Living the life, energy efficiently

For those looking to live a cleaner and greener life, Energy Efficiency Matters is a ready reckoner offering easy practical steps to reduce their carbon footprint

Energy Efficiency Matters

Authors: Ajay Mathur & Leher V Thadani

Publisher: Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation and TERI Alumni Association

Price: Rs 299

One of the virtues that many individuals and organisations like to practise today is staying in harmony with nature around them. From merely keeping their surrounding spaces green and clean, the needle on environmental consciousness has moved further to reducing dependence on things with a heavy carbon footprint or that have a harmful impact on the environment.
 

For those who want to tread this path, the TERI Alumni Association has brought out a series of books on topics related to energy, resources, and environment. The idea is to equip readers with “conceptual tools and information” on how to lead a life that is cleaner and greener and in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The books are essentially practical guides detailing the best practices that can be adopted to achieve these goals. There are eight small books themed around rooftop solar, coal, sustainable buildings, nutraceuticals, electricity, clean transport, climate change and energy efficiency.
 

The importance of the series lies in its orientation towards helping individuals change by supplementing the macro discussions around climate change and sustainability with individual action.
 

At the individual level, especially relevant and easiest to adopt is an energy-efficient way of life. Energy Efficiency Matters, one of the books in the series, authored by Ajay Mathur and Leher V Thadani, simplifies the goals and provides a guide for optimising the use of energy and reducing consumption.
 

According to official figures, India’s energy intensity declined more than 20 per cent between 2005 and 2020 and emission intensity decreased by 24 per cent between 2005 and 2016, and the country’s energy use and carbon emissions continue to grow. India’s energy sector, as the writers point out, is the largest contributor to the country’s greenhouse gas emissions (75 per cent) with half of this coming from electricity sector. Within the categories of consumers, households are among the key players since they account for a quarter of the national energy demand.
 

On this premise, the writers have built a case for “robust and holistic action” by a collective cohort of stakeholders. The writers base their approach on both technology and practices for energy conservation and efficiency and believe that consumption in residential applications can be reduced by 58 per cent.
 

The book starts with an explanation of some basic terminology and in that respect simplifies the approach for adoption of energy efficient practices. The authors take it one step further by breaking up the energy or electricity bill and explaining the categorisation of charges. For instance, splitting of the total billed amount into fuel surcharge, fixed rate and taxes have been explained, making it possible for consumers to understand how they are billed and where the scope to cut down on consumption lies.
 

Further, the book moves from the supply part or the bill and metering aspect to the actual consumption of electricity. This is where the optimisation of energy consumption comes in — by household appliances such as air conditioners, refrigerators and heaters and the various efficiency parameters that have been mandated for them. This section is useful because it is written from the point of view of users rather than the manufacturers of appliances. There are tips such as minimal additional energy used by appliances if the tasks are collated rather than when an appliance is used multiple times to deliver the

same benefit.
 

Appropriately titled “Mindful Energy Consumption at Home,” this section goes into the labelling of appliances as laid out by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE). Dr Mathur was earlier the director general of BEE and worked there from 2006-2015. Since 2001, BEE has been pushing for energy efficiency in households, industries, and commercial units. In fact, BEE, an organisation working under the Union ministry of power, used to be called the Energy Management Centre. The name and role change occurred in 2001 with the enactment of the Energy Conservation Act.
 

The book briefly touches on the Energy Conservation Building Code of 2017, which laid down the standards for energy consumption for new commercial buildings through a “design-led” approach. This code is being increasingly adopted through a push from municipalities and local bodies.
 

The book also explains the energy audit as a tool to measure wastage and potential savings, so the attempt is to broadly go through supply, consumption and audit aspects of energy and produce a ready reckoner for the uninitiated.
 

Given the effort is to create awareness and also generate returns for consumers, the value of this book — and indeed the entire series — would certainly be more broad-based if translated in Indian languages, and circulated among various sections of power consumers. Young students who are taught the value of efficient resource utilisation in the context of saving and valuing the environment could also benefit from this focussed work on energy efficiency.