National Energy Conservation Day celebrated at Science City, Regional and Community Science Centres all across the State
GUJCOST and GEDA designed programs on Lifestyle for Environment
In today’s world, energy is not only the future, it drives everything in the present. As a global society, we generate and use more energy than ever before, and the demand for energy is continually increasing.
One way to conserve energy is to optimize energy use. By doing so, we can increase comfort levels in our daily life, as well as our health and of course the health of the planet – expressed Smt. Shivani Goel, Director Gujarat Energy Development Agency (GEDA) while inaugurating a four-day National Energy Conservation Day at Science City.
Citing the recent announcement of Hon’ble Prime Minister on Mission liFE, i.e., the ‘Lifestyle for Environment’, she urged the student participants to come together and take Lifestyle for Environment forward as a campaign and mass movement.
The program was organized jointly by Gujarat Council on Science & Technology (GUJCOST) and GEDA at Science City. About 200 school and engineering college students participated in the program and got a take home message on how to save energy for sustainable living in future.
Shri R. K. Sugoor, Director, GEER Foundation, in his interactive session explained the ways and means of saving energy by giving real life examples. He also discussed the importance of renewable energy sources and the ways of harnessing it. In his words, energy conservation is the decision and practice of using less energy.
Prof. Sukant K Dash, Professor at School of Energy Technology, PDEU discussed the significance of energy conservation for climate sustainability. He elaborated the connection of the energy crisis with the climate change phenomena and ways for its mitigation and adaptation.
Shri J. B. Vadar, Executive Director, Science City, in his brief address, explained that energy saving is the energy generation. With practice of simple tips like switching off the lights when they are not used, students can make a great difference in this mission.
Smt Amita Pandya, Project Executive, GEDA informed that awareness is the key to bring in energy conservation practices. She mentioned various ways of conserving energy for the future generations, by slowly shifting from non-renewable energy sources to renewable energy sources.
Earlier, Dr. Narottam Sahoo, Advisor, GUJCOST welcomed the dignitaries and gave a brief about the program. In his opening remark, he informed that energy conservation matters to one and all, both human beings, wildlife, environment, economy and for future survival. He also explained how GUJCOST and GEDA are having good collaboration programs on energy education and energy literacy with the concept of catching them young.
National Energy Conservation Day has been celebrated on December 14 in India since 1991, to raise awareness among people about global warming, climate change and promote ways of saving energy resources.
Some of the easiest ways to conserve energy is by turning off the lights when you leave a room, walking or cycling to work instead of driving, and unplugging appliances when not in use.
Conserving energy results in lower living expenses as energy savings leads to monetary savings. Along with helping consumers keep more cash in their pockets, it also helps protect the environment from excess resource use and carbon dioxide emissions.
The program has been coordinated through four newly established Regional Science Centres at Rajkot, Patan, Bhavnagar and Bhuj along with Community Science Centres at all districts in the state. There are series of talks, interactive sessions, games, quiz, cross-words, seat and draw, screening of theme-based movies, and hands-on demonstrations which will continue for the next four days at each of the centres.
The program is effectively coordinated by Dr. Poonam Bhargava, Principal Scientific Officer, Dr Payal Pandit, and Shri Pavit Shah, Scientific Officers, Shri Kaushik Patel, Dr. Sangita Rathor, Ms. Jeel Shah at GUJCOST along with Dr. Sumit Shastry, Dr Sumit Vyas, Dr. Girish Goswami and Dr. Rajendra Patel, Project Directors at RSCs and GEDA staff members.