India’s growing cooling needs affecting ozone layer
Wednesday - September 19, 2018 4:03 pm ,
Category : WTN SPECIAL
WTN- India’s aggregate cooling requirement will increase by eight times in the next 20 years, says a study.
As we celebrated Ozone Day on September 16, the government came out with an advisory to reduce our cooling needs in a bid to save environment. The India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) – a first of its kind in the world – among other things, sets guidelines for stakeholders to reduce energy consumption for cooling by as must as 30 per cent by 2017-38 from current levels.
The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has earlier recommended to fix A/C temperature at 24 degrees, though the government is not yet mandating it, leaving it to the fair judgment of the people. Instead, it is presently issuing advisories to people and commercial establishments on ways to reduce energy consumption for cooling needs by finding other alternatives or setting A/C temperature to 24 degrees.
The plan, released by Union environment minister Harsh Vardhan complies with the Montreal Protocol and Parish Agreement to meet the challenges of climate change by reducing the use of ozone depleting substances. India is though one of the lowest per capita energy consuming countries for cooling.
Compared to the US, which consumes over 1,800 KWh per person on cooling energy, India uses less than 70 KWh. The global average is upwards of 270 KWh per capita. However, this cannot be a reason for solace and excuse. We need to take steps from today to save ourselves from reaching a stage from where it gets difficult to come down. If the projections are to be believed, cooling of building sector is set to rise 11 times in the next two decades, while there will be five times rise in transport air-conditioning and four times in cold storage sector. Such growth is indeed seminal and if we follow the same practices 15 years from now, we will end up being a major contributor in global warming.
The ICAP thus comes up as a very important tool to guide commercial buildings and establishments as well as individuals to locate ways to reduce dependence on ACs for cooling. Government establishments and offices must be mandated to use ACs at a set temperature. This will be an example which private entities can imbibe.
Apart, direction must be given on building construction and designing so that the office space doesn’t heat up and ACs are not much used. Green building is the need of the hour and for years talks are on to promote green buildings for energy conservation but still we only have very few green buildings around.
The government buildings at least must be made green buildings with extreme measures to get them adopt environment-friendly measures. Private firms and offices too must be encouraged to establish green buildings, keeping the needs of the future in view. More trees and greenery around office buildings and homes is a sure shot way to reduce temperatures to ambient levels that will lessen the dependence on ACs and thus adequate plantation must be promoted on commercial and public campuses.
-Window To News
As we celebrated Ozone Day on September 16, the government came out with an advisory to reduce our cooling needs in a bid to save environment. The India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) – a first of its kind in the world – among other things, sets guidelines for stakeholders to reduce energy consumption for cooling by as must as 30 per cent by 2017-38 from current levels.
The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has earlier recommended to fix A/C temperature at 24 degrees, though the government is not yet mandating it, leaving it to the fair judgment of the people. Instead, it is presently issuing advisories to people and commercial establishments on ways to reduce energy consumption for cooling needs by finding other alternatives or setting A/C temperature to 24 degrees.
The plan, released by Union environment minister Harsh Vardhan complies with the Montreal Protocol and Parish Agreement to meet the challenges of climate change by reducing the use of ozone depleting substances. India is though one of the lowest per capita energy consuming countries for cooling.
Compared to the US, which consumes over 1,800 KWh per person on cooling energy, India uses less than 70 KWh. The global average is upwards of 270 KWh per capita. However, this cannot be a reason for solace and excuse. We need to take steps from today to save ourselves from reaching a stage from where it gets difficult to come down. If the projections are to be believed, cooling of building sector is set to rise 11 times in the next two decades, while there will be five times rise in transport air-conditioning and four times in cold storage sector. Such growth is indeed seminal and if we follow the same practices 15 years from now, we will end up being a major contributor in global warming.
The ICAP thus comes up as a very important tool to guide commercial buildings and establishments as well as individuals to locate ways to reduce dependence on ACs for cooling. Government establishments and offices must be mandated to use ACs at a set temperature. This will be an example which private entities can imbibe.
Apart, direction must be given on building construction and designing so that the office space doesn’t heat up and ACs are not much used. Green building is the need of the hour and for years talks are on to promote green buildings for energy conservation but still we only have very few green buildings around.
The government buildings at least must be made green buildings with extreme measures to get them adopt environment-friendly measures. Private firms and offices too must be encouraged to establish green buildings, keeping the needs of the future in view. More trees and greenery around office buildings and homes is a sure shot way to reduce temperatures to ambient levels that will lessen the dependence on ACs and thus adequate plantation must be promoted on commercial and public campuses.
-Window To News
