New Delhi: Ministry of Power celebrated the National Energy Conservation Day today at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi under Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. On this occasion Shri R.K Singh Union Minister of Power and MNRE presented 31st National Energy Conservation Awards (NECA), 1st National Energy Efficiency Innovation Awards (NEEIA) and prizes to the winners of National Level Painting Competition on Energy Conservation as per list annexed. Shri R. K. Singh, Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy was the chief guest on this occasion. Shri Krishan Pal, Minister of State for Power, and Shri Alok Kumar, Secretary (Power), Govt. of India, graced the occasion and addressed the gathering. CMDs of Power CPSUs and senior officials from the Ministry of Power were also present at the event.
Addressing the event Union Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy, Shri R. K. Singh, gave heartiest congratulations to all the winners and specially to the winners of innovation awards.
Shri R K Singh said that, it gives me enormous pleasure to address the thisgathering consisting of heads, managers, CEOs and executives of numerous industrial sectors, establishments, and organizations, who are the shining stars of Energy conservation movement. As you all are aware, one of the priorities of our government is to provide universal energy access at affordable prices and on a 24/7 basis. In the recent few years, India has made significant progress in village electrification and providing electricity connections to households, he added.
Shri R K Singh highlighted that in the Power sector, we have brought total transformation in the past five years by adding 142 GW generation capacity, connecting the entire country into one grid, and achieving the vision of one grid, one market. India has been transformed from an energy deficit to energy surplus nation. The availability of Power in rural and urban areas has increased tremendously in comparison to 2014 said the minister. Power is available for a duration of close to 22 hours and close to 23.5 hours in rural and urban areas respectively.
The minister also said that the transformation is not just in capacity but also with respect to the energy mix, energy intensity and emission intensity. He informed that, India has achieved the NDC target of having 40% energy production from the non-fossil sources. This achievement has happened way in advance of our target date. We have one of the lowest per capita emission in the world and in absolute terms it comes to 3% of the total emissions.
Under the Gram Ujala Scheme, a target of 10 lakh LED bulbs have been distributed today in 5 states, for which the minister congratulated CESL. Distributed in rural areas of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Telengana and Andhra Pradesh, at a highly subsidized cost of Rs 10 rupees in exchange for working incandescent bulbs, it heralds immense saving of energy, as also saving for the consumer. He credited BEE on saving around 300 million tons of CO2 by their various schemes like Perform, Achieve, Trade, (PAT). After second round of PAT we have achieved emission reduction of 66 Million tonnes per annum.We are aimed at achieving 175 GW of renewable energy by 2022. 150 GW has been generated while 63 GW of renewable energy is still under generation. The decoupling between growth and energy consumption has happened, we have to push harder said the minister.
The minister stressed upon the notion that energy transformation alone will not suffice and efforts must also be undertaken to store energy. 1 Unit of energy saved results in 1 Unit of energy generated. Banks will have to realise that energy efficiency saves money and it is not just for good environment but also the reflection of economics.
The Minister said, large industries have already accepted the benefits of energy efficiency and I found the conscious need to save energy spreading in our country.
Shri Singh complimented the BEEfor initiating new awards called National Energy Efficiency Innovation Awards to promote innovation in the energy sector. He congratulated all who won the award this year. He urged all others to come forward and identify other innovative mechanisms to reduce energy consumption and participate in this award.
The Minister concluded by saying that all the efforts that are been undertaken by the concerned stakeholders will help us to realize the vision of a greener and healthier India.
On the occasion, the following documents were released by Shri RK Singh and by Shri Krishan pal Gurjar:
A) Standard and Labelling Programme for High-Energy Lithium-Ion Traction Battery Packs and Systems: The EV battery accounts for about one-third of the total purchase price of an EV, bringing down battery costs through rapidly scaling production and standardizing battery components could be a key element of long-term success for India’s electric mobility sector.
B) Standard and Labelling Programme for Tyres: The Tyre industry is dominated by the replacement market by vehicle owners, who are totally unaware of wastage of fuel on account of inefficient tyres. To provide consumers an informed choice BEE has launched Standard & labelling program covering tyres for Passenger Cars (C1), Light duty vehicles (C2) & Heavy-duty vehicles (C3), meant for manufactured, imported and sold in India. Star label criteria are based on Rolling Resistance Coefficient (RRC) of tyres.
C) ‘Shunya’ Labelling Programme Promoting Net Zero Energy Buildings: There is huge growth potential of building sector and therefore to enhance the scope of existing Building labelling Programme, the Shunya programme for Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB) and Net Positive Energy Buildings (NPEB) is launched. The buildings having 10 ≤ EPI ≤ 0 kWh/m2/year, will be awarded by Shunya Label, while the buildings having EPI < 0 kWh/m2/year will be awarded by Shunya+ label. The programme will encourage the building owners and promoters to make energy efficient buildings and further making improvements to make it net-zero or net-positive energy buildings.
D) Guidebook on “Awareness Generation on Energy Efficient & Thermally Comfort Buildings”: Media plays an important role in taking information to the public. The guidebook covers information on the design of energy-efficient buildings, key features, important national and international policies, etc. The Centre for Media Studies (CMS) has developed the manual along with BEEP after running a series of training programs and fellowships on the subject of building energy efficiency. Additionally, a guidebook for Training of Trainers has also been developed.
E) Cloud-Based Data Analytical Tool for SMEs: The objective of the tool is to analyze the energy-efficient technologies, measures and renewable energy technologies in process application in 5 MSME sectors. The tool is developed through data collected from energy audit activities, technology, implementation supports.
F) 1 million LED bulb distribution: Under this initiative, a total of 10 lacs LED bulbs are distributed in a single day across 2579 villages in five states – Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka. In this program, 7-Watt & 12-Watt LED bulbs against replacement of working incandescent bulbs for price of INR 10 each, which comes with a guarantee period of three years from the date of purchase.
Speaking on the occasion Shri Krishan Pal Gurjar said that he is excited to be part of this Energy Efficiency Day. He said that this is milestone in recognising Energy Efficiency efforts at groud zero. He also congratulated all the awardees at the event.
In his address Shri Alok Kumar said that this is a very special Energy Efficiency Day as we are also celebrating Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav . He expressed his happiness in informing that Ministry of Power has been undertaking several events across India in villages , towns, cities and schools to spread awareness on energy efficiency.
He said that we are committed to achieve the targets announced by Hon’ble Prime Minister at COP 26.
Stakeholders from different multilateral and bilateral organisations including awardees and winners also participated.
