THOMAS CALLS FOR A FUTURE FRAMEWORK FOR CLEAN ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES

The Minister of State for Agriculture, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Prof. K.V. Thomas has said that technical standards can play a more pivotal role in achieving a low carbon and sustainable energy future.

Inaugurating a seminar on tackling the climate change through standards on the occasion of World Standards Day here today Prof. Thomas said that standards have actively propagated use of new energy-generation and efficiency-enhancing technologies like CFLs, involving green buildings, solar, wind, tidal, geothermal, hybrids and combined cycle energy systems, which can become the engines of growth for this century, while efficiently combating climate change.

He stressed on the fact that although many low-carbon technologies exist which have the potential to significantly reduce global emissions, there is still need for more enabling frameworks like pertinent technical standards and specific policy responses to support their rapid deployment.

The Minister stated that impact of climate change on the environment can be reduced by efficient use of energy and other natural resources, increased use of renewable raw material, increased reuse, recycling and recovery, greater use of non-conventional energies like solar and wind, use of alternative bio-fuels, CNG etc. He called upon all the stakeholders to collaborate in drawing a future framework for research, development and demonstration of clean energy technologies combating climate change and their economic implementation.

On the sustainable development path to be taken by India, the Minister emphasized on need to conserve our resources, including fossil fuels and promote energy efficiency.

As renewable energy assumes a crucial role for adaptation to climate change, new technologies for conservation of water, drought proofing agriculture, more accurate modeling of monsoons would be required, and in this backdrop, standards assume great importance in the dissemination of new technologies, new business methods, good management and conformity assessment practices, making them an invaluable source of knowledge and technological know-how, Prof. Thomas pointed out.

He urged the companies to develop and deploy technologies and products that are more environment- friendly, and incorporate environmental considerations into their operations and procedures as part of their shared responsibility to ensure sustainable development. He said that citizens on their part can embrace a lifestyle that considers the environment and limits resource consumption in their daily lives.

Referring to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Minister said that India as a responsible country is playing its own role in this global cooperative regime and Prime Minister is himself chairing the National Council on Climate Chang to underscore the importance of climate change impacts on our national developments.

He expressed happiness over the commitment of the Bureau of Indian Standards, the National Standards Body, in increasing the effectiveness of their procedures and initiatives for identifying national as well as market needs and opening new work areas which has led to the formulation of a number of Indian Standards on these aspects.

Dr R A Mashelkar, CSIR Bhatnagar Fellow, Shri Rajiv Agrawal, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, DG, Bureau of Indian Standards, also spoke on the occasion. (EOM)