Shri R.K. Singh, Union Minister of Power and New & Renewable Energy today announced various initiatives being taken by Government of India towards energy efficiency in the building sector, as part of 'Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav'. 

While inaugurating  “Aiming for Sustainable Habitat: New Initiatives in Building Energy Efficiency 2021” which was virtually  launched today by Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Union Minister Shri R.K .Singh reiterated his commitment to ensure continuous efforts to enhance energy efficiency in the economy, especially in the buildings sector. He congratulated BEE for organizing the launch event and suggested all officials to continue to strive to remove all barriers in implementing Energy Efficiency in the Buildings sector, creating energy efficient demand and energy efficient designs.

Addressing  the gathering, Shri R.K. Singh said that building sector is second largest consumer of electricity after industry but it is expected to become the largest energy consuming sector by 2030. Realizing its importance, the Government of India is focusing on improving energy efficiency across residential as well as commercial building establishments.

Speaking at the event Shri Raj Kumar Singh, Cabinet Minister of Power & New Renewable Energy said that these initiatives will help enhance the energy-efficiency levels in residential buildings across the country, thereby leading to sustainable habitation. With future-driven initiatives like smart home ecosystems, optimizing energy-efficiency in any given structure will surely be the need in the coming years.

Endorsing these new initiatives, Shri Krishan Pal Gurjar, Minister of State, Ministry of Power said that more energy-efficiency means less energy consumption in household and reduced carbon emissions. He added that with all the initiatives launched today,  we will see a better, more efficient residences in future.

Mr. Alok Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Power highlighted  that all these initiatives will go a long way to make India more energy-efficient, and it will be a replicable model across the globe.

The initiatives launched today included:

• Specifying code compliance approaches and minimum energy performance requirements for building services, and verification framework with Eco Niwas Samhita 2021.
• The web-based platform ‘The Handbook of Replicable Designs for Energy Efficient Residential Buildings’ as a learning tool, which can be used to create a pool of ready-to-use resources of replicable designs to construct energy-efficient homes in India.
• Creating an Online Directory of Building Materials that would envisage the process of establishing Standards for energy efficient building materials.
• Announcement of NEERMAN Awards, (National Energy Efficiency Roadmap for Movement towards Affordable & Natural Habitat), with the goal of encouraging exceptionally efficient building designs complying with BEE’s Energy Conservation Building Codes.
• Online Star Rating tool for Energy Efficient Homes created to improve energy-efficiency and reduce energy consumption in individual homes. It provides performance analysis to help professionals decide the best options to pick for energy-efficiency of their homes.
• Training of over 15,000 Architects, Engineers and Government officials on Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) 2017 and Eco Niwas Samhita (ENS) 2021).

‘Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav’ is the Government's endeavour to commemorate India’s 75th anniversary of Independence.  The commemorations will include 75 events for 75 weeks by the Ministry of Power. 

About BEE:

The Government of India has set up the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) on 1st March 2002 under the provision of the Energy Conservation Act, 2001. The mission of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency is to assist in developing policies and strategies with a thrust on self-regulation and market principles with the primary objective of reducing energy intensity of the Indian economy within the overall framework of the Energy Conservation Act, 2001. This will be achieved with active participation of all stakeholders, resulting in accelerated and sustained adoption of energy efficiency in all sectors.

***

SS/IG