Green Skills
What the exam tests
Green Skills items cover sustainable development, the waste hierarchy, renewable and non-renewable energy, energy and water conservation, e-waste, green jobs and India's climate commitments.
Core rules
- Sustainable development means meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs (Brundtland, 1987).
- Waste hierarchy, best first: refuse or prevent, reduce, reuse, recycle, recover (compost or energy), dispose.
- Segregate at source: wet biodegradable (green bin), dry recyclable (blue bin), hazardous (red bin, for paints, chemicals, batteries), and e-waste separately because circuit boards, CFLs and batteries carry heavy metals.
- Renewable: solar, wind, small hydro, biomass, biogas, geothermal. Non-renewable: coal, petroleum, natural gas, and nuclear fuel, all finite.
- Energy efficiency: BEE star ratings, LED lamps, switching off idle loads, servicing equipment, using daylight.
- Water: rainwater harvesting, drip irrigation, fixing leaks, reusing grey water.
- India's Panchamrit pledge at COP26: 500 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030, 50% of energy from renewables, one billion tonnes of emissions avoided, emissions intensity cut 45% by 2030, and net zero by 2070. The National Action Plan on Climate Change runs eight national missions.
- Green jobs measurably preserve or restore the environment: solar technician, waste manager, energy auditor, water treatment operator.
Worked example
A workshop replaces five 60 W bulbs with 9 W LEDs, each used 5 hours a day. Old: 5 x 60 W x 5 h = 1,500 Wh = 1.5 kWh per day. New: 5 x 9 W x 5 h = 225 Wh = 0.225 kWh per day. Saving 1.275 kWh per day, about 465 kWh a year, roughly 3,720 rupees at 8 rupees a unit. Reasoning to show: convert watts to kilowatts, multiply by hours and by the number of fittings, then annualise by 365.
Marks-losing traps
- Calling reuse recycling; a refilled bottle is reused, not recycled.
- Saying renewables have no environmental impact; manufacture and land use count.
- Swapping the 2030 targets with the 2070 net-zero year.
- Treating e-waste as ordinary dry waste.