Cities will be a key player in accelerating renewable energy uptake and driving the energy transition movement. City leaders are focusing on using clean energy to build sustainable and liveable cities for future generations. Since India is among the few countries, which have shifted its focus to generate clean energy, the idea must trickle down at the local level to achieve the desired objectives within the targeted timeline.
National governments generally decide the policies concerning power generation, supply and preferable energy sources. The role of city governments is no less important. Since most of the countries in the world are considerably urbanised, over 70 per cent of energy is consumed in cities. Most of the energy is used mainly for industrial activities, running the government and private buildings, powering homes, municipal operations, and transporting people and goods from one place to another, among many other usages. The role of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and government institutions are of great importance to ensure optimal use of energy and promote energy generation from renewable sources. ULBs can play a proactive role in achieving urban renewable energy targets to encourage the wider uptake of renewables by other stakeholders, including comprehensive policies, awareness-raising and stakeholder dialogue. They should also define their energy targets and work towards achieving them. It will undoubtedly require the devolution of decisive and financial powers allotted to Urban Local Bodies by the central government for advancing in the sector. Municipalities need to enforce stricter implementation of the Energy Efficiency Building Codes’ norms, so the consumption of energy in urban buildings is optimised effectively, and their energy use becomes sustainable and efficient. It is important to note that buildings consume about 40 per cent of a city’s energy. All India Institute of Local Self-Government is implementing the ECBC codes in several states and training officials of municipalities and other governments’ agencies for effective implementation. Cities are also making initiatives at their level for maximising energy efficiency in urban management. According to the Renewables in Cities 2021 Global Status Report, at least 834 cities in 72 countries, covering 558 million people, had adopted a renewable energy target in at least one sector by the end of 2020. Altogether, these cities had a combined total of 1,088 targets, including 653 targets for 100% renewable energy use either in municipal operations or city-wide. While municipal renewable energy targets have grown worldwide, they are most common in Europe and the United States and remain less widespread in Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
The pandemic taught us that reversing climate change impacts is possible. It increased public consciousness to demand clean and healthy environments. Many cities have taken into account the demand of their citizens and have ensured energy efficiency is part of their green recovery plan
Indian cities and EE
As Indian cities transform their municipal operations and provide better facilities to urban citizens, energy consumption is bound to go up. Some reports suggest that the energy demand for running urban India would double in the next ten years. The year 2020 was unusual. The government enforced lockdown directly impacted the cities’ economic activities and resulted in a significant drop in urban energy demand. Urban activities came to a halt and caused a substantial reduction in emissions from cities. People witnessed blue skies and experienced clean air in cities. The pandemic taught us that reversing climate change impacts is possible. It increased public consciousness to demand clean and healthy environments. Many cities have taken into account their citizens’ demand and have ensured energy efficiency is part of their green recovery plan. Citizens have been increasingly active in engaging in the energy transition phase of cities, as well as in creating markets for renewable energy at the local level. It is an excellent time for cities to push for the scaling up of renewable energy generation by encouraging community-led or individual citizen-led initiatives. Smart City Management is also gaining momentum with the creation of smart cities. The most important aspect of this is understanding Smart Energy Management (SEM) ‘s essential components and how those can be integrated into the existing system. Energy management has different aspects, including the right choices for energy generation, well-organised storage systems, grid management, minimal loss supply chain and sustainable use of energy use, and conservation. India’s Smart Cities ecosystem has adopted several measures like introducing green buildings, increased use of sustainable transport options, energy-efficient municipal operations, promotion of star-rated lighting and electrical equipment, etc. The Government of India has several plans to accelerate energy efficiencies, such as National Solar Mission, National Mission for Sustainable Habitat, National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency, Draft National Energy Policy, and Draft National Cooling Action Plan. The union government’s plans and mission also help the local governments layout their own plan of actions to ensure energy efficiency in cities.
Energy efficiency index
The Indian government is making sincere efforts to generate energy from clean sources and optimize energy usage. For this, the Government of India has developed the ‘State Energy Efficiency Index 2019’ to track the progress of Energy Efficiency (EE) initiatives in its states and union territories based on 97 significant indicators. As per the release by the Press Information Bureau (PIB), the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) and Alliance for an Energy-Efficient Economy (AEEE) has developed the Index to help states contribute towards national goals on energy security and climate action. The Index has also encouraged the states to drive energy efficiency policies and program implementation at the state and local level. It is also tracking progress in managing India’s energy footprint and institutionalizing the data capture and monitoring of EE activities by states. The first Index, the “State Energy Efficiency Preparedness Index 2018”, was launched in August 2018. Taking it forward, the State Energy Efficiency Index 2019 incorporates qualitative, quantitative and outcome-based indicators to assess energy efficiency initiatives, programs and outcomes in five distinct sectors – buildings, industry, municipalities, transport, agriculture, and DISCOMs. New indicators for this year include the adoption of the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) 2017, energy efficiency in MSME clusters, etc. The required data were collected from the concerned state departments such as DISCOMs, Urban Development departments and other departments with State Designated Agencies (SDAs). This year, a total of 36 states and union territories have been assessed based on their efforts and achievements in policy and regulation, financing mechanisms, institutional capacity, adoption of energy efficiency measures, and energy savings achieved. Under four categories based on Total Primary Energy Supply (TPES), Haryana, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Puducherry, and Chandigarh have been evaluated as progressive states/UTs in the State Energy Efficiency Index 2019. TPES grouping is to help states compare performance and share best practices within their peer group. The Index categorises states as ‘Front Runner’, ‘Achiever’, ‘Contender’ and ‘Aspirant’ based on their efforts and achievements towards energy efficiency implementation. The top-performing states for 2019 are Haryana, Kerala and Karnataka, which are in the ‘Achiever’ category. Manipur, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand and Rajasthan performed the worst in the Aspirant groups. The new report for the year in not out yet, but the competition to outperform others in such competition could help accelerate the progress in cities’ energy efficiency. Local governments should keep this on top of their agenda.