Manipal: Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal National Energy conservation day by inaugurating an Energy Management Hub in the University here on Saturday. It was formally inaugurated by Dr. PLNG Rao, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and later a walkathon was also held to create awareness on energy conservation. It was flagged off by the Registrar, Dr. Narayana Sabhahit.
The Energy Management Hub will monitor all the sub-stations and air conditioning plants on the campus. Real-time data availability helps in efficient monitoring and troubleshooting if there is a breakdown anywhere. The platform can be further enhanced to integrate remote controls from the EMH.
At a function held in KMC Greens, Deputy Director General Services Mr. Shridhar Rao explained the significance of the day and the various measures taken at MAHE like replacement of conventional transformers by energy efficient 5 star rated low loss transformer, power quality improvements, energy-efficient pumps/fans/blowers, efficient light, LED replacements, HVAC – replacement of old units with energy-efficient systems, optimum design of diesel gen-sets for autoload sharing of day load vs night load and lastly Solar Lighting and heating.
“The University has been adopting energy efficiency measures across functions since the past two decades and has achieved ISO 50001 certification for energy management in the year 2016,” Mr. Rao said. Speaking on the occasionMrNarasimhaPandit, Superintending Engineer MESCOM who was the chief guest gave information about India’s energy status and mentioned that for the first time post-Independence the country had surplus energy. He also mentioned that the need of the hour was to go beyond efficiency and increase renewable energy generation.
Director MIT, Dr. Shrikanth Rao was the guest of honor highlighted few facts about the future of the global energy demand and generation mix which was bound to see a shift to non-conventional sources.
Capt. Belliappa, Director Projects spoke of the need to conserve energy and how MAHE has incorporated efficient energy design in buildings now being constructed. Col. Prakash Chandra, Director General Services spoke on energy conservation. He highlighted some of the measures taken by the University to conserve energy. “For instance, 5 lakh liters of water required for hostels every day is being heated through solar heaters,” he said.
And added: “Self-generation of electricity from solar systems accounts for 2% of energy consumption and 50% of the total energy used is from a green source. Other measures like the use of electric vehicles for University guests have helped us prevent carbon emissions to the tune of 18 metric tons in the last year. The University is, therefore, contributing to energy and environment management”.
