The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)

In news: The Energy and Resources Institute’s (TERI) flagship event- the World Sustainable Development Summit, will be held online from 10th to 12th February.

A brief note on TERI

TERI is a research institute located in New Delhi that specializes in the fields of energy, environment and sustainable development.

Origin:

• Established in 1974, it was formerly known as the Tata Energy Research Institute.  As the scope of its activities widened, it was renamed The Energy and Resources Institute in 2003.
• Its origin lies in Mithapur, a remote town in Gujarat, where a TATA engineer, Darbari Seth, was concerned about the enormous quantities of energy his factory spent on desalination. 
• He proposed the idea of a research institute to tackle the depletion of natural resources and energy scarcity. J. R. D. Tata, chairman of the TATA Group, liked the idea and accepted the proposal. 
• Dr R K Pachauri was the founder-director of TERI
• On the invitation of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, TERI was registered in Delhi in 1974 as the Tata Energy Research Institute

Activities of TERI

The scope of the organisation’s activities includes climate change, energy efficiency, renewable energy, biotechnology, and social transformation. Following are the some of the initiatives of TERI;

• World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) – An annual summit which facilitates the exchange of knowledge on diverse aspects of global sustainable development.
• Lighting a Billion Lives – An initiative to provide clean lighting access to the bottom of the pyramid communities.
• Green Olympiad – Conducted in association with MoEF, it is an international environment examination that is annually organized for middle and high-school students.
• Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA): It was conceived by TERI and developed with Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, is a national rating system for green buildings in India