RAJKOT: Gujarat's 'solar city — Rajkot in Saurashtra — is being globally recognized as a case study for reducing carbon emissions. As per report by World Resources Institute (WRI), a US-based organization, presented at the UN Climate Change Conference in Peru, Rajkot will be able to reduce 14 per cent cent of its carbon dioxide emissions by 2016.
The announcement was made at Lima on Monday where WRI, C40 and Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) launched the first Global Standard to measure greenhouse gas emission from cities.
Rajkot was selected as part of C40 Cities network in 2011. The city adopted Global Protocol for Community-scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories (GPC), a gold framework standard to establish credible emissions accounting and reporting practices. These can help cities develop an emissions baseline and create targeted climate action plans.
Rajkot was adopted as a pilot city along with Guangdong in China, Johannesburg in South Africa, Rio De Janeiro in Brazil and Wellington in New Zealand.
Alpna Mitra, officer on special duty (OSD) at Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC), said the city was included due to its successful implementation of solar energy.
"By 2016, we strive to achieve concrete results. The first goal is to make the civic body more eco-friendly. Accordingly, two out of three zonal offices of RMC run on solar energy. Post an energy audit in 2011 to ascertain the usage pattern for public amenities, we replaced majority streetlights with low energy consuming LEDs. All public parks have solar energy-run lights and most government buildings would soon follow suit," she said.
Rajkot is also the first city in the state that has made installation of solar water heaters on residential high-rises mandatory to get the BU permission. A by-law has been amended for this purpose. The RMC also provides tax rebate as one-time incentive for the same.
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