State Bank of India (SBI) has become the first bank in the country to venture into production of green power by installing windmills for capti

ve use. As part of its green banking initiative, SBI has installed 10 windmills with an aggregate capacity of 15 MW in the states of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat. SBI has planned to install an additional 20 MW capacity of windmills in Gujarat soon and aims to touch 100 MW power generations through windmills within five years. The total cost of installation of a windmill of 1.5 MW is around Rs. 10 crore.

The Ministry of Non-renewable Resource in association with some nationalized and scheduled commercial banks in India undertook an initiative to go green by allowing low interest loans to the customers who would like to buy solar equipment; the rate of interest is as low as 4% p.a.

Banks have also initiated a feasibility study to make rain water harvesting mandatory in all the Bank’s owned premises. In December 2009 Indusind Bank inaugurated Mumbai’s first solar-powered ATM as

part of its ‘Green Office Project’ campaign titled ‘Hum aurHariyali.

With the solar-powered ATM, the banks are expecting to save around 1,980 Kw of energy annually besides reducing carbon emissions by 1,942 kg. It also expects to save power bills of around Rs. 20,000 per year in urban areas, where it replaces diesel generators with solar

panels.

There are many states including Uttrakhand getting in on the green mortgage by offering subsidized green mortgages so that more home-owners and business owners can “green-up” their buildings. In addition to help save the environment by using less energy, these mortgages offer many advantages to consumers by reducing the money spent on high

utility bills and on high costs of obtaining a mortgage.