INTERVIEW
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 Interview with Leena Mehendale, Executive Director, PCRA |
"PCRA has generated sufficient awareness on energy conservation"What is the current scenario regarding energy conservation in the country? How has the scenario changed over the past few years?
Over the last four to five years, and especially in the last two years, the demand for petroleum products has increased tremendously. The question is now of supply. Our domestic finds of crude oil have not increased, and we are importing a lot of crude oil, and then we are refining that imported crude. So, the refining capacity has increased. Therefore, today we are in a position to meet whatever be the demand. In a way you can say that there is no supply shortage of petroleum products. But, for importing we have to spend foreign currency. So, the whole scenario in the petroleum sector is that we have good amount of foreign exchange, we have good amount of crude in hand, and a range of petroleum products. Of course, the demand will also rise in the coming years. And, as the demand rises, we will be in a position to meet the demand. In this scenario, there is a lot of importance of oil conservation. The importance comes under three factors. One, since conservation is linked to efficiency and efficient energy utilisation, it leads to economic development. Two, it is most important for maintaining global competitiveness. And three, conservation of oil is also very important for environmental considerations. So that is where conservation stands today.
How successful has PCRA been on the energy conservation front?
PCRA has been able to generate a sufficient amount of awareness on energy conservation, especially when we regularly conduct ‘oil conservation fortnight’ events. For the last five to six years, we have maintained the tradition of conducting a survey before and after the event. The survey reports strongly indicate that whenever we have the oil conservation fortnight, the awareness levels for the need of conservation goes up. But usually such surveys are restricted to a very small period of 15 days. So this time around, we are going for a survey, which will give us a total assessment of the amount of awareness created throughout the year. Definitely, we find that there is awareness created, especially due to the two new programmes that PCRA has launched. One on the AIR FM channel, and the other on the national Doordarshan channel. We find that every week there are about 300-400 people who are writing to us and giving some kind of feedback. This means that at least these many people are listening to the programmes and listening to our messages and they are getting sensitised on the subject of energy conservation. Again, what happens is that such impacts take place in steps. The first stage is that people should listen to our messages. The second stage is when they understand the message that we are trying to communicate, and understand the bigger issues involved. The third is when they like the particular concept or issue involved and its importance.
What steps is PCRA taking on the consumption and production side?
On the consumption side, we are conducting training programmes in the typical sectors such as transport, agriculture, domestic, and commercial. On the producer side, wherever there are manufacturers, we try and interact with them and tell them the need to promote energy conservation. Definitely, PCRA is also trying to get into meetings and dialogue with various associations of manufacturers and other stakeholders in order to discuss energy conservation aspects with them. In that sense, PCRA and BIS are the agencies, which are playing the role that is complementary to each other. Often, we all work together.
What are PCRA’s activities in the R&D area?
Ideas are generated within PCRA. All the departmental heads sit together and think it over and our minds are attuned to this direction 24 hrs a day. One example which I can give is when we travel on the highways, somewhere we pay a toll tax. Say, when I travel from Delhi to Mathura, I will pay Rs 35 while going as well as coming back. Now it struck us why we should pay this amount while going and coming and experience undue stopping both the time. Instead, we should pay at one place and make the roads freer (as about 99 per cent go and come back unless someone is shifting base). So if we charge the entire amount in one go, it can be charged at one place. This will save a lot of fuel, and also save the government a lot of capital cost. So, such ideas are first generated. Many times we also call meetings of sector experts. Recently, we called a road transport committee meeting where we also called the transport commissioner, people from research institutes, CRRI, and even DTC, to get ideas about conservation opportunities, in addition to sharing their experiences. We have a screening committee for screening R&D project proposals. This is fairly well-represented, with members from IIP, EIL, BPCL, IOC (R&D), LERC, TERI, DST, and our own people.
