Every day can be Earth Hour Day, say Saatvika Rai and Sonja Koeppel
Every day can be Earth Hour Day, say Saatvika Rai and Sonja Koeppelu00a0
Millions of citizens around the world came together to support Earth Hour Day on March 28. An international event organised by WWF, it is held on the last Saturday of March every year, urging households and businesses to turn of their lights and electrical appliances for an hour. And if you switched your lights off between 8:30-9:30pm, you have helped raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change.u00a0
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Saatvika Rai is a research associate with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), India; and Sonja Koeppel is with United Nations Economic Commission for Europe in Geneva. |
Climate change is caused by GHG emissions from all energy end-use sectors such as transport, industry, buildings, agriculture etc. However, the building sector alone contributes one-third of all GHG emissions worldwide (IPCC). Energy efficiency (including lighting and appliances) is often seen as one of the cheapest options to reduce GHG emissions.u00a0
But what is stopping us from applying energy efficient measures? One of the most important barriers is the higher purchasing cost of efficient equipment, which many consumers either do not want to spend or cannot afford. In the building sector, tenants pay the energy bill, but have no control over the building design and system. Similarly, the appliance manufacturers/ utilities do not have a direct interest in measures to reduce the client's energy use, unless it helps increase their sales.u00a0
The National Building Code of India 2005 (NBC 2005) provides guidelines for regulating building construction activities across the country. It serves as a model code for adoption, containing administrative regulations, development control rules and general building requirements. Further, the Ministry of Power's Bureau of Energy Efficiency has also developed the Energy Conservation Building Code 2006. The purpose of this code is to provide minimum requirements for the energy-efficient design and construction of buildings. Mandatory for commercial buildings and complexes, codes for residential structures are only voluntary.u00a0
However, like other developing countries, political and structural barriers such as lack of government interest in energy efficiency, insufficient enforcement of policies due to inadequate enforcement structures and institutions, lack of qualified personnel and corruption in India have not allowed optimum tapping of this hidden potential in energy efficient buildings. The societal costs of policy tools for green buildings vary between 214 $/tCO2 (i.e. a significant net benefit to society) and 109 $/tCO2. Appliance standards are projected to be especially cost-effective with net societal benefits of -65$/tCO2 in 2020 in the United States and 194$/tCO2 in 2020 in the European Union. However, these small but easy opportunities for energy conservation are often ignored, requiring us to make behavioural or lifestyle changes.u00a0
For those of us looking for ways to reduce our carbon footprints, a good way to start is by reflecting on our own houses, appliances and lighting. Using CFL lights, not leaving appliances on stand-by mode, and of course turning of electrical equipment when not in use are the beginning initiatives. Let Earth Hour Day not be just a single day in a year, but let our actions correspond to it every day.u00a0
