fighting for a better future.

"They plan to create a wave of anger and discontent amongst the public and over a quarter million supporters with blatant lies and half truths. Both the reports are riddled with mistruths and factual errors. We will continue to challenge fossil fuels and dangerous technologies across the world and in India. We will campaign for greater investments in ecologically sustainable, clean and safe practices both in agriculture and energy, and demand for equitable development," says Aich.

Intelligence Bureau (IB) report suggests Greenpeace a threat to India's economic security

An Intelligence Bureau (IB) report on foreign-funded NGOs has called Greenpeace a threat to economic security. IB report says that foreign funded NGOs negatively impact economic development in the country, while citing activities ranging from protests against nuclear and coal plants and funding of sympathetic research.

Greenpeace India Response:-


Greenpeace India Stands For People-powered Sustainable Development

Challenging the allegations made by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) report to the PMO, Greenpeace India stated for the record that it is an independent organisation which campaigns for development that is sustainable and growth that is inclusive.
“We have a legitimate right to express our views in what is after all the world’s largest democracy,” the organisation noted in an official statement. “We believe that this report is designed to muzzle and silence civil society who raise their voices against injustices to people and the environment by asking uncomfortable questions about the current model of growth.”

In response to the accusation that Greenpeace has mounted “massive efforts to take down India’s coal fired power plants and coal mining activity,” the organisation noted that instead of destroying India’s forests to access the coal underneath, it believes that India should embrace the ambitious uptake of renewable energy and energy efficiency to meet the rapidly increasing energy needs of our growing country.

We believe this report is an attempt to muzzle free speech-Abhishek Pratap,Greenpeace on IB report pic.twitter.com/hlkSnGAflf
— ANI (@ANI_news) June 11, 2014

It noted that Greenpeace India not only campaigns against development at the cost of human health and environment, it also provides solutions to clean and renewable energy. Access to energy through decentralised models can power up growth and India’s development agenda, the organization noted.

"We have asked the Minister of Home Affairs to let Greenpeace see the report that the Indian Express story is based on. It’s only fair that we have the opportunity to address any mistruths contained within it,” the organisation noted.

Facebook commits to clean energy future

Greenpeace and Facebook today announced that they will collaborate on the promotion of renewable energy, encourage major utilities to develop renewable energy generation, and develop programmes that will enable Facebook users to save energy and engage their communities in clean energy decisions (1).


The news comes two years after Greenpeace launched its global Unfriend Coal Campaign (2, 3), enlisting 700,000 online activists (4) to call on Facebook to power its datacentres with clean energy instead of coal (5). As a result of the announcement the campaign ends today.


“Greenpeace and Facebook will now work together to encourage major energy producers to move away from coal and instead invest in renewable energy. This move sets an example for the industry to follow”, said Tzeporah Berman, Co-director of Greenpeace’s International Climate and Energy Program. “This shift to clean, safe energy choices will help fight global warming and ensure a stronger economy and healthier communities”.


Facebook’s goal (1), announced today, is to power its operations, including its data centres, using clean and renewable energy. (6) The company will build on its leadership in energy efficiency through the Open Compute Project (7) to encourage other IT companies to power its operations with clean, renewable energy.



"Facebook looks forward to a day when our primary energy sources are clean and renewable, and we are working with Greenpeace and others to help bring that day closer," said Marcy Scott Lynn of Facebook's sustainability program. "As an important step, our datacenter siting policy now states a preference for access to clean and renewable energy. Another important step will be to work with Greenpeace to put the power of our platform to use for the environment. Greenpeace has been particularly effective using Facebook to spark environmental awareness and action, we are excited to work with them to explore new ways in which people can use Facebook to engage and connect on the range of energy issues that matter most to them – from their own energy efficiency to access to cleaner sources of energy."


As part of the agreement, the social media giant will continue pursuing on-going research into energy efficiency and the open sharing of that technology through the Open Compute Project which Greenpeace will work to support. Facebook also plans to engage in dialogue with utility providers about the sources of energy that power their data centres.


