At IUST the G20 Presidency Campaign was today kickstarted with the inauguration of the Workshop on, “Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy”, organized by the Department of Electrical Engineering under the aegis of the Dean of Students.  Pertinently, a series of workshops, competitions, exhibitions, training programs, etc. are planned aimed to realize youth engagement to address global concerns highlighted under the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals during India’s G20 Presidency.

In his address, Prof. Shakil Ahmad Romshoo Vice Chancellor, IUST talked about the importance of harnessing renewable energy to mitigate climate change and stressed that it impacts all aspects of human activity. He emphasized that it is a matter of the moment to prioritize developing and adopting sustainable technologies and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. He urged the youth to explore job opportunities in the renewable energy sector and said that at IUST’s Kalam Academy of Skill and Training, special courses would be instituted to impart training in the electric vehicles area, solar power generation among others as in the next decade around 10 million jobs are expected to be created in these sectors which would help our skilled youth to earn a decent living.

  Experts, Prof Prof. Aijaz Ahmad (Electrical Engineering NIT Srinagar), Dr. Danish Rafiq (National post-doctoral fellow, Electrical engineering IUST), and Dr. A.S. Anees (Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering IUST)  through lectures/technical presentations on “Integrating variable Renewable energy challenges & solutions” and “Implementation of Renewable energy-based technologies for energy conservation” discussed energy conservation and gave an overview of Challenges in Indian Energy Security. They emphasized the urgent need for cost-effective renewable energy sources, and said that increasing energy efficiency or reducing the use of non-renewable energy sources are two ways to accomplish energy conservation.

 Dr. Shahkar Ahmad Nahvi, coordinator of the event welcomed the guests and said that the objective of the workshop is to sensitize the youth regarding the importance of energy conservation. Dr. Asifa Baba, (Dean of Students) emphasized that energy conservation is an important step towards energy preservation and encouraged the participants to practice energy saving. Dr. Rumaan Bashir (Dean of School of Engineering and Technology) talked about climatic change and development.

 A quiz competition was also organized and the winners were felicitated with prizes. The Vice-chancellor complimented the organizers for the successful conduct of the workshop.