Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday advocated the need to make solar rooftop plants, solar water heaters and rainwater harvesting mandatory for government organisations and large buildings.
Dedicating to the nation the 1.5 MW rooftop solar power plant commissioned at Jipmer, Mr. Naidu suggested greater adoption of rooftop solar plants, along with ensuring sufficient light and ventilation, in industries and big establishments like universities and government buildings. In this regard, he appealed to all States and local bodies to consider adopting the model building by-laws for new constructions. He also called upon large institutions and public sector organisations to strive towards sustainability in their operations by using renewable energy.
Noting that India was fast moving towards becoming the global leader for ‘energy transition’ and had set the recent landmark of 100 gigawatt of installed renewable energy capacity, the Vice-President called for State, Central and Union Territory governments to work together as Team India to popularise the tapping of solar energy and bring about greater awareness among people on the benefits of installing solar panels on their rooftops.
He highlighted the significance of rooftop solar plants in continuing the momentum of this energy shift by virtue of their use of idle spaces on buildings, generating power close to the point of consumption and reducing transmission losses. He called for massive campaigns to publicise the subsidy programmes for solar rooftop systems and the resultant electricity savings.
Referring to the lessons from the pandemic, Mr. Naidu underscored the importance of ventilation and air circulation in buildings and the need to create living and working spaces with ample ventilation and natural light in order to maintain good health. “Sunlight is a natural disinfectant. Our ancestors understood this – it reflected in their planning and construction of houses,” the Vice-President said. These principles used to be part of our architecture but unfortunately the borrowing of Western models led to a practice where “everything is closed, including the mind also”. He also pointed to the health consequences of people living in congested clusters shut out from natural sunlight and fresh air. Mr. Naidu commended medical institutions like Jipmer for showing extraordinary resolve during the pandemic and rising to the occasion.
