Cement industry to explore alternate/non-conventional sources of energy

Cement industry to explore  alternate/non-conventional sources of energy
03 December 2007


The cement industry should explore alternate/non-conventional sources of energy. With the ever-growing thrust on conservation of fossil fuel resources, Shri N.N. Prasad, Joint Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), has emphasised that there is a need for integrating the alternate and renewable energy into the system.

“I understand that the cement industry has already made a beginning in this direction. Some of the cement plants have tried waste derived fuels in the recent past. The Government for its part, is giving special emphasis to generation of grid quality power from non-conventional and renewable energy sources, like hydropower, wind power, solar energy etc”, he further stated while delivering the valedictory address at the International Seminar on Cement & Building Materials, here on Friday (30th November) evening. The 4-day (27-30 November, 2007) Seminar was organised by the National Council for Cement and Building Materials (NCB).

While presenting the National Awards for Energy Efficiency, Environmental Excellence and Quality Excellence in Indian Cement Industry for the years 2005-06 and 2006-07, Shri Prasad congratulated all the award winners and underlined the role of NCB in motivating the cement industry for competitive improvement. He further said, these success stories of such plants will generate larger interest amongst the industry and more and more number of plants would join the bandwagon of energy savers.

Giving an overview of the Seminar, Shri M. Vasudeva, Director General of NCB said that the quality of cement and building materials produced in India meets international standards and benchmarks and can compete in international markets. He said the Seminar provided a comprehensive update on cement and construction technologies including related plant and machinery. More than 100 technical papers were presented under seventeen technical sessions including five special lectures during the past four days.

In the special publication brought out on the occasion of the seminar, experts have drawn attention to various issues to achieve higher energy efficiency, environmental standards & productivity in cement manufacture, efficient transport of cement, design of energy efficient and disaster resistant buildings/structures and quality construction through advanced technologies as well as human resource development in the rapidly changing scenario. Utilisation of low-grade raw materials, optimization of mining operations using computer modelling are some of the areas discussed in the seminar. New techniques and strategies for conservation of natural resources have been highlighted in the discussions.
Published under Cement News