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World Energy Day is celebrated on 14th December to underscore the importance of energy consumption and its use in our day-to-day life, its scarcity and its impact on sustainability of global eco systems. It focuses attention on critical issues facing the future of mankind with respect to energy.
It is not only a day for reiterating past resolutions and taking but also an occasion for building up awareness regarding need for energy conservation, energy efficiency and frugality in energy use. Energy use is a major source of global warming, which has the potential of making the earth uninhabitable. World Energy Day aims at universal public awareness and participation to make it a global movement. This is of utmost importance for sustainable development and survival of mankind on Planet Earth. World Energy Day serves to spell a sense of urgency on the issues involved.
Reserves of all conventional forms of energy are fast depleting. Every day the human population across the world wakes up and uses energy for leading a civilized life. Energy resources are crucial input of human development which comprises providing adequate food, shelter, clothing, water, sanitation, medication, schooling, transportation, industrial applications, access to information, etc.
In short, energy affects all facets of activities related to modern life. Per capita energy consumption is often considered an important indicator of development. As people and nations progress, consumption of energy will increase. The most important source of energy is coal, petroleum products and nuclear energy popularly known as conventional sources of energy.
Why Energy Conservation?
The need for energy conservation and thrifty use of energy arises basically because of its features of universal usage, fast depleting resource and impact on climate change.
Conventional sources of commercial energy comprising of petroleum products, coal, and nuclear energy are available only in limited quantities. At current reserve to production ratio, oil is expected to last around 45 years, gas around 65 years, coal around 200 years. (Source: BP Statistical Review of world Energy, 2004). The above timelines demonstrate the need for urgent world action for funding research and development of alternate energy sources, which are affordable, available in adequate quantity and perennial in nature.
Because of its universal usage, every individual is a stakeholder and if every individual could be sensitised to care about energy usage, the world will be spending much less amount of energy. As energy is depleting fast, it is imperative to conserve energy so that it is available for a longer period. Meanwhile this period can be used to develop alternate sources of energy.
Action Plan
World Energy Day is a big opportunity to help in energy conservation through following initiatives:
Sensitizing different segments of society such as:
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Government
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Industry
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General Public
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Energy conservation based buy/replace decision making
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Pricing of energy and metering specially to economically weaker sections of society
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Trade fairs on World Energy Day
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Painting competition/ function by school on World Energy Day
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Global warming and Technology Transfers
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Need to develop alternate renewable energy sources
Role of Government
By bringing together key Government decision makers on a single platform deliberating the various issues with respect to energy use and abuse, WED can propel suitable Government action such as suitable legislations, policy frame works, institutional mechanisms, making available dedicated energy funds, stressing on energy efficient infrastructure and promotion of energy from renewable sources.
Government can take actions such as imposing carbon tax on inefficient modes of energy generation and use, enacting suitable legislations for phasing out energy inefficient appliances from the market. Also, suitable legislations can be enacted for mandating that all future commercial buildings should conform to energy efficiency standards. India, for example, through the Energy Conservation Act, 2001 intends to prohibit manufacture, sale and import of appliances, which do not meet a certain minimum energy efficiency standard.
Building Code
In India, the Government of India has made it mandatory that every commercial building having a connected load of 500kW or contract demand of 600 kVA and above must conform to Energy Conservation Building Code. Government is generally responsible for roads and railways. As such, Government must provide easy and convenient mass transportation systems, removing congestion on roads. Traffic jam is one big area of energy wastage.
Government can, as a consumer of energy, set an example by promoting energy efficiency in all its actions; for example, having energy audit conducted for its activities/premises, using energy efficient lighting devices, maximizing use of natural lighting and ventilation, using energy efficient appliances, using microprocessor based controls to automatically switch off lights and appliances when not in use, etc.
Industry
World Energy Day can also serve to galvanise the industry into actions oriented towards energy conservation by focusing their attention on the economic benefits of energy conservation as well as building brand equity of being socially responsible corporate citizen. World Energy day will serve to bring home to industry the advantage in having an energy policy and targeted energy reductions. Industry could have energy audit conducted for its facilities so that the inefficient energy usage can be explicitly brought out.
Subsequently, time bound action plan can be implemented. For all new purchase, a policy decision could be taken to use only energy efficient equipment, use energy efficient lighting systems, using microprocessor based controls to automatically switch off lights and appliances when not in use, carry out Demand Side Management by use of demand controllers, intelligent power factor controllers and shifting loads to off peak hours.
The World Energy Day can serve to focus on method of energy conservation by the most important constituent in the whole energy chain – the individual consumer. The individual consumer importance lies in his changing role, which may be a Government Official, an industrialist or an important decision maker. His participation and involvement will lead to energy conservation on a massive scale form simple and small things to highly complex activities.
Renewable Energy
World Energy Day serves to focus the attention of decision makers in directing resources towards energy generation through non-conventional sources on a larger scale. Non conventional sources of energy such as wind, hydel (large, mini and micro), biomass, biogas, biodiesel, geothermal, tidal, solar, nuclear fusion have the potential for being the future sources of carbon neutral energy. Barring hydel and wind, the cost for all the other forms of energy generation is still quite high.
Large-scale generation of energy completely replacing the conventional forms is still a possibility in the distant future. Distributed generation and localized distribution holds potential both as an energy source and a source of employment generation. It is energy efficient as such generation generally uses bio mass, biogas, mini and micro hydels and local distribution makes it avoid T&D losses inherent in transporting power from its source to destination.
Technology Transfers
The effect of energy generation, transportation and use on global warning is well known. As such, it is extremely important that nations, which are on the path of high growth trajectory, do a technological leapfrog for energy generation via carbon neutral technologies. Making available such technologies to growing economies through occasions such as World Energy Day will serve to highlight the importance of free flow of technology for a carbon neutral world. There is no other option else these economies in their quest for growth will adopt the same inefficient technologies adopted by the developed world and push the world towards unsustainability. Also, the developed world must aim at phasing out inefficient technologies.
Leading by Example
Some of the initiatives taken up by TERI on conservation are outlined below. TERI acts on its mandate of sustainable development by advocating the concept of green buildings, which register minimal impact on the environment. In practicing what it preaches, TERI has constructed its buildings in Gurgaon, Bangalore and Mukteshwar, along these lines. Resource- and energy-efficient, these habitats are exemplary constructs demonstrating the sustainable implementation of green practices. The TERI buildings include solar water heaters, photovoltaic panels, gasifiers, underground earth tunnels, absorption chillers, energy-efficient lighting and wastewater recycling etc.
TERI has also introduced GRIHA, a rating system to adjudge the ‘greenness’ of buildings, in order to popularise this initiative. TERI actively interacts with Government and Policy makers and assists them by providing crucial inputs for making policy frameworks. It is very active in interacting with stakeholders at different levels, conducting and managing international events such as Delhi Sustainable Development Summit, etc
All TERI employees put waste paper generated by them in a separate box located in each floor. The waste paper is collected and sent for recycling. Partnering with stakeholders in promoting jatropha plantation
Lighting a billion lives
A total of 1.6 billion people in the world lack access to electricity, and 25 percent of them live in India. TERI has initiated a project called “Lighting a billion lives” through which TERI, aided by donors, distributes solar lantern with charging devices to remote villages to improve their lifestyle by changing from kerosene based lamps to solar lamps which in addition to being environment friendly are carbon neutral. TERI has already taken conscious efforts to estimate its own carbon footprint and take steps to reduce it.
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