Cost-Effective Potential for Improved Energy Efficiency of Key Electrical Products in India

Michael A. McNeil, Maithili Iyer, Steve Meyers, Virginie Letschert, and James E. McMahon, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

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Abstract

The economy of the world’s second most populous country continues to grow rapidly, bringing prosperity to a growing middle class while further straining an energy infrastructure already stretched beyond capacity. At the same time, efficiency policy initiatives have gained a foothold in India, and promise to grow in number over the coming years. For these reasons, a survey of opportunities for efficiency in India is timely. This paper considers the maximum costeffective potential of efficiency improvement for key energy-consuming products in the Indian context. The products considered are: household refrigerators, window air conditioners, motors and distribution transformers. These products are chosen not only because they consume a significant amount of energy, but because each possesses well-understood design options for efficiency improvement. They include end uses in the residential, commercial, agricultural and industrial sectors, and together they account for about 22% of electricity consumption in India. The analysis estimates the minimum life cycle cost option for each product class, according to use patterns and prevailing customer marginal rates in each sector. This option represents an efficiency improvement ranging between 10% and 60%, depending on product class. If this level of efficiency were achieved by 2010, we estimate that total electricity consumption in India could be reduced by 2.5% by 2020. Using a detailed shipments forecast and stock accounting model, we estimate national energy savings and economic impacts for products of these classes sold between 2010 and 2020. We find a potential for savings of over 150 million tons of oil equivalent and over 500 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions avoided. Net present financial savings of this efficiency improvement totals 5.5 billion dollars.