Thursday, December 25, 2014: Shopping malls and hospitals in Hyderabad might soon get picked up under the energy conservation plan. The plan was originally set in picture more than an year ago, but it had, then, undergone a setback due to the bifurcation of the state, while leaving Hyderabad at high rises. Presently, the Energy Conservation Mission is operating only for Andhra Pradesh.
As per the recent reports, the principal secretaries of both states have agreed up on dividing the SECM (State Energy Conservation Mission) and claims that the process will be taken ahead within next few weeks. After this, the energy conservation measures for Telangana and ECB Code for high rises in Hyderabad will be set in place.
The Energy Conservation Building Norms (ECB) Code has not yet been implemented. However the energy conservation measure like LED lighting and replacing old pumpsets with energy efficient pumpsets have already been initiated. As per the Energy Conservation Mission (of the undivided state), the ECB Code was set as a mandatory measure for all non-residential buildings, high-rises residential buildings, hospitals and multiplexes coming across the state. However, this mission not being divided after the state division has led to huge gap in implementation of the conservation measures.
Thereafter, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency under the Government of India, in 2013 had agreed upon providing financial assistance to the Urban Development Department and the Municipal Administration for the effective implementation of the code to achieve energy saving. The technical committee claims that over 25 to 40 per cent energy can be saved in new building on applying the ECB norms.
