New Delhi, September 07: India hopes to set up by December next year energy efficiency targets for more than 700 industrial units, which account for 40 percent of India’s fossil fuel use, the country’s head of energy efficiency said on Monday.
Energy efficiency is a focus in India’s climate change policy and setting targets for energy-intensive industries marks a step towards initiating a national trading scheme centred on energy efficiency certificates.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved the national energy efficiency plan last month. The program could help India save about five percent of its annual use of fossil fuel by 2015.
The scheme is among a number of emissions reduction measures India has announced that could bolster the nation’s position ahead of a U.N. gathering in Copenhagen at the end of this year aimed at trying to win agreement on a broader pact to fight climate change.
Ajay Mathur, director-general of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, said 714 energy-intensive industrial operations had been identified from nine sectors, including power and cement, which would be measured on efficient use of energy.
“All industrial units within a particular energy efficiency band will get the same percentage reduction target,” said Mathur, who is one of India’s top climate change negotiators.
For instance, the more efficient industrial plants would be assigned a smaller improvement target while less energy efficient operations would be given a tougher target.
“That way the best and the worst both have to improve,” Mathur told Reuters in an interview for Reuters global climate change and alternative energy summit.
—Agencies