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India, being one of the fastest-growing economiess in recent times, has witnessed a rise in energy consumption with associated implications on energy availability and energy security. The country recognizes these challenges and has accelerated its efforts with varied degree of success by initiating various programs, policies, and required institutional arrangements to ameliorate these challenges. This paper attempts to review the development of nation’s policy programs to trace the progress so far, in terms of energy efficiency and conservation. Energy being a cross-sectoral issue has been dealt with holistically in this paper, with special reference to the policy instruments that have been instrumental in realizing the energy-saving potential and in integrating renewable energy in building sector. Further, an attempt is made to draw the success/failure with respect to various policies and programs, along with a detailed analysis of various missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an analysis of life-cycle assessment (LCA) of Jatropha biodiesel with a view to outline the environmental quality norms of Jatropha biodiesel. The underlying issue is that biofuels need to mitigate the effects of climate change and provide sustainable energy alternatives to fossil fuels. Thus, there is need for empirical evidence on the sustainability of Jatropha biodiesel in order to inform both biofuels policies and development of options for technical intervention to improve the environmental footprint of Jatropha biodiesel. Ten LCAs of Jatropha biodiesel are analyzed in this paper. The paper considers impact categories, which include energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) balance, land-use impact, acidification, and eutrophication. The general trend emerging from this analysis is that although Jatropha biodiesel has positive energy and GHG balances, there are site-specific variances and numerous opportunities for improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]