The President also presented the prizes to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes for the National Energy Conservation Painting Competition undertaken by the Ministry of Power and Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE). The competition is held every year at the School, State and National Levels. This year, the competition witnessed a record participation of 45 lakh students from 98,000 schools across the country.
Congratulating the children, the Hon’ble President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee said, “I am delighted to see the colorful and inspirational paintings drawn by you in the National Energy Conservation Painting Competition. Children have led the way in promoting conservation of scarce natural resources to ensure a better tomorrow. I am glad to see the involvement of school children to promote the cause of Energy Conservation”.
Commenting on the importance of Energy Efficiency, Shri Pranab Mukherjee said, “Our future progress is determined largely by the level of technology that will drive our economy. Innovation and technology intervention provides the competitive edge that our industrial sector should not be deprived of. Therefore, there is a need to ensure a conducive environment to innovation so that technologies are available that addresses both energy efficiency & climate change”. The direct contribution of policies to reduce energy use during the five years of the Eleventh Five Year Plan period has yielded 10,836 MW of avoided generation capacity. A National Target of increasing the efficiency of energy use to bring about a 20 to 25 percent reduction in the energy intensity of our GDP by 2020, he added. The President recognized various innovative initiatives of Ministry of Power like Perform Achieve and Trade (PAT), Super Energy Efficient Program (SEEP) under National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency.
Calling for a comprehensive approach to Energy Conservation, the President appealed the Nation to conserve energy resources through their utilization in a sustainable manner. He emphasized that efficient use of resources has to begin with efficient use of human resources and this requires building skills, capabilities and systems which ensure higher efficiency in every human endeavor. At the end, Shri Pranab Mukherjee congratulated all the National Energy Conservation Award Winners for their contribution towards sustainable growth of our Nation. He also congratulated the children for their success in Nation Energy Conservation Painting Competition.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia, Hon’ble Minister of State for Power expressed his concern over the limitation of our fossil fuel resources. He further added that our dependence on imported fuel is increasing significantly and any measure to conserve our scarce energy resources helps not only in improving energy security but also allows us to allocate resources to priority areas. He said that “Even though India's per-capita emission of green house gases is much less compared to major economies of the world, the onus of efficient use of scarce energy resource falls on each one of us in global context. Efficient use of energy is an effective mechanism towards reducing global warming”. He appealed all representatives of industries, businesses, corporate organizations and individual consumers to analyze their energy consumption patterns and cut out wasteful usage of energy so that Energy saved could be made available to those who do not have access to it.
Union Power Secretary, Shri P.K. Sinha, in his welcome address congratulated the Award Winners for their innovative steps to conserve energy. He said that the industrial units and other establishments which participated have been collectively able to save about 711 MW of equivalent avoided capacity. Shri Sinha expressed his satisfaction on the tremendous response to the Painting Competition this year, which crossed last year’s record of participation of children. He added that, this year 45 lakh students from all over the country participated in comparison to 30.9 lakhs in 2012 and about 98,000 schools across the country participated in this activity. He said that conserving or saving energy is a national cause and requested all to join hands and work in unison so as to make India an energy efficient country. All of us need to make a conscious effort to embrace energy efficient practices and products in our homes, offices & industries, Shri P. K. Sinha added.
Shri P.K. Sinha commended the work of all the award winners who have showcased their efforts in bringing energy efficiency in their areas of business and contributed to the betterment of national economy. He congratulated the little brand ambassadors for their innovative paintings on the theme of energy conservation.
In his vote of thanks address, Dr. Ajay Mathur, Director General, Bureau of Energy Efficiency, appealed to all energy users of the country and said that “I urge to all the countrymen for putting up their individual efforts to conserve energy in all spheres of life. Energy efficiency paves the way to “Economy that’s built to last” and push us towards Clean Energy Future”.
In this award ceremony, the other Government dignitaries who were also present included Shri Ashok Lavasa, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Power; Smt. Jyoti Arora, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Power and Smt. Neeraja Mathur, Chairperson, Central Electricity Authority. BEE coordinates the Energy Conservation Awards Scheme of the Ministry of Power.
The Award Scheme has been in operation since 1991 and now includes 53 sectors of Industry and other establishments. The responses among the industrial and commercial units have become very encouraging as is evident from the increasing participation level (from 123 in 1999 to 829 in 2013). The awards have been a source of inspiration for the participating units to undertake innovative efforts for saving energy and play a major role in India’s response to reduce global warming.
