dna Conversations: A sensible policy framework for energy conservation is urgently needed(Part-2)

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DNA : Pricing?

Jain: Exactly! Pricing. Policy. Policy and its implementation. A very simple example, a recent example, is when IOC, BPCL and HPCL said that supply of LPG [cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas] are linked to the Aadhar card to reduce the subsidy bill. Overnight, the bill for gas has come down. I mean, the full programme hasn't even begun, and the consumption has come down.

And even at this stage when the policy stated that people will have to pay Rs.950 per cylinder and that subsidy will be reimbursed to customers only if they are linked to the Aadhaar Card and that only nine cylinders per year would be available for reimbursement of subsidy, people have begun saying that I will have to pay Rs.950, so why not save money? Im anyway getting that subsidy.

Radhakrishnan: The effect was that LPG consumption came down by little over 10%.

Jain: There you are. I was just trying to bring out where those opportunities lie. The opportunity is right in front of you. And whom you want to really subsidise? Most diesel cars are Mercedes or big cars. Many new cars are coming out with diesel versions. Why?

Parasnis: Yeah. I think when it comes to opportunities we have to focus on specific sectors. So if you take the buildings and construction then you must understand that they contribute to 40% of the CO2 emissions. So if we go for green buildings, you could conserve around 20-30% of those emissions and other impacts and the life cycle costs.

So if you want to go into urban areas or rural areas and want to say we want to have good houses, why not have green houses over there. They were there earlier, maybe with different material that was used then. Or the construction type was different then.

Jain: Absolutely.

Parasnis: All the houses in the past were green. Why not now? We need to have some modification over past designs and material. If you talk about transport

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dna Conversations: A sensible policy framework for energy conservation is urgently needed(Part-2)