It began nearly a year ago when they introduced solar panels at the Rajiv Gandhi Medical College. The system could heat 19,050 litres of water everyday and the electricity bill dropped by a remarkable Rs 9 lakh. Buoyed by the success, the technology was soon adopted in other hospitals run by the corporation. "We showed that solar water heating can be commercially viable through this project," says Thane municipal commissioner Sanjay Sethi, the prime motivator behind the conservation drive.
Now the corporation is encouraging existing housing societies to instal solar water heating systems. A 10 per cent cut in property tax is being offered to those who adopt the measure. The cost varies with the size of the building—anything up to Rs 15 lakh. But Sethi says you can recover the cost in three years and the energy savings are dramatic. Those who have installed it are already applauding the move.
To raise awareness, the corporation is also conducting workshops for housing societies, builders, developers and architects. Sethi says the workshops have received a very enthusiastic response. Even banks have come forward with interest-free loans. Non-governmental organisations, colleges and schools too have joined the initiative. They’re holding regular meetings with housing societies and distributing pamphlets.
While the corporation’s solar water- heating project is path-breaking, it has also adopted several energy conservation initiatives which can be emulated in other cities. They’re testing a project where advertising hoardings can be lit by solar energy. This could clearly be of interest in neighbouring Mumbai, where lights on hoardings had to be switched off in the evenings this summer because of power shortage.
The corporation has also adopted an elaborate system for street lighting. The system automatically switches street lights on and off based on programmed information indicating how much light and traffic an area will have at any given time of the night and how much lighting the area will need. This has resulted in savings of Rs 6 crore since the project was initiated two years ago.
They’re also working on a Union government-funded project to save energy in water-pumping. There are plans to instal solar panels to operate the city’s 36 traffic signals as well.
Sethi says his move has not only brought down electricity consumption but also cut down on emissions of gases like carbon dioxide. Even the ministry of non-conventional energy resources has lauded the efforts and circulated the Thane model as one to be followed by other cities.
But Thane has a limited number of solar water heater manufacturers and given the expected demand, many entrepreneurs are now planning to set up shop in the city.At one point, Thane was seen as Mumbai’s lesser cousin. But these new initiatives have proved that the Big Brother needs to learn a lesson or two. So do Delhi and other cities.
Contact: Municipal Commissioner, Thane Municipal Corporation, Dr Almeda Road, Thane—400601, Maharashtra. Tel: 022 25336523.
