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government scheme

opment. On coal shortage, he informed Laying the roadmap for achiev- launched Energy Efficiency Label for
that coal reserves at power plants are ing 24X7 power for all, Singh said that residential sector in India. Developed
for 12 to 13 days at present and the pow- this will be done by strengthening the by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE),
er ministry is discussing the issue with distribution network, improving the this under the aegis of Ministry of Pow-
coal and railway ministries to improve DISCOMs’ health, reducing the trans- er Energy efficiency label programme,
supplies in view of increasing power mission & distribution losses, using for residential buildings will provide
demand. technology to improve billing and col- the information to consumers on the
The minister also claimed that the lection efficiency and energy efficiency. energy efficiency programme standard
present government has re-energised The Saubhagya scheme envisages of the Homes to be constructed across
3.3 lakh villages in the country which providing last mile connectivity and India.
were electrified earlier. About 24X7 electricity connections to all remain- The objective of the labeling pro-
power for all objectives, he said that ing households in rural as well as urban gramme is to make an instrument over
the government has allocated 1.6 lakh areas. Under the scheme — Pradhan the energy performance of a home,
crore for strengthening distribution Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana, which will gradually lead to an effective
tool while deciding over the home pric-
es in the future. It also aims to provide
a benchmark to compare one home
over the other on the energy efficiency
standards so as to create a consumer-

Around 2.5 crore
households were
electrified under
Saubhagya in a record
time of 17 months. The
next goal is the 24x7
power supply
for all households,
says minister

driven market transformation solution
for Energy Efficiency in the housing
sector.
The proposed labeling program is
expected to save a substantial amount
of electric energy through various
energy efficiency efforts in houses
network in the country and the objec- Saubhagya the households are identi- nationwide. With the implementation
tive would be achieved as lot work is fied via the Socio-economic and Caste of Energy efficiency label for residential
being done and there is a requirement Census (SECC) of 2011 and are provided buildings, it is estimated to achieve an
for equipment like poles, cables to im- with free electricity connections and energy saving of up to 40 per cent over
plement that. The minister also asked others were charged a nominal fee of the conventional houses with annual
the states to implement the environ- 500. The scheme aims at providing last savings of 90 Billion Units by the year of
ment norms for power plants by 2024 mile connectivity and electricity con- 2030. Further, the Labeling mechanism
as after that the non-compliant units nections to all remaining households will reduce energy bills for homebuy-
would be closed down. The environ- in rural and urban areas. ers. The likely CO2 emission deduction
ment ministry has prescribed strict by 2030 will be 320 MT CO2 annually.
norms for sulphur and nitrogen emis- Star Labeling launched
sion from coal-based power plants. During the inaugural R K Singh also letters@tehelka.com

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