(Daily News Scan - DNS English) Renewable Energy Day - 20th August
Important Points:
The world is facing issue of increasing temperature. The level of water in the ocean is rising. Forests around the world have reduced to a great extent. Countries around the world are worried about this serious issue and working towards finding ways to conserve and restore the environment. The Indian government is also taking steps and measures to conserve the environment and make use of the natural resources in a better way. In order to promote the use of renewable energy resources, Indian government has declared AUGUST 20 as National Renewable Energy Day.
In this DNS we will know about this day and the steps taken by government for using renewable energy resources.
The Late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was born on 20th August, to honor him The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) Govt of India has declared this day as National Renewable Energy Day. To celebrate this day the MNRE had introduced a programme Rajiv Gandhi Akshay Urja Diwas. This day is celebrated every year since 2004.
The purpose of introducing this programme was to generate awareness and popularize the need, benefit and use of renewable energy devices. Renewable resource are the ones that can renew or replenish on its own like solar energy, wind energy. This is done naturally over a period of time.
Akshay Urja Divas is a step towards creating awareness about the development of renewable energy. The main target groups of this campaign are the school and college students. The prime motive of this day is to inform the users about the developments and enhancements made to utilize the energy resources.
Energy consumption in India has increased. The increase in consumption is probably expected between 1250 -1500 ton in 2030. The increase has various factors behind it such as increase in income and economic growth. Demand for energy services like lighting, cooking, industrial production etc increased with time. The Indian government has taken two approaches to cater the energy demand of the country. The first is to ensure minimizing the emission of CO2 and secondly it is ensuring increasing use of renewable resources. The government is promoting greater use of renewable energy through solar and wind power.
The Government of India enacted the Energy Conservation Act 2001, to promote energy efficiency in the country. The Bureau of Energy efficiency has also come up with an action plan for energy conservation that includes schemes to promote saving of electricity awareness campaigns, paintings competition for children and national energy conservation Awards.
The MNRE is promoting new technologies and devices for commercial purposes, like biogas plant, solar water heaters and cookers, street lights, wind electric generators, water pumping wind mills and small hydro electric generators. The government is also working towards developing advanced technologies for generating renewable energy like geothermal energy, ocean energy, bio fuels and tidal energy to attain future energy requirements. India is blessed with forests and natural resources. We as human beings need to bring change within ourselves and try to protect our natural environment. It is very important to promote the benefits of conserving energy. Renewable energy is obtained from natural resources, adopting technologies that will protect our environment and reduce pollution is necessary now, and we can promote it through various public awareness campaigns. Renewable energy resources and energy conservation are the major steps towards ensuring energy security and a green planet for our future generations.
