Washington  - US President Barack Obama announced a 2.4- billion-dollar plan Thursday to promote hybrid vehicles and reduce dependence on foreign oil.

The initiative allows companies to apply for grants administrated by the Department of Energy to develop better batteries for hybrid electric vehicles and related technologies and components.

Obama announced the plan while visiting electric power company Southern California Edison's electric vehicle centre in Pomona, just outside downtown Los Angeles.

ICSA India Ltd announced on Wednesday that it has pocketed work orders worth Rs 4.64 billion for a range of electricity and infrastructure projects.

The company, which provides embedded technology solutions for the power sector, said that the fresh orders were received from the Bihar State Electricity Board, the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co and M.P. Poorv Kshetra Vidyut Vitaran Co Ltd,

The first order for supply and installation of rural electricity infrastructure and household electrification in Katihar District of Bihar is valued at Rs 2.54 billion

New Delhi, Mar 16: The Prime Minister''s Special Envoy on Climate Change, Shyam Saran, on Monday underlined the need to make the strategic shift from reliance on fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy.

Saran added that the shift needs to be made now and should not be delayed any further.

"We need to ensure that energy does not become a constraint on our growth. We demand that we make that strategic shift from reliance on fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy and that shift has to start now," said Saran.

Vienna  - The decline in prices of crude oil during the worldwide recession will have consequences for the medium- and long- term for the international oil industry, said the current President of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Sunday.

Speaking at the start of the 152nd conference of OPEC oil ministers in Vienna, Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos warned that the organization already had to to stop long-term investment due to low oil prices.

Botelho, who is Angola's oil minister, also spoke of job losses worldwide in the industry.

Vienna  - Half a week before the Orga

Maputo  - Mozambique's government announced a string of measures to improve access to energy for millions of Mozambicans and to reduce the burden of the sector on state finances, local media reported Wednesday.

The government of President Armando Guebuza announced plans to dismantle the monopoly on fuel imports, invest 8.5 billion dollars in the implementation of a four-year plan to expand electricity nationwide, and expand natural gas output for the domestic and export markets.