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National Energy Conservation Day: Objective
The objective to celebrate the National Energy Conservation Day is to drive mass awareness about the importance of energy efficiency and conservation.
National Energy Conservation Day: Activities
BEE recognizes and encourages endeavors of industries in reducing energy consumption by felicitating them with National Energy Conservation Awards. BEE also awards prizes to the national winners of the annual National Painting Competition on Energy Conservation.
National Energy Conservation Awards
The annual energy conservation awards recognize innovation and achievements in energy conservation by the industries, buildings, zonal railways, state designated agencies; manufacturers of BEE star labeled appliances, electricity distribution companies, municipalities and raise awareness that energy conservation plays a big part in India’s response to reducing global warming through energy savings. The awards are also recognition of their demonstrated commitment to energy conservation and efficiency. The scheme has motivated industry and other establishment to adopt energy efficiency measures.
39 sub-sectors of Industry, thermal power stations, office buildings, BPO buildings, hotels, hospitals, shopping malls, zonal railways, railway workshops, railway stations, municipalities, State Designated Agencies and manufacturers of BEE Star labeled appliances / equipment and electricity distribution companies are included in the Awards. In total there are 56 Sub-sectors from the above main sectors.
Electrical energy savings is calculated in terms of equivalent avoided capacity (mw) per year by the participating units through implementation of energy saving projects.
Painting Competition on Energy Conservation for School Children
The Ministry of Power has launched the National Awareness Campaign in order to promote energy conservation in the country. Painting competition for students at the School, State and at National level has been included as one of the activities of the campaign, which would not only make aware the children about the need of conserving energy but at the same time would educate and involve their parents as well in the above cause. The identified activity is one of the measures, which can help in creating awareness in the domestic sector. In order to strengthen and for added cognizance, higher classes of 7th, 8th and 9th standards have been included from 2013 in addition to existing classes of 4th, 5th and 6th Standards.
The competition is being held at three stages, namely, School, State and National Level. Students of 4th, 5th and 6th standards under Group ‘A’ and of 7th, 8th & 9th standards under Group ‘B’ are eligible to participate in the competition. Cash prizes worth Rs 95,000 per State/UT per Group is distributed to State level winners on day of the Competition. For winners of both the Groups of National Competition, cash prizes worth Rs. 10.35 lakhs is awarded by the Ministry of Power on 14th December ie. National Energy Conservation day.
What is the Energy Conservation?
Energy conservation is the effort made to reduce the consumption of energy by using less of an energy service. This can be achieved either by using energy more efficiently (using less energy for a constant service) or by reducing the amount of service used (for example, by driving less). Energy conservation is a part of the concept of Eco-sufficiency. Energy conservation reduces the need for energy services and can result in increased environmental quality, national security, personal financial security and higher savings. It is at the top of the sustainable energy hierarchy. It also lowers energy costs by preventing future resource depletion.
Energy can be conserved by reducing wastage and losses, improving efficiency through technological upgrades and improved operation and maintenance. On a global level energy use can also be reduced by the stabilization of population growth.
Energy can only be transformed from one form to other, such as heat energy to motive power in cars, or kinetic energy of water flow to electricity in hydroelectric power plants. However machines are required to transform energy from one form to other. The wear and friction of the components of these machine while running cause loss of quadrillions of BTU and $500 billions in industries only in USA. It is possible to minimize these losses by adopting green engineering practices to improve life cycle of the components.
Initiatives Taken by Indian Government to Conserve Energy:
- Standards and Labelling by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE)
This program is intended to reduce the energy consumption of appliances by providing the consumer with an informed choice about the energy saving and thereby the cost saving potential of the product. It was initiated for equipment and appliances in 2006. - 2Energy Conservation Building Codes (ECBC) by the Ministry of Power
ECBC was launched by the Ministry of Power in 2007, as an effort to promote energy efficiency in the building sector. The laid down design norms meant that ECBC-compliant buildings may use 40 to 60% less energy than other buildings being constructed at the time. - National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency (NMEEE) under NAPCC
NMEEE is one of the eight missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), with the main aim of strengthening the market for energy efficiency. By the use of innovative policies and effective market instruments, the Government of India wanted to promote energy efficiency in the market through a regulatory and policy regime. - School Education Program by Bureau of Energy Efficiency and NCERT
By virtue of the establishment of Energy Clubs in schools, BEE is promoting the significance of energy efficiency in the next generation. It is also implementing the Students Capacity Building Programme under the Energy Conservation awareness scheme and is looking to create text/material on Energy Efficiency and Conservation to be incorporated into the existing NCERT textbooks. - Promotion of Energy Efficient Light Bulbs – UJALA Scheme
The UJALA acronym stands for “Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All”, and the scheme aims at promoting efficient lighting for the masses which reduces electricity bills and thereby, also preserves the environment. It is achieving its goal through Efficient light bulbs like Light-emitting Diode (LEDs) which consume only one-tenth of the energy used by an ordinary bulb and provide the same illumination output. The Electricity Distribution Company and Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) have been tasked with implementing this scheme across the nation. - Promotion of Electrical Vehicle – National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP)
The Government planned to achieve 6-7 million sales of hybrid and electric vehicles in India by 2020, under NEMMP. The main objective is to achieve national fuel security, and at the same time, reduce the adverse impact of vehicles on the environment. The Government announced tax cuts and slashed GST rates to encourage the purchase of electric vehicles in India.
Importance of Energy conservation:
The earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs but not every man’s greed said Gandhiji. Hard facts on why energy conservation is a must are outlined below.
- We use energy faster than it can be produced – Coal, oil and natural gas – the most utilized sources take thousands of years for formation.
- Energy resources are limited – India has approximately 1% of world’s energy resources but it has 16% of world population.
- Most of the energy sources we use cannot be reused and renewed – Non renewable energy sources constitute 80% of the fuel use. It is said that our energy resources may last only for another 40 years or so.
- We save the country a lot of money when we save energy – About 75 per cent of our crude oil needs are met from imports which would cost about Rs. 1, 50,000 crore a year
- We save our money when we save energy – Imagine your savings if your LPG cylinder comes for an extra week or there is a cut in your electricity bills
- We save our energy when we save energy – When we use fuel wood efficiently, our fuel wood requirements are lower and so is our drudgery for its collection
- Energy saved is energy generated – When we save one unit of energy, it is equivalent to 2 units of energy produced
- Save energy to reduce pollution – Energy production and use account to large proportion of air pollution and more than 83 percent of greenhouse gas emissions
An old Indian saying describes it this way – The earth, water and the air are not a gift to us from our parents but a loan from our children. Hence we need to make energy conservation a habit.
