The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, presented the 11 National Energy Conservation Awards – 2012 to Indian Railways, the highest ever by any Indian industry, for the remarkable achievements by its Zonal Railways in Energy Conservation initiatives during the year 2012, at a function here today.   In order to intensify the energy conservation initiatives, Ministry of Power has instituted “National Energy Conservation Award” which is given on National Energy Conservation Day on December 14 every year.  These awards are given to 11 major category (like Railways, hospitals, office buildings, industry, power plant etc.) covering 35 different subsectors of large and medium scale industries mainly on the basis of improvement in specific energy and energy conservation initiatives.  Chairman, Railway Board, Shri Vinay Mittal, Member Electrical, Shri Kul Bhushan and other Railway officials were present among others on the occasion.

Awards for the above including Railways category are decided by ‘Award Evaluation Committee’ under Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) based on approved evaluation criteria.  Electrical Energy Management (EEM) Department, Railway Board is a permanent member of Award Evaluation Committee. Total 87 awardees out of total 773 applications were selected (1^st Prize – 29 nos., 2^nd Prize – 26 and Certificate of Merit – 32 Nos.) for National Energy Conservation Awards 2012.  

To proliferate energy conservation measures on Indian Railways, for reducing the energy intensity and electricity consumption, Electrical Energy Management (EEM) Directorate of Railway Board has enunciated a number of policies for implementation by Zonal Railways.  To give a focussed attention in this direction the year 2011-12 was also declared as “The Year of Green Energy” by Indian Railways and dedicated efforts were made for creating awareness for green energy initiatives, tapping non-conventional energy resources, energy conservation measures etc.  These efforts have resulted into a reduction of 1.03 per cent of electricity consumption for non traction application (2458.34 Million unit during 2011-12 as compared to 2483.96 Million units during 2010-11) despite about five per cent increase in connected load.

The eleven awards received by the Railways are as follow:-

A.   Zonal Railway Category;

1.    Northern Railway – First

2.    South East Central Railway – Second

3.    Central Railway – Certificate of Merit

4.    Western Railway – do

B Office Building Category: (Open category at National level)

(a) Category – I (consumption less than 10 lakh unit/year)

5.  DRM Office Ambala/Northern Railway  –  First

6.  DRM Office Varanasi/Northern Eastern Railway – Second

7.  DRM Office Jodhpur/North Western Railway –  Certificate of Merit

(b) Category –I (consumption more than 10 lakh unit/year)

8.  DRM Office Ahemdabad/Western Railway  -  First

C. Hospital category: (Open category at National level)

(a) Category –I – consumption less than 10 lakh unit/year

9.  Divisional Hospital, Izzatnagar, North Eastern Railway – First

10. Divisional Hospital Guntakal, South Central Railway – Second

11. Divisional Hospital, Bhopal, West Central Railway – Certificate of Merit

AKS/HK/LK/TR