Indian president calls for broader energy security measures

Current energy resources are inadequate.

President Pranab Mukherjee noted that India is the fourth biggest consumer of energy in the world, after US, China and Russia. Energy intensity, a measure of energy efficiency of an economy, indicates that India uses more energy to produce one unit of GDP compared to the UK, Germany, Japan and the U.S.

Mukherjee said that to achieve a high growth rate while meeting the energy needs of the population poses a challenge for India. It calls for higher energy production and devising measures that promote energy efficiency.

He said India must explore alternative energy models to reduce its dependence on conventional sources. A greater intensity of science and technology in the energy sector is also required.

There is need for domain knowledge, for developing capabilities and strengthening systems through innovation. He said that UPES, as a specialized energy university, has a crucial role to generate state-of-art knowledge to fulfill the needs of the energy sector.