Energy audit is a fact finding exercise with feasible solutions, and is of particular relevance in energy intensive industries like steel, cement, paper etc.

Kolkata , June 26

Stressing on the key role of renewables in the area of energy management, Mr Sunil Mitra, Principal Secretary, Department of Power and Non-Conventional Energy Resources, Government of West Bengal, said that energy audit in the State's power plants offered a golden opportunity to earn wealth through CDM projects and carbon credits trading.

(Energy audit, unlike financial audit which finds faults, is a fact finding exercise with feasible solutions, and is of particular relevance in energy intensive industries like steel, cement, paper etc.)

Talking to Business Line at the sidelines of a workshop on `Energy management and green house gas accounting in industry', organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management, Kolkata, he said a CDM exercise had been taken up in the State's power sector and the road ahead was one of enormous possibilities.

Complimenting the State Renewables Energy Agency under the leadership of Mr Gon Choudhury, which has taken up effective projects like the one at Sunderbans, Mr Mitra said energy demand management had strong implications on overall policy. Using rice husk as fuel to generate power in the Sunderbans area (rice husk-based gasifier plants) can fetch substantial carbon credits for the State, he said.

India, 6th largest consumer

Earlier, addressing the workshop participants, he described India as the sixth largest energy consumer in the world. While the growth rate in energy demand here is quite high, the per capita consumption is still quite low. Mr Mitra also conceded that energy conservation in the State's power sector was still at a nascent stage.

Prof S.C. Bhattacharya, Adjunct Professor, Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management, and Special Advisor, International Energy Initiative, in his keynote said the key challenge before Indian industry was the climate change constraints.

The industry may face Green House Gas emissions constraints after 2012, when the first compliance phase mandated by the Kyoto Protocol for Annexe countries is completed.

Cautioning that peaking of oil production in the next 20 years or so may create an unprecedented energy crisis world over, Mr Mitra said facing the climate change threat through use of low carbon fuels and reduced fuel consumption was of utmost importance. He urged the Indian industry to focus on energy demand management programmes.