Building awareness on energy conservation

Recognizing the importance of inculcating among school children and teachers a sense of respect and responsibility towards energy conservation and its efficient use TERI implemented a pilot project, in 30 elite schools in Delhi, supported by Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Ministry of Power. The target group was so chosen as this segment of society, along with their families and peers, are the major energy consumer defaulters, in contrast to the poorer section of society, which utilize energy only for their basic sustenance. The focus of the project was on two specific areas: ? Development of a national curriculum on energy and ? Conducting a series of events and competitions with the aim of sensitisation and awareness building on energy-related issues. Realising the success of the project at the pilot stage in Delhi, it is only logical enough to carry out the project in different parts of the country so that a larger group is sensitized and made aware of the pressing energy problems facing the country as well as the world in general today. Keeping this in mind TERI intends to replicate the activities that had already been conducted in Delhi so as to ensure maximum sensitisation on issues related to energy conservation and efficiency. TERI proposes to conduct the proposed program in a select city/town in two states/ UTs under each zone mentioned below: North Zone- Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Delhi South Zone-Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Pondicherry, Andamans, Lakshadweep, Andhra Pradesh West Zone - Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Madhya Pradesh East Zone -Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Orissa Northeast Zone - Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya 3000 School students from 100 schools and 200 teachers will be the direct beneficiaries from government, public and private schools. The schools will be in the ratio 5:3:2 respectively. The secondary beneficiaries will be more than 1,50,000 students with an average of 1,200 - 1,500 students per school, 7000 teachers with an average of 40 - 70 teachers per school, administrative staff members, class IV employees of the school, parents and communities. A program is effective only if it is action oriented. But awareness is the prerequisite for any action program. Therefore the proposed project is on awareness that will ultimately lead to action.