A two-day workshop for financial institutions on energy efficiency financing got underway in Dimapur of Nagaland on Monday.
The workshop is being jointly organized by BEE, International Finance Corporation of World Bank Group and Indian Banks’ Association, and co-funded by the European Union.
Resource persons of the two-day workshop are Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd (IREDA) assistant general manager (AGM) KP Phillip and Frost and Sullivan’s sustainability initiatives programme manager Chandan Roy.
Pointing out the erratic and extreme weather conditions of Nagaland in the last few years, State’s chief electrical inspector Er IB Chishi, in his welcome address, warned that the ‘world is waging an invisible war against global warming and people have to take collective responsibility for the predicament we find ourselves in’.
Chishi reminded bank representatives present at the workshop of the objective of the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held from December 2 to 14 at Katowice in Poland – to control the average global temperature from rising above 1.5 centigrade per year.
In his address, Philip explained how replacement of incandescent filament bulbs with light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs could save electrical consumption and even slash bills by thousands of rupees.
He pointed out that while an incandescent bulb consumed two units in two days, an LED bulb consumed the same unit in a month.
Urging people to think out of the box, Philip cited China’s mega ambitious project of releasing artificial moons over Chengdu city to do away with street lights.
Meanwhile, Roy explained why financing was an important aspect, adding that financing could provide the much-needed impetus to conserve energy on a large scale. He hoped that banks would lend a helping hand to various agencies working towards energy conservation.