Homes get ready for energy conservation building code

The Bureau is also looking at improving the energy efficiency of air-conditioners to save an estimated 40 GW of energy in air conditioning alone, the official said. “We are in the process of developing an energy conservation building code for the residential sector. Architects, technology people and stakeholders are working on it,” Bureau’s Director General Abhay Bakre said. 

The Energy Conservation Building Code 2017 for large commercial buildings with connected load of 100 KW and above or 120 kVA and above was launched in June 2017, he said on the sidelines of Energy and Environment Conclave organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry. According to him, the demand for air-conditioners is set to increase in the country with more availability of electricity and rising income and the load of air-conditioning can be cut down with the intervention of new technologies.

“About 70 lakh air conditioners are being sold yearly in the country. It is expected to reach 1.5 crore in the next 5-6 years. By 2030, there could be possibility of saving about 40 GW of energy for cooling purpose alone if the technologies are improved and available at an affordable price,” he said. Improvement in ratings for air-conditioners and other appliances in terms of energy efficiency is a “continuous process” and these ratings have further been improved from January 2018, he said.

“The improvement of ratings depends on the market transformation with availability of efficient products at affordable price. From 2010 to 2018, we have already improved it by 40 per cent,” he said. Bakre said that the commercial area in the country was expected to be doubled by 2030 and a majority of the upcoming commercial buildings would add to the total air-conditioning space in the country.

“We will try to develop policies which will encourage adoption of most efficient equipment by consumers,” he said, adding that the Bureau is also working at bringing efficiency in buildings so that the air-conditioning load comes down. Speaking on energy efficiency in the industrial sectors, he said, 800 large consumers (railways, distribution companies, refineries) in the industrial sector, which were consuming about 60 per cent of the country’s energy, “were expected to save energy of more than 8 million tonnes of oil equivalent in three years” starting in April, 2016.

“Most of them started doing intervention. We are hopeful that these units would be able to meet the target,” he added.