“Facebook’s commitment to renewable energy raises the bar for other IT and cloud computing (8) companies such as Apple, IBM, Microsoft, and Twitter,” said Abhishek Pratap, Senior Campaigner, Greenpeace India. ‘‘The Facebook campaign proved that people all over the world want their social networks powered by renewable energy, and not by coal. Greenpeace will continue to measure, report and campaign on the sector’s progress to green the cloud”.





Greenpeace and Facebook have also agreed to develop and promote experiences on Facebook that help people and organizations connect with ways to save energy and engage their communities in clean energy issues. Greenpeace makes extensive use of Facebook to engage its supporters in campaigns, and is the most 'liked' environmental non-profit organization on Facebook (9).





Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organisation that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace.





Notes:



1. Details of the announcement, Facebook and Greenpeace Collaboration on Clean and Renewable Energy: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/Global/international/publications/climate/2011/Cool%20IT/Facebook/Facebook_Statement.pdf



2. Unfriend Coal Campaign: http://www.greenpeace.org/unfriendcoal



3. Campaign Timeline link: http://www.greenpeace.org/unfriendcoal



4. The Unfriend Coal Campaign was supported by over 700,000 Facebook users in 14 countries, and set the Guinness World Record for most Facebook comments in one day: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/Cool-IT/facebook-world-record-attempt-begins-now/blog/34222/.



5. Tzeporah Berman, Greenpeace International Co-director Climate and Energy Program - thanks Facebook supporters: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/facebook-video-tzeporah/



6. The energy used to power data centres, such as those operated by Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, IBM and other major IT companies that deliver online services is significant, totalling more than 2% of US electricity demand, and is projected to grow 12% or more per year. Videos, pictures and other data are stored in a high tech “cloud” (8) which delivers data to homes and offices in real time. This cloud is often located in areas that are heavily dependent on electricity from a variety of sources, including coal, which is negatively impacting human health and the environment and is the largest source of global warming pollution. If the cloud was a country, it would be the 5th largest in the world in terms of electricity use. (10)



7. The Open Compute Project (OCP) is an industry wide group that works to design and enable the delivery of the most efficient server, storage and data centre hardware designs for scalable computing. http://opencompute.org/



8. Cloud computing is a way of storing and sharing data on the internet. Broadly speaking the cloud allows you to share computer resources on the internet instead of using software or storage on a local PC. It allows online access to items such as webmail, stream music and social networking.



9. More than 3.8m users like our Facebook Pages, including almost 1m people who like the Greenpeace International page. According to Devex.com, the Greenpeace International page ranks top on Facebook among NGOs related to global development issues, including environmental groups.



10. Report: How Dirty is your Data? http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/publications/reports/How-dirty-is-your-data/

Telecom sector’s diesel consumption under question

Concerned over the increasing exploitation of the diesel subsidy by the profit making telecom sector, representatives from across the political spectrum, have urged the government to take measures to accelerate a shift away from diesel and to renewable sources and technologies1. These include members of parliament, cutting across party lines, including members of the standing committees for Energy, communication & Information Technology and Environment & Forest.



In their letters to the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and the Communication &Information Technology Minister Mr. Kapil Sibal, and through parliamentary engagement, the politicians have specifically raised the need for substantially reducing the consumption of diesel by the telecom sector, especially in their network tower operations. They have further stressed on mandating the public disclosure of emissions and the establishment of the progressive emission reductions plans within the ambit of the newly proposed National Telecom Policy. In response, while the government has acknowledged the large-scale exploitation of diesel by sectors such as telecom, it is yet to put in place effective and appropriate mechanisms to address this concern.





Earlier this year, Greenpeace in its report “Dirty Talking – A case for telecom sector to shift from diesel to renewable”, highlighted the aggressive exploitation of diesel by the sector, as the second largest consumer, resulting in a loss of over Rs. 2600 crore to the state exchequer annually3.





“It’s been over 3 months since the Bharti Airtel led Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) failed to deliver on its commitment by coming up with a clear roadmap for the disclosure and progressive reduction of emissions by September 20114” said Mrinmoy Chattaraj, Climate and Energy Campaigner, Greenpeace India. “Given their unwillingness to act voluntarily(5), such a transition is best delivered through mandatory norms, including policies and fiscal mechanisms which encourage companies to transit substantively to renewable sources” he further added.





