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  Channel NewsAsia 6 Jan 06
Education parks spread energy conservation message in India
By Channel NewsAsia's India Correspondent Vaibhav Varma

NEW DELHI : Vast shortfalls in power and rising consumption in India have put renewable methods of power generation in the spotlight.

The renewal energy message is being taken to the people through renewable energy education parks.

A 0.6 hectare facility in East India's Kolkata city is one of some 150 of such parks in India. Each facility costs up to US$200,000. They have been set up by the Indian ministry of non-conventional energy sources and local state agencies as part of a drive to take the idea to the people.

Exhibits like solar powered street-lights, model generators and mini-hydel and bio-diesel plants are a huge learning experience for visitors. Said Dr SP Ganchaudhury, director of the West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency, "Children can go and see what are bio-fuel plants, and how seeds are crushed into oil through a machine, how they can run it. This type of participating in energy related issues -- we thought that it would make some impact on the children and also to the general masses."

The focus is bringing usage of renewable energy into daily life, and spreading an awareness of alternative means to bridge the widening power shortfall.

Said Vineet Saini, a visitor to the park, "In the coming time you have to switch to non-conventional sources of energy like solar energy, bio-gas, tidal, geo-thermal. In general the masses are not aware of these non-conventional sources of energy. I feel these types of parks are a motivation for the common man."

India faces a shortfall of 13,000 megawatts of power daily; it gets worse during the peak summer months. The inefficiency of state electricity boards has also been responsible for poor distribution. Some see diversification into renewable sources of energy as a way out of these problems. - CNA /ct
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