PCRA and UoP also had jointly held a one-day workshop at C K Goyal College in Dapodi recently, as part of its ongoing energy awareness programme. “The consumption of fuel is increasing all over the world. India imports almost 70 per cent of the fuel. Out of the total consumption, 51 per cent of the fuel is consumed in transport sector. Therefore, conserving as much energy as possible is the need of the hour,” said R L Tailor, joint director of PCRA, Mumbai, while talking at the workshop.

The consumption of petroleum in India in 2006-07 was 130 million tonne, which was Rs 4 lakh crore business. Therefore, even if we save two to 2.5 per cent of fuel, we would save Rs 8,000 crore to Rs 10,000 crore every year. One of the ways in which we could save petrol is to shut the vehicle off, while it is waiting at the traffic signal for over 15 seconds, he added. Tailor further said that in a survey conducted by the PCRA, it was found that, India lost Rs 994 crore as vehicles didn’t switch off in the signals. He said that the young volunteers would spread awareness about energy conservation amongst people.