Greenpeace has been engaging with the telecom sector, operators in particular, to:



- Publicly disclose the carbon emissions of their entire business operation and establish progressive emission reduction targets



- Commit to shift the sourcing of 50% of their energy requirements towards renewable energy sources and phase out diesel use in their business operations by 2015



Notes:



1) The list of politicians includes- Mr. Sharad Yadav, Mr. Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Dr. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Mr. Rajendra Agarwal, Mr. P. Karunakaran, Mr. Varun Gandhi, Mr. Basudeb Acharia, Mr. Tapan Sen, Mr. Shripad Y. Naik, Mr. R C Khuntia Mr. Chandan Mitra and Mr. G. Devarajan.



2) The questions raised in the parliament over the issue can be accessed at the respective websites of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha



3) For further information- http://www.greenpeace.org/india/en/What-We-Do/Stop-Climate-Change/Green-Electronics/switch-off-diesel/



4) http://www.coai.com/docs/PressReleases/Press%20Release%20GHG.pdf



5) In the Carbon Disclosure Project’s recent report (https://www.cdproject.net/CDPResults/CDP-2011-India-200-Report.pdf ), none of the telecom companies feature in its top 100 Indian companies. Similarly, in the fortune 500 list of telecom companies on transparency and disclosure (https://www.cdproject.net/en-US/Pages/global500.aspx), none of the Indian telecom companies feature on this list.

Bharti Airtel remains unsure about its low carbon road map, verbally commits to phase-out diesel but fails to specify timelines in writing

Greenpeace activists intensified their campaign by blockading the entrance of Bharti’s group headquarters at Vasant Kunj, New Delhi and unfurled banners displaying the message “Airtel- Switch off Diesel”. Greenpeace acted because Bharti Airtel backtracked from its earlier assurance to commit to a timeline for the public disclosure of its carbon emissions from its entire operations and the phase out of diesel in powering its telecom tower operations. Greenpeace demanded a written assurance from the company to a process through which they would act to phase-out diesel.  The activists were detained by the police and later released.

Precipitated by the protest, Mr. Akhil Gupta, Joint CEO, of the Bharti Group met Greenpeace representatives but failed to confirm that they intend to phase out diesel and replace it with renewables. Greenpeace is willing to collaborate but with the condition that Bharti Airtel shows its clear intent on the diesel phase out publicly. Greenpeace is willing to collaborate with Bharti Airtel to catalyse and work with other releavnt stakeholderson the condition that the company demonstrates it serious intent by putting in place a road map to phase out diesel.

Responding to this development, Abhishek Pratap, Campaigner, Greenpeace India said “Bharti Airtel is still reluctant to make any commitment to publicly disclose their carbon emissions and roll out a clean energy roadmap   within a defined timeline. We remain concerned that the telecom giant has not been able to explain to us why they cannot publicly disclose their carbon emission and a timeline for diesel phase out. Greenpeace is open to supporting any such initiative, provided there is demonstrable leadership from Bharti Airtel.  Over 70,000 concerned individuals along with Greenpeace India will continue to mount pressure on Bharti Airtel’s until they make a commitment publicly.”

Since the release of its report “Dirty Talking” (2), Greenpeace has been urging Bharti Airtel to-

Publicly disclose the carbon emissions of its entire business operation and establish progressive emission reduction targets
Commit to shift the sourcing of 50% of its energy requirements towards renewable energy sources and phase out diesel use in its business operations by 2015.
Catalyse a low-carbon economy wide growth, by using its brand power to advocate for strong policies that promote renewable energy

Mrinmoy Chattaraj, Climate and Energy Campaigner, Greenpeace India added “The cost and environmental benefits of transiting from a diesel dependent to a renewable powered model of operation are clear.  Airtel has a unique chance to demonstrate that a large telecom corporation in emerging markets can not only be profitable but also environmentally sustainable.”

