Cement, Energy and Environment

Energy Efficiency ENERGY EFFICIENCY MISSION TO KICKSTART IN APRIL The National Mission on Energy Efficiency which received the government's approval will be implemented from 1 April 201 0. An announcement to this effect was made by the Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde recently. The implementation plan prepared by the Ministry of Power and the Bureau of Energy Efficiency seeks to create a market worth Rs. 74,000 crore. The Mission is expected to lead to an annual saving of about 23 million tonnes of oil and avoid capacity addition of over 19,000 MW, leading to C0 2 emission reduction of 98.55 million tonnes annually. To facilitate implementation of energy efficiency projects, a joint venture company - Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) - has been formed incorporating the National Thermal Power Corporation, the Power Finance Corporation, the Rural Electrification Corporation and the Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. The EESL will perform multiple functions assuming roles of an energy service company; a consultancy organization for the Clean Development Mechanism and energy efficiency; and also act as a resource center for capacity building of utilities, financial institutions, etc. Courtesy: Green Energy, Vol. 5, Nov. - Dec. 2009, P29. GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY Energy ministers from the Group of Eight(G8) industrialized countries have come together to establish the International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation (IPEEC), the world's first high-level body intended to enhance global co-operation in the field of energy efficiency. It seeks to elevate energy efficiency advice so that it influences decision– making at the international level. The partnership will also focus on domestic and global finance mechanisms, joint research initiatives, and expanded consumer awareness. To begin with, IPEEC will inventorise member nation energy efficiency policies, besides sharing best practice advice for efficiency standards, codes and labels. A policy example that IPEEC may help spread worldwide is public-private arrangements with energy service companies (ESCOs) to help reduce the client's financial burden (at no extra cost) while enabling the ESCOs to credit the energy savings within a payback period. Another potential policy to be introduced is the purchase of energy efficiency certificates - also known as white tags - in regions that mandate EE targets, e.g. US and EU nations. The International Energy Agency (lEA) will host the IPEEC Secretariate in its Paris headquarters. The partnership was first proposed in 2008 by G8 countries including the United States, Japan, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Russia, and Canada, along with China, India, and South Korea. Brazil and Mexico are the latest entrants into the partnership. Courtesy: Green Energy, Vol. 5, Nov. - Dec. 2009, P9. INDIA:FUEL EFFICIENCY STANDARDS FOR AUTO SECTOR BY 2011 The government is in the final stage of notifying the fuel-efficiency standard for the automobile sector in the country, which will be enforced from 2011, Environment Minister, Mr. Jairam Ramesh, said. At present, the transport sector is placed at number three after the power and agriculture sector as far as the national emissions are concerned. The Minister said that by 2011, it would be mandatory for automobile manufacturers to sell vehicles with energy-efficient tags, adding the information on the labels will have to be certified by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency. The labelling of vehicles will not be based on one standard but different standards for different categories of automobiles such as small cars and commercial vehicles. Also, instead of the California route, which mandates curtail on emissions, India will follow a conventional route of legislating the km per hour figure. Courtesy: REGULATERI, Issue 43, December 2009, P10. ENERGY EFFICIENT BUILDING DESIGN: CONTRIBUTION TO ENERGY SECURITY Mili Majumdar Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment and Priyanka Kochar Centre for Research on Sustainable Building Science, TERI Introduction Buildings are responsible for at least 40 per cent of energy use in most countries. As construction booms, especially in countries like China and India, so will energy consumption. The construction sector in India is witnessing a fast growth due to several factors. Some of the key growth drivers are increased demand for housing, strong demographic impetus, expansion of organized retail, increased demand for 27