(Excerpt from Times India) In India, the Energy Conservation Act, 2001, which took effect in 2002, required all large establishments such as industrial units, private and government buildings to undergo energy audits to check whether they were consuming more energy than required. However, seven years down the line, the law still only exists on paper.
The director of Centre for Energy and Environment Management, Sujay Basu, who has done extensive research on the subject, said several large-scale industrial units flout energy audit rules. “It is disappointing that though energy conservation is of utmost necessity now, not much has happened to systematically develop energy audit in a planned manner, he said “The PWD authorities, who have an energy conservation cell, had earlier tried but no system has been developed so far to make energy audit mandatory for all establishments. More coordination among departments concerned [is] needed,” Basu said.
Basu said that the energy audit test was applicable to all industrial and commercial establishments that have power installations of more than 1 MW. But there are several large industrial establishments, such as steel, fertilizer, cement and aluminum factories, power stations and large commercial buildings in various parts of the state, which have not submitted their energy audit reports to the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, a state-run unit.
The industrial units may have prepared their own internal energy audit, but unless that is approved by the state, they won’t know whether they are consuming excess energy. Basu said that energy audits will not only reduce the level of emission, but factories will also be able to reduce their electricity consumption costs.
PWD has, for some time, been planning to have energy audits for Writers’ Buildings and the New Secretariat building to reduce energy consumption at these seats of power. However, the plan is yet to be implemented.
Officials said power consumption at New Delhi’s Banga Bhavan went down significantly after the introduction of solar water heaters. “The use of conventional energy can be reduced by using renewable and pollution-free energy,” said West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation (WBGEDC) managing director S P Gonchoudhuri.
Officials said there is an urgent need to check electricity consumption in the state. The state government has, time and again, tried to enforce and ensure that all large commercial and government establishments have their energy consumption audited, but it has failed to make it mandatory.
The power department is now planning to set up an energy conservation fund, which could be utilized for implementing projects to conserve energy. Talks are on with the finance department on this proposal.