Earlier at a meeting between Greenpeace and Bharti Airtel on June 10th, 2011, the company backtracked from their commitment to provide a timeline for publicly disclosing their carbon emission and a clean energy roadmap. “People all over the country are asking the company they love to lead the energy revolution by Switching off Diesel. We hope Airtel will rise to this challenge.” Chattaraj added further.

Airtel fails to grab the opportunity to become a clean corporate leader

The talks between Greenpeace and telecom giant Airtel today failed as the telecom operator refused to commit to a timeline to disclose its carbon emissions and phase out diesel from its telecom tower operations.
In a clear case of hiding behind the industry association and desisting from taking responsibility, the senior management representatives of the telecom giant along with those from Indus Towers (an Airtel joint venture), Bharti Infratel (Bharti Airtel’s fully owned subsidiary) and Cellular Operator Association of India (COAI), said COAI would report to Greenpeace in three months on possible areas of cooperation.
Greenpeace delegation was led by Campaign Director Divya Raghunandan, Campaigners Abhishek Pratap, Mrinmoy Chattaraj and Amrin Shaikh.
“It is unfortunate that Airtel failed to agree to our demands and thus there was no headway in the meeting. We are urging the company to reconsider its stand on the issue and come out clean in the public. ”said Divya Raghunandan, Campaign Director, Greenpeace India.
The meeting between Airtel and Greenpeace was held a week after Greenpeace staged a demonstration outside Airtel headquarters in Gurgaon near New Delhi demanding the company to switch off diesel1.
Despite earlier having indicated that Airtel will give a commitment on the timelines for carbon emission disclosure and diesel phase out, it did not come up with a clear roadmap, In fact, it insisted that the entire industry needs to give commitment and  will come back only after three months on what the entire industry will commit.
Greenpeace has been urging Airtel to-
Publicly disclose the carbon emissions of its entire business operation and establish progressive emission reduction targets
Commit to shift the sourcing of 50% of its energy requirements towards renewable energy sources and phase out diesel use in its business operations by 2015.
Catalyse a low-carbon economy wide growth, by using its brand power to advocate for strong policies that promote renewable energy

Greenpeace welcomes the notification of E-waste rule

 Rule enshrines producer responsibility as central to the management of E-Wastes
Greenpeace today welcomed the notification of the E-Waste (Management and Handling) Rule, 2011 on Extended Producer Responsibility principle by the Ministry of Environment & Forest (MoEF) 1. The notification of the rule makes environmentally sound management and disposal of electronic wastes mandatory.
Greenpeace has been at the forefront on this issue, campaigning for a binding law to make producers financially liable for the management of e-wastes 2.
Commenting on the notification, Abhishek Pratap, Senior Campaigner, Greenpeace India said “this is not just a victory for the environment but business, as it creates a level-playing field.” The rule ensures a transition from the current out-of-sight out-of-mind approach to proper recycling of e-wastes and in the process accelerating the commercial introduction of green electronic products in the market.”
The rule clearly places responsibility on the producers for the entire lifecycle of the product, from design to disposal. Apart from Extended Producer Responsibility principle, the rule is a significant step towards international standards of Restriction of Hazardous substances in electronics3
“By notifying this rule the Government of India has taken a proactive and bold step in the right direction. The main challenge ahead lies in its implementation. In future, we look forward to seeing the rule move towards individual producer responsibility and the banning of more hazardous chemicals.” added Pratap.
Pointing out certain gaps in the rule, Pratap said, “The rule fails to provide safeguards to ensure the ban of import and export of electronic wastes.  There is also scope for further improvement by making every producer financially liable for the e-wastes generated by their products, based on its toxicity. To accelerate the introduction of greener products, Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) and all form of Brominated Flame Retardants (BFR) should be included as banned substances 4.”
 “When we started working on this issue, we were told that the demands we were making were impossible. Five years later, it’s a case of this change being inevitable,” Pratap added.

