Building sector in India is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gas emissions. As such, the climate change challenge posed by buildings in India has to be met with measures that go beyond business as usual and leapfrog to cutting edge innovation.
Importance of these initiatives is enhanced as both NZEB Knowledge Portal and NZEB Alliance align with several other initiatives by Government of India and state governments to tackle climate change through energy efficiency and renewable energy.
First and foremost of the synergies is the Government of India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions or INDCs to 21st Conference of Parties (COP21), held in Paris in December 2015. Indian government has committed to reduce emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 percent by 2030 from 2005 level as part of its contributions to the global warming prevention effort. Building sector is one of the larger contributors to GHG emissions currently. Low emissions inherent to NZEBs can reduce GHG emissions from the building sector and converting India’s building stock to NZEB can go a long way in achieving GoI’s INDCs.
The Global Solar Alliance, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of COP21, aims to be a catalyst for development of new and emerging markets for solar technologies. NZEBs and specifically, the NZEB Alliance, can support the objectives of the Global Solar Alliance by creating a demand for solar energy technologies. The NZEB Alliance can also create an ancillary platform to bring together suppliers and users of solar energy.
The NZEB portal and alliance offer significant potential for encouraging local manufacturing sector, the objective of Make in India and Start Up India campaigns. Successful promotion of NZEBs through the NZEB portal and alliance is expected to create demand for extremely energy efficient building technologies and renewable energy generation systems. Localized production can keep them economically viable and within reach of most end users.
NZEBs require renewable energy to offset their energy use. Policies such as solar rooftop scheme, net metering and feed-in tariff are essential to make them functionally and economically viable. It is fortunate that central and state governments in the country have already implemented comprehensive mechanisms for each of these.
Director General,
Bureau of Energy Efficiency