The Hindu : National : Manmohan Singh: energy efficiency must be an issue of national priority

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Saturday, Apr 14, 2007
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Manmohan Singh: energy efficiency must be an issue of national priority

Special Correspondent

Immediate steps necessary, he tells Greenpeace delegation

— Photo: AFP

RENEWABLE ENERGY CAMPAIGN: Indian Greenpeace activists stage a protest against global warming with copies of a report enclosed in ice-slabs, in New Delhi on Friday. They met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and presented him the report.

NEW DELHI: Energy efficiency should be a national priority. It will be important to consider immediate steps towards achieving it such as phasing out electric bulbs, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told a Greenpeace delegation that met him here on Friday.

The team presented a report "Energy [R]evolution: a sustainable energy outlook for India" to the Prime Minister.

G. Ananthapadmanabhan, Executive Director, Greenpeace India, said: "We were happy to see that the Prime Minister is very concerned about climate change and is looking for solutions."

The report provides a practical blueprint for stabilising India's carbon emissions at current levels while providing the same amount of energy as projected by the Power Ministry. According to the report, renewable energy, combined with efficiencies from the `smart use' of energy, can deliver half of India's primary energy needs by 2050.

In another meeting with Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Climate and Energy Campaigner K. Srinivas said Ms. Dikshit was committed to energy efficiency and was clearly supportive of the initiative. The Chief Minister reportedly said the Delhi Government would actively consider banning the bulb and also promised to take up the matter with the Centre.

Greenpeace will launch a countrywide campaign to seek legislative measures to phase out the incandescent light bulb in the coming week. The campaign will seek to establish the first step in energy efficiency in India by banning usage of inefficient lighting and ushering in a shift towards energy efficiency by the large-scale adoption of compact fluorescent lights.

The 100-page Indian report has been developed by specialists from the Institute of Technical Thermodynamics at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and forms part of the Global Energy Outlook, which offers solutions to reduce global CO2 emissions by 50 per cent by 2050. The Energy Outlook gives a detailed analysis on how to restructure the global energy system based only on proven and sustainable technologies such as renewable energy sources and efficient, decentralised cogeneration.

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