Greenpeace activists gather outside the Airtel headquarte​rs in Gurgaon to deliver the message Switch off diesel

Greenpeace activists today gathered outside Bharti Airtel’s headquarters in Gurgaon, following the telecom leader’s failure to respond substantively to specific questions pertaining to reduction in its carbon emissions and shifting to renewable sources of energy to power its network operations, inspite of repeated requests (1). The activists displayed the sign “Switch off Diesel” at the company headquarters as a reminder of the demand made on the leader to shift.  Close to 50, 000 supporters have already signed a petition asking Airtel to go clean (2).
Greenpeace representative had a meeting with Bharti Airtel’s representative on the above demand after the demonstration today. Though the telecom giant has agreed to meet and discuss the issue, they are still non-committal on the demand (3).
“Bharti Airtel has a real opportunity to set an example for telecom operators in India by extending their spirit of leadership and showing that businesses can flourish being powered by renewable energy sources” said Mrinmoy Chattaraj, Campaigner, Climate and Energy, Greenpeace India.”The company’s failure to respond specifically to key issues on their carbon and energy management has left us with no choice but be here and ask them to act on their professed commitments” he added. Earlier, on May 18th, 2011, Greenpeace released its report “Dirty Talking- Case for telecom to shift to renewable”, which exposed how the subsidy on diesel has been aggressively exploited by the telecom sector, resulting in an annual loss of around Rs 2600 crore to the state exchequer. However, the report also shows how the sector can become a transformative force by adopting renewable energy for their business operations and advocating for economy wide climate and energy solutions(3).In conclusion, Chattaraj added “This is also a tremendous opportunity for Bharti Airtel to act on its professed commitments and differentiate itself from other corporations and the lip service that is routinely paid to the issues of sustainability and sustainable growth”.
Greenpeace has been demanding Airtel to-
·         Publicly disclosing the carbon emissions of its entire business operation and establish progressive emission reduction targets
·         Commit to shift the sourcing of 50% of its energy requirements towards renewable energy sources and phase out diesel use in its business operations by 2015
·         Catalyse a low-carbon economy wide growth, by using its brand power to advocate for strong policies that promote renewable energy

Over 22,000 consumers across India ask Airtel to shift to renewable energy

Within 24 hours of Greenpeace’s online initiative, more than 22,000 concerned consumers across India joined it’s public campaign asking telecom giant Bharti-Airtel to go clean by shifting the powering of the company’s network towers to renewable energy. (1)


The public campaign follows the release of Greenpeace’s report “Dirty Talking – Case for telcom industry to shift from diesel to renewable”, which exposed how the subsidy on diesel has been aggressively exploited by the telecom sector, resulting in an annual loss of around Rs 2600 crore to the state exchequer (2). The report also highlights the immense cost and energy savings the industry could accrue through such a shift.

“Airtel is one of the biggest consumers of subsidised diesel. As the market leader in India and a dominant telecom force globally, it’s high time Airtel connected India and millions of their users through renewable energy, not dirty diesel. The company should make a commitment to phase out diesel and switch to renewable energy and show the rest of the telecom sector that it can be done” said Mrinmoy Chattaraj, Climate and Energy Campaigner, Greenpeace India.

Greenpeace’s campaign asks Airtel to act in line with its professed environmental commitments by

· Publicly disclosing the carbon emissions of its entire business operation and establish progressive emission reduction targets

· Commit to shift the sourcing of its energy requirements 50 % towards renewable energy sources and phase out diesel use in its business operations by 2015.

· Catalyse a low-carbon economy wide growth, by using its brand power to advocate for strong policies that promote renewable energyFor further information:http://www.greenpeace.org/india/Global/india/docs/cool-it/reports/telecom-report-may-2011.pdf

Photographs available at: http://photo.greenpeace.org/GPI/C.aspx?VP3=ViewBox&STID=27MZIFIIS20U&IT=ThumbImage01_VForm&CT=Story

Telecom Industry’s “diesel exploitation” exposed

Greenpeace report estimates loss to state exchequer at Rs 2600 crore annually

Greenpeace released a report “Dirty Talking – A Case for telecom to shift from diesel to renewable” today exposing how the subsidy on diesel has been aggressively exploited by the telecom sector, resulting in an annual loss of around Rs 2600 crore to the state exchequer (1).


