Energy-efficient housing was the focus of a high-level meeting conducted jointly by the Indo-Swiss Building Energy Efficiency Project (BEEP) and A.P. State Energy Conservation Mission (APSECM) here on Friday.
Special Chief Secretary (Housing) Ajay Jain, who participated in the meeting via video-conference, emphasised on the need to create awareness on ‘Energy Conservation Building Code - Residential Buildings’ or Eco-Niwas Samhitha (ENS), even as the State government was preparing to implement global energy efficiency practices in 28.3 lakh houses on a voluntary basis. Mr. Jain said that there was a pertinent need for this intervention with residential buildings becoming the largest end-user of electricity accounting for 38% of the country’s total consumption and 28% in the State. Indo-Swiss BEEP would offer technical support to reduce temperature inside the houses at Jagananna Colonies, thus substantially reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions.
MCT Commissioner P.S. Gireesha announced the implementation of energy efficiency measures and hinted at an action plan being drafted by taking future requirements into account. “We will make Tirupati the most energy-efficient corporation in the country by exploring world-class technologies,” he said.
Joint Collector (Housing) S. Venkateswar said that ENS was an option for stakeholders and not mandatory. AP Southern Discom Chairman and Managing Director H. Haranath Rao said that Discoms would be keen on going for clean energy, given the declining prices in the installation of a solar plant over that of a thermal plant.
Dwelling on the massive training programme mooted for the 13,000 engineers of village/ward secretariats on energy efficiency measures, Sameer Maithel, head of project management and technical unit at Indo-Swiss BEEP, said that Andhra Pradesh was next only to Gujarat and Rajasthan in implementing ENS. SECM Chief Executive Officer A. Chandrasekhar Reddy took part.
