Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh on Saturday called for promoting StartUps in ‘carbon neutral’ building construction and linking them with industry to help India achieve 500 gigawatt non-fossil energy capacity by 2030, as promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at COP26 meeting. Dr Singh was addressing as Chief Guest at the Solar Decathlon India Awards Ceremony. It is an Indo-US joint initiative for clean energy.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Singh urged real estate developers, builders, industry, and academia to find innovative, affordable solutions that adapt to India’s climatic zones and unique needs, address extreme weather events, and reduce risk to lives and property.
Recognizing that StartUps in net-zero carbon emission have started emerging fast in the Indian landscape, Dr Singh promised all financial support from the Department of Science and Technology and at the same time urged businesses to come forward with open arms to adopt such ventures, reads a ministry of Science and Technology press release.
"Ministry of Science & Technology to promote #startups in "carbon neutral" building construction. Need to link these StartUps with industry for sustainable contribution to the world's "clean energy" drive led by PM Sh @narendramodi": Solar Decathlon India Awards Ceremony pic.twitter.com/5lBws7X9Rj
— Dr Jitendra Singh (मोदी का परिवार) (@DrJitendraSingh) July 2, 2022
He said, apart from clean and green buildings, emphasis on clean transportation, solar water pumps and solar-powered refrigeration, clean grid power, electric vehicles are some of the important areas for India’s cleantech ecosystem.
Recognizing the challenge of developing net-zero energy and net-zero-water, Dr Singh congratulated the participants and winners of Solar Decathlon India for taking up real, live building projects and developing innovative solutions. He said Solar Decathlon India (SDI) is helping develop the next generation of architects, engineers, and entrepreneurs who can deliver net-zero-energy buildings.
Dr Singh distributed awards and walked around the poster session and interacted with the young innovators and their faculty mentors.
Dr Singh said, “India has laid out an ambitious plan to address climate change, one of the biggest challenges facing the global community. He said, at the recent COP26 meeting held in Glasgow, Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, presented the Panchamrit plan, India’s five-point climate action agenda. They include 500GW by 2030, 50 per cent of its energy requirements from renewable energy by 2030, Reduction of total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes from now to 2030, Reduction of the carbon intensity of the economy by 45 per cent by 2030, over 2005 levels and achieving the target of net zero emissions by 2070.”
Dr Singh informed us that Solar Decathlon India is a US-India collaboration under an MOU between the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF) and the US Department of Energy. It is conducted by the Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE) and the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS). Solar Decathlon India is supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST).
Dwelling on the theme of Climate Change and Net-Zero: Challenges for the Building Sector, Dr Singh said, globally, the construction and operation of buildings account for 38% of the total energy related CO2 emissions that cause global warming. He said, India is experiencing a building boom, and almost 70% of the floor area that India will have in 2050 is going to be new construction in the next 28 years. This presents a huge opportunity to make 70% of our buildings net-zero by leveraging new technologies and encouraging the use of local, sustainable building materials, the Minister added.
Union Minister @DrJitendraSingh mentioned that Solar Decathlon India (SDI) is helping develop the next generation of architects, engineers, & entrepreneurs who can deliver net-zero-energy buildings.@srivaric @INDOUSSTF pic.twitter.com/4AYgBhz4Rp
— DSTIndia (@IndiaDST) July 2, 2022
Dr. S. Chandrasekhar, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology said that Dr Jitendra Singh gave the full mandate to DST for carbon capture and its utilisation. He described DST’s leadership role in energy efficiency including supporting R&D on thermal comfort, low energy cooling, daylighting, passive design, building automation, and intelligent decision support systems.
Prasad Vaidya, Director, Solar Decathlon India, said “With over 5,00,000 students graduating annually from building sector courses, and over 40 billion square metres of buildings to be built between now and 2050, India has a unique opportunity to aggressively decarbonize this new construction and build a large stock of net-zero buildings. Solar Decathlon India is the hub where this opportunity comes together for the real estate industry to explore climate change solutions with students and faculty, and apply the most feasible technology and design innovations on their projects.”
Dr. Nandini Kannan, Executive Director, Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum, highlighted Solar Decathlon India said “Achieving India’s ambitious climate and clean energy goals will require the development of a globally-trained workforce that leverages technology and cutting-edge research and development to develop innovative, impactful solutions.