New Delhi, Dec 14 (UNI) With the use of energy efficient technology, the government today said it aims to conserve about 10,000 MW of power in the 11th Five Year Plan, helping the exchequer save Rs 50,000 crore.

''We have targeted saving 10,000 MW through energy conservation in the five-year plan,'' Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said while addressing a National Energy Conservation Day function here.

This conservation will result in avoiding investment of Rs 50,000 crore in electricity generation, he added.

He said the present shortages of 15,000 to 16,000 MW may be overcome by practicing energy conservation and efficiency.

He informed that the Chief Ministers' conference on Power in May 2007 resolved to undertake Demand Side Measures.

Power Ministry has already initiated schemes for lighting, building and the agricultural sector, an official release said.

Another lighting programme, Bachat Lamp Yojana, is likely to be announced shortly and would provide the CFLs at the cost of incandescent bulbs by using the CDM revenues.

''Energy conservation efforts need to be translated into a mass movement so as to be inculcated in daily lives. It needs to be imbibed and practiced by all citizens and must become a way of their lives,'' he said.

UNI