BANGALORE: Encouraging the state government to implement Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) in its buildings, Director General of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), Ajay Mathur on Monday said the government must show commitment and lead the way.
“Data collection (on energy conservation) in public buildings can then be used to prove the methods at the private sector,” he said at a one-day workshop conducted by the Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited (KREDL) to discuss the implementation of ECBC.
Mathur added that commercial space in the country was growing at a rate of 9 per cent per year while the rate at which energy was consumed grew by 13 per cent annually.
“Air conditioning is the biggest contributor to this huge energy consumption,” he said. The ECBC is a set of guidelines for the construction of an energy efficient buildings which would cut down power consumption.
The BEE, according to Mathur believed in training all stakeholders involved, including architects, engineers and masons. “We will be having a training program me for them,” he added.
Admitting the state government was losing a lot on power, Energy Minister Shobha Karandlaje said saving available power was the need of the hour.
“According to our records nearly 2,000 MW is lost. We believe it is possible to save up to 16 Million Units (MU) in a day by encouraging energy efficient buildings,” she said.
The Minister added that KREDL must look at contacting buildings, which consume more energy and convince them to shift to more efficient systems.
Karandlaje said irrigation pump sets should be changed into more efficient ones. “Irrigation pump sets are not metered for various political reasons. We must at least focus on changing to energy efficient pump sets in districts that consume the maximum power,” she added.