Certification Course on Home Energy Audit

• 27 Dec 2021

For Prelims: Meaning of ‘Home Energy Audit’, Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), Energy Efficiency and Conservation and Related Initiatives.

For Mains: Significance of Home Energy Audit in reducing carbon footprint and improving energy efficiency.

Why in News

Recently, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has launched a Certification Course on Home Energy Audit (HEA) during National Energy Conservation Week: 8^th–14^th December 2021.

• Earlier the BEE had felicitated various industrial units, institutions and establishments with 31^st National Energy Conservation Awards (NECA) on the occasion of National Energy Conservation Day (14^th December) to showcase India’s achievements in energy efficiency and conservation.

Bureau of Energy Efficiency

• The BEE is a statutory body established through the Energy Conservation Act, 2001 under the Union Ministry of Power.
• It assists in developing policies and strategies with the primary objective of reducing the energy intensity of the Indian economy.
• BEE coordinates with designated consumers, designated agencies, and other organisations to identify and utilise the existing resources and infrastructure, in performing its functions.

Key Points

• About HEA:
  
  • HEA enables appropriate accounting, quantification, verification, monitoring, and analysis of energy use of various energy-consuming equipment and appliances.
  • It also enables the submission of a technical report with feasible solutions and recommendations for improving energy efficiency, with a cost-benefit analysis and action plan to reduce energy consumption.
  • The certification program (Course) will create awareness on the importance and benefits of energy audit and energy efficiency and conservation among students from engineering/diploma colleges.
• Objectives:
  
  • Creation of a pool of professionals to perform home energy audits based on the needs of the consumer.
  • Domestic consumers to get Home Energy Audit carried out through their respective SDA (State Designated Agency) Certified Home Energy Auditor.
  • Dissemination of information and raising awareness among engineering/diploma/ITI students, energy professionals, and industry partners about the importance and benefits of energy auditing, energy efficiency, and conservation.
• Significance:
  
  • It will ultimately lead to a reduction in energy bills and the carbon footprint of the consumer.
    
    • A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases (including carbon dioxide and methane) that are generated by our actions.
  • It will increase employability of youth in the domain of energy efficiency, climate change mitigation, and sustainability.
• India’s Status at Energy Conservation:
  
  • At the COP-26 summit in Glasgow, India announced its plans to increase non-fossil fuel power generation capacity to 500 GW by 2030. India is running what will become the world’s largest clean energy programme, with an aim of having 175 GW of clean energy capacity by 2022.
  • India’s non-fossil fuel-based capacity has met the 40% target under its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) at COP 21.
  • Installed power capacity from non-fossil fuels will go up to 66% by 2030. Also, India has already reached an emission reduction of 28%.

Other Initiatives Related to Energy Conservation

• Perform Achieve and Trade Scheme:
• National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).
• Standards and Labeling.
• Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC).
• Demand Side Management.
• ECO Niwas Samhita 2018.
• Bharat Stage-IV (BS-IV) to Bharat Stage-VI (BS-VI).
• UJALA scheme.
• International Solar Alliance.
• The National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).

Source: PIB