Energy Audit on government buildings to reduce bills

Continuous monitoring of power consumption and checking losses has become a key issue in modern times, especially when power tariffs are rising as the cost of production of electricity is spiraling upwards due to various reasons.

Hence, to put a check on unwanted energy consumption and thereby cut down electricity bill, REI Electronics, a private limited, recgonised by the Government has began Energy Audit of twelve Government buildings in city.

The audit will identify areas where power is being wasted and help to plan and implement energy saving techniques. The auditing is done as part of the Solar City project under Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited (KREDL).

In the first phase energy auditing is being done at the Deputy Commissioner's office, Chamundi Guest House, District Court, Regional Commissioner's Officer, CADA Building, KR Hospital, Cheluvamba Hospital, Mysore Medical College, Government Printing Press and the PKTB Hospital.

In second phase, energy auditing will be done at buildings housing Government aided organsiations like Mysore University, Karnataka State Open University and others.

After the completion of the auditing based on the Detailed Project Report (DPR), officers of KREDL will think of steps to curb wasteful energy, which could result in savings of lakh of rupees on electricity bill. The DPR will provide information of areas where energy efficiency can be improved further by adopting latest technologies.

KREDL Project Engineer DK Dinesh Kumar said that as per a pilot study it is observed that around 20 to 30 per cent of power is wasted in each building. Stating only by conducting an Energy Audit, energy efficiency can be improved, he said that the auditing officers will calculate the energy consumption of each building, electricity bill that is being currently paid and suggest to what extent power savings can be done.

By the end of this month techniques to save power in government buildings will be developed. Plans have been made to rope in private companies, who are ready to invest money running to lakhs of rupees, but will eventually get back their returns every month in the form of savings.