Malls, hospitals to be in power save mode

Hyderabad: Measures to bring in high rises, shopping malls and hospitals under the energy conservation plan might kick off soon.

The idea that was floated more than a year ago had seen a setback due to the bifurcation of the state, leaving Hyderabad high rises, which were at the focus of the plan, at a lurch.

Currently, the Energy Conservation Mission is operating only for AP and, therefore, the state is a little ahead in initiating energy conservation measures.

Principal secretaries of both states have now decided to divide the SECM (State Energy Conservation Mission) and the process will be taken forward over the next two weeks, following which energy conservation measures for Telangana and ECB Code for high rises in Hyderabad will be put in place.

“While energy conservation measures like LED lighting, replacing old pumpsets with energy efficient pumpsets have begun, Energy Conservation Building Norms (ECB) Code is not yet seen any implementation.

The mission not being divided after bifurcation had led to a huge gap in the implementation of conservation measures. Moreover, whatever progress took place was in AP as the SECM has been working solely for AP after bifurcation,” said a source.

The Energy Conservation Mission (of the undivided state) had proposed an ECB Code which was supposed to be mandatory for all non-residential buildings, high-rises residential buildings, hospitals and multiplexes that were rapidly coming up across cities.

In 2013, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency under the Government of India, had agreed to provide financial assistance to the Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department for effective implementation of the proposed Code to achieve the targeted energy savings in large buildings.

As per a technical committee, 25 to 40 per cent energy could be saved in the new buildings if they complied with the ECB norms.