The National Energy conservation day is celebrated every year on December 14 since 1991. It was established by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), Ministry of Power. The day celebrates the importance of energy in our everyday lives and its conservation for the future by adopting sustainable practices, simultaneously fighting environmental degradation.

What is energy conservation?

Energy conservation is simply avoiding the unnecessary, wasteful use of energy resources, i.e. reducing the energy consumption. This involves the efficient use of energy by using a better source and a behavioral change to use less of it. When there is an efficient use of energy, there is a smaller carbon footprint and a decrease in the greenhouse emissions. It can be done through –

Improvement in operations, advancement in technology and a change in user behavior. Energy consumption trends are influenced by world’s political scenario, economic growth, tech development and other environmental concerns. In simple words, it is using less, efficient and switch to an environment friendly behavior.

India’s efforts for energy conservation –

Paving the way forward to a sustainable future that is built on the foundation of energy conservation, India has taken a numerable steps in this direction. These are as follows –

• The energy conservation act (2001) – The act was established in 2001 by the BEE, Ministry of Power. It lays down a framework to promote energy efficiency and its conservation through a regulation on energy consumption. The list of standards and regulations are for industries, appliances, vehicles, and other establishments.
• The Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) scheme – The scheme aims to reduce Specific energy consumption (SEC) in the energy intensive industries. As per the Government records, the scheme has been successful in saving Rs 55000 crore annually. At the same time, avoiding CO2 emissions by 110 million tonnes. The features of the scheme are – Designated consumers (DCs), i.e. the energy intensive industries, three year PAT cycle, submission of action plan by the DCs, a mandatory energy audit and certification.
• Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP) – On 5^th January 2015, the scheme was launched as the Unnat Jyoti by affordable LED for all (UJALA) program. Under this, efficient products like LED bulbs, LED tube lights and energy efficient fans are distributed to the domestic consumers. The annual monetary savings under this have been INR 70, 477 crores and estimated energy savings worth 176.2 billion kwh.
• The Go electric campaign – The campaign was launched on 19^th February 2021. With this, the government is creating awareness among the people about electric vehicles and electrical cooking.

For this, the EV yatra web portal and mobile app was also launched on Dec 14, 2022. The portal developed has a National online database of operational public EV charging stations around EV users.

• The energy conservation amendment bill 2022 – The bill amends the 2001 act to:

Achievement of COP- 26 summit, 2021 goals rapidly, which are – Reduction in total carbon emissions by one billion tonnes till 2030, 45 % cut in the carbon intensity of the country.

Introducing concepts which help in the faster decarbonisation of the Indian economy.

• Apart from these, India has also committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2070, open for free trade of Green Hydrogen, co leads the 21^st century Power Partnership Initiative, approved of the UN Paris agreement (2016), the SAARC framework agreement on energy conservation and also co – leads the Bio future campaign. It is also a part of some bi – lateral as well as multilateral campaigns and partnerships that work for the betterment of climate.

The government efforts are fine, but as individuals we too have the responsibility to combat climate change at our levels. We are accountable enough to use energy efficient products, try walking instead of driving all the time or using public vehicles at most or use an EV. There are many ways to ensure that we are doing our bit for the Earth and our future generations.

Despite all the efforts, we are still slow here. It’s high time as India is the third largest consumer of energy in the world. On the contrary, it’s energy efficiency is the fifth lowest in the world. So, is it going to level down or are we going to keep using energy at the same pace and quantity. If we are, then sooner or later, it might be a time to regret.