Energy Conservation: BEE, Star Labelling and UJALA

Energy conservation means getting the same work done with less energy. For a country that imports much of its crude oil and burns coal for most of its electricity, every unit of electricity saved is cheaper and cleaner than a unit generated, which is why the saved unit is often called the negawatt. Examiners treat this chapter as a law-and-scheme topic: the Act, the body it created, the labels on appliances, the trading scheme for industry and the two big lighting programmes. Learn the names, the years and the agencies, because that is what the question paper asks.

The Energy Conservation Act, 2001

The Energy Conservation Act was passed in 2001 and is administered by the Ministry of Power. It gave India its first statutory machinery for energy efficiency. Under it the Central Government may notify energy-intensive industries and establishments as designated consumers, who must appoint an energy manager, get a periodic energy audit done by an accredited energy auditor, keep records of energy consumed and meet the energy consumption norms fixed for them. The Act also lets the Centre prescribe energy-efficiency standards for equipment and appliances, forbid the manufacture or sale of equipment that does not meet them, and lay down a