Indian railways carbon emission reduction and energy performance

Abstract

India has ratified the Paris agreement and also committed in its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions(INDC) that it will reduce it's emissions intensity of its Gross Domestic Product by 33 to 35 percent by 2030 from its 2005 level. Indian Railways(IR) played a lead role in the Conference of Parties held in Paris on climate change in December 2015. As a part of Railways' INDC, IR has committed to reduce its emission intensity to the extent of 32% by 2030 by taking series of energy efficiency initiatives [1]. India being the 4th largest green house gas emitter has made a commitment to reduce its Green house Gas emissions in its National Action Plan on Climate Change. National Mission on Energy Efficiency (NMEE) has been instrumental in managing the Energy related efforts towards sustainability. Perform, Achieve and Trade(PAT) is the flagship scheme of NMEE where improvements in Specific Energy Consumption of identified Designated Consumers is contributing to reduction in the Energy in the demand side. Indian Railways is also one of the sectors identified to participate in PAT Scheme. Indian Railways consumed over 17.5 billion kWhr which accounts to 1.8% of total Indian Electricity consumption. Indian Railways paid about Rs 10,000 crore towards electricity charges. Traction constitutes 85% and non-traction constitutes 15% of the energy consumption. In 2014–15, Railways consumed about 2.5 billion units for non-traction electric power with average cost of power of about Rs 6.50 per unit. The initial assessments have brought out that on non-traction side lighting consumes about 25–40%, water pumping 30–35%, fans about 15% and air-conditioning about 10–15% energy. This paper is an in-depth analysis of the Best Available Energy Efficiency options for implementing in Indian Railway stations. Effort is made to provide a library of Energy Audit recommendations applicable to non-traction energy use.