The report builds on the previous industry and government research which show that at current growth rates, the sector would require 26 billion KWh of electricity and 3 billion liters of diesel by 2012, contributing to a much larger carbon footprint than previously estimated (2).

However, the report also shows how the sector can become a transformative force by adopting renewable energy for their business operations and advocating economy wide climate and energy solutions."With growth, the sector’s appetite for energy will increase, making it a significant source of GHG emissions unless the industry adopts and advocates renewable energy use and backs laws to cut global warming," said Mrinmoy Chattaraj, Climate and Energy campaigner, Greenpeace India and co-author of the report.

Despite the clear and visible benefits of shifting to renewable sources of energy the sector has been reluctant to make this positive transition in a substantive way.

"The Telecom sector is well positioned to transit to a low-carbon growth trajectory. They must use their influence to promote policies that will allow them to grow responsibly without helping to fuel climate change” Chattaraj added.

Key findings of the report can be summarized as:

· The telecom sector in India emitted over 5.6m tonnes of CO2 in 2008 on as a result of diesel use (3).Emissions have since risen, and are likely to increase significantly with the sector’s predicted exponential growth over the next few yearsA shift in power sourcing to renewable technologies, such as solar photovoltaic, will result in a close to 300 per cent reduction in total costs (CAPEX + OPEX) for telecom operators, in comparison to a diesel generator (DG) based tower over ten years.Failure of the industry in disclosing its carbon emissions and committing to reduction of emissions in a public and transparent manner on a consistent basis. Major telecom companies within the sector are particularly guilty of this (4). Similarly, telecom operators have yet to shift the sourcing of their power requirements to renewable sources at scales of significance. The investment required to power the entire network towers in the country by renewable is approximately Rs 151000 crore, which is more economically feasible than diesel based network towers in the longer run (5).

Abhishek Pratap, Senior Campaigner, Climate and Energy, Greenpeace India said “for telecom operators, the business case for a significant switch to renewable energy is a robust one. Quite clearly the question for the Indian telecom industry to respond to is- Are they willing to shift, in the interest of environment and indeed their long-term business prospects?”Greenpeace is calling on telecom operators to publicly disclose their annual carbon emissions and shift toward clean source of energy by powering 50 % of their mobile towers through renewable energy by 2015.

The full report and other information is available at http://www.greenpeace.org/india/Global/india/docs/cool-it/reports/telecom-report-may-2011.pdfNotes

1. A subsidy of INR 7 to 11 per liter on diesel to artificially reduces the cost of the fuel by around twenty-one per cent, allowing it to be sold at a lower price primarily for the transportation of essential goods, public transport and agriculture. Due to absence of duel or differential pricing of diesel fuel for industry, telecom sector aggressively exploited as sector consumption of diesel grown to 3 billion by end of FY-2010-11. 2. In IDFC 2009 industry discussion, KPMG in its analysis projected setting of 797,000 Base Transceiver Station (BTS) by end of 2012. Since each BTS consumes 32,734 units of electricity annually, a cumulative figure from mobile towers comes over 26 billions of units by 2012.

In 2008, according to Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), telecom sector consumes 2 billion liters of diesel annually for running mobile towers which grown to 3 billion in year 2011 with 30 % growth rate.

3. The overall emission of Telecom Network Towers (Diesel Consumption and Grid connected electricity in combination) was around 13.6 m Tons. 4. TRAI’s recent approach paper on Green telecommunication which clearly stress on need to take proactive steps in disclosure of carbon emission and setting of target for clean energy purchase for mobile towers particularly in rural off-grid area where most of telecommunication expansion happening. http://www.trai.gov.in/Green_Telecom-12.04.2011.pdf

5. Telecom sector spend INR 126 billion annually on diesel fuel. If subsidy of 21 % on diesel fuel removed for telecom sector, the cost of diesel fuel for telecom sector would go to INR 150 billion annually. On the other side, the cost to solarise entire network towers with initial expenditure and no or marginal operational expenditure is equivalent to annual diesel cost for next 10 years