Collaborating for Efficient, Clean Energy Use

Climate Change: Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Context

To sustain equitable growth, access to energy for all is essential. In India, the challenge lies in meeting the increasing need for energy while taking into account the consequences this may have on the environment and on climate change. The poor and disadvantaged are more vulnerable to the consequences of climate change with natural disasters such as droughts, cyclones and erratic weather occurrences affecting their lives and livelihoods on a greater scale. Providing them with access to energy services is therefore as vital as to strengthen their ability to adapt to climate change. These measures contribute substantially to the reduction of poverty. One of the main difficulties is the lack of technological solutions and appropriate capacities to develop and also transfer them. Small scale industries contribute considerably to the economy, yet they do not have access to efficient and clean technologies yet.

Switzerland, in 1991, celebrated 700 years of its existence. On this account the Swiss parliament approved a one-time credit of 300 million Swiss Francs. This money was earmarked to finance global environmental programmes and projects in developing countries. Switzerland and India have both signed the Kyoto Protocol, an international environmental treaty adopted in 1997 that binds signatories to achieve “stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system”. Under this, the Global Environment Programme (GEP) was developed, which enabled SDC to support developing countries in implementing the UN conventions concerned with global environment. Within the framework of this GEP, SDC in India started a programme promoting clean and renewable energy in various sectors, while looking at energy efficiency and climate change.

The Government of India (GoI) recognizes the need for a national strategy to adapt to climate change and to ensure ecological sustainability of India’s development path. The National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) released in June 2008 outlines existing and future policies and programmes addressing climate mitigation and adaptation, including energy efficiency.

In 2008 Switzerland adopted a bill named the ‘South Message’ regarding its development cooperation with developing countries, which underlines Switzerland’s contribution in shaping a pro-development globalization.

“India and China will account for 45% of the increase in global primary energy demand by 2030, with both countries more than doubling their energy use over that period.”1 “Most commercial buildings in India

have energy performance index (EPI) of 200 to 400 kWh per square meter and year. Similar buildings in North America and Europe have an EPI of less than 150 kWh per square meter and year.” 2 “Energy saving potential in public buildings in India ranges from 23 to 46 percent.” 2 “487.2 million people in India do not have access to electricity, which equals the total population of the European Union.” 3

1International Energy Agency (IEA) World Energy outlook 2007. 2 Bureau of Energy Efficiency, 2007. 3Human Development Report , United Nations Development Programme, 2007/08.

Fac

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SDC in India

Collaborating for Efficient,

Clean Energy Use

CE

Objective

The overall goal of this programme is to

enhance the use and delivery of environment

friendly and efficient energy in rural areas,

in the building sector, and in micro and

small

of new technologies to benefit all

stakeholders involved.

Response

Since 1992 SDC in India has been working continuously in the energy and environment sector, focusing

on the use of renewable energy, technology transfer in the refrigeration sector, and the promotion

of energy efficiency in small and medium enterprises. SDC’s and its partners’ approach has been to

design, develop, and adapt energy efficient and environment friendly technologies in cooperation

with industry associations as well as with entrepreneurs. At the same time the capacity to deal with

these new technologies was strengthened at the local level. Once the benefits were demonstrated,

the technologies could be replicated in select areas across India. SDC also looked at social and health

issues of employees and workers of these enterprises and supported their initiatives to improve

their and their families working and living conditions. SDC’s energy programme for the coming

years benefits from all these experiences. Consistent with the new realities, the new programme

focuses on energy efficiency in small and micro industries and buildings as well as renewable energy

development. The programme also looks at implementing minimum energy efficiency standards for

the design and construction of new buildings for commercial use. This will be approached through

cooperation with multiple stakeholders, and by bringing Swiss expertise into the construction sector

to India. The main idea is to build a network between Indian and Swiss institutions to encourage the

exchange of ideas and enhance the technical capacity in both countries. Furthermore SDC seeks to

upscale and adapt energy efficiency in micro, small, and medium enterprises.

To ensure better access to clean energy services for the rural poor, SDC India gives attention to

strengthen access to electricity in rural areas. While supporting initiatives to generate power through

hydro and biomass locally, these projects in the long run would feed into the national power grid,

therefore enhancing its capacity.

In addition SDC strives to establish knowledge platforms to share approaches of efficient energy

use and to collaborate with different stakeholders including donors, government institutions, the

private sector, and non-governmental organizations to find solutions at national and international

level.

Photo © Richard Gerster

Partners

Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE); The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI); Development Alternatives; Gram Vikas; Ministry of Environment and Forests; Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA); Sorane Sa (Swiss engineering consultant company specializing in energy efficient design for new or renovated buildings); INFRAS (Swiss private and independent consulting group); SKAT (Independent Swiss organization working in the fields of development and humanitarian aid).

Achieved and

expected results

•

In 2001 SDC conceived a bilateral project to

reduce the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in

the refrigeration sector. CFCs are mainly used in

the refrigeration and air-conditioning sector and

are substances that contribute to the depletion

of the ozone layer, which is also a cause for

global warming. The fridge production company

Godrej and Boyce Manufactures Ltd. converted its

refrigerators from using ozone depleting substance

to using ozone friendly blend of isobutane and

propane.

•

The Vertical Shaft Brick Kiln (VSBK) developed in

China is a very energy efficient brick production

technology. It has been successfully transferred

to India and then to other countries such as

Nepal, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Vietnam

through effective regional cooperation models for

technology transfers.

•

So far through the adoption of energy efficiency

measures in micro, small and medium enterprises, a

cumulative CO2 reduction of 340,000 tons has been

achieved.

•

Through public-private partnerships, measures

for energy efficiency and renewable energy – as

outlined by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium

Enterprises (MSME) – would be implemented in the

construction sector.

•

Models for efficient energy services for the rural

poor would be established with provision of

decentralized renewable energy services.

•

In the future, energy efficient technologies and

practices by private and public enterprises in

the building and the micro, small and medium

enterprises sector will be adopted on a large scale.

Projects

Duration of project: Three years from 2009. Phot o © B enoit M ar quet/UNDP

Impact

Success Story: Energy efficiency in small

industries

Since 1994, SDC in India together with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Development Alternatives in New Delhi, have partnered to develop innovative solutions to energy, environment, and social issues of energy intensive small scale industrial sectors. The sectors identified for interventions are iron foundries, glass making units, brick producing units, as well as biomass gasifier based thermal applications. In each of these sectors, demonstration units were set up to showcase energy efficient and environment friendly technological solutions. To spread awareness, replication units in each of the sectors were supported. All these interventions also stressed on making technological solutions more holistic and integrate social concerns of the workforce for them to improve their own and their families lives. A bottom-up approach was adapted to encourage greater participation of industry associations in the decision making processes, which helped in integrating the concerns of local industry in the overall project design. The solutions were developed by working as much with local consultants as with national and international experts. The demonstrated technological solutions have significantly improved energy efficiency and consequently reduced GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions to a great extent. The cumulative CO2 reduction throughout till 2008 was 340,000 tonnes, which is equivalent to the total carbon sequestered annually from around 70,000 acres of pine or fir forests. The interventions have also resulted in increasing awareness on energy efficient and environment friendly technological options among a large number of small and micro enterprises located across the country. They furthermore have touched the life of at least 25,000 workers in about 500 locations across the country. The new technologies have brought about a sea change in the pollution

Phot o © R ichar d G erst er

levels at worksite in making the workplace cleaner and safer through reduced drudgery and less exposure to heat and pollutants. In the Firozabad glass industry cluster, recuperative pot furnaces designed by TERI were set up in about 60 percent of the units. The response to the new technology in different foundry clusters across the country has been very enthusiastic and biomass gasifiers for thermal applications have been successfully demonstrated in small industrial segments like sweet and savoury making, bakeries and institutional cooking. Meanwhile the capacity of operators, fabricators and other service providers on best operating practices to improve energy efficiency has been steadily improved and technologies have been replicated around 500 times so far throughout India.

Case Study: A charger’s blessing

“One fine morning a worker came up to me. He folded his hands and said: ‘May the Lord bless you with eternal happiness.’ When I asked him why he had blessed me he said: ‘Sir, my name is Ram Kumar. I have been working here for several years. My duty is to charge the cupola furnace with coke. In our old cupola, while I was doing the manual charging on the platform, one day, there was a sudden backfire through the copula-charging door. Look, you can see how my face and neck were broiled in the flames. It took me a long time to recover and to resume my work. With the system you have installed, we now do the charging at the floor level. Our job is easier, since we can carry the material from the yard by wheelbarrow and tilt it directly on to the skip bucket. No longer do we have to carry the material on our head all the way up to that charging platform. Now there is no risk of any accident, even if there is a backfire…’”

B K Rakshit, local consultant, from ‘Towards Cleaner Technologies – A process story in small-scale foundries’, SDC/TERI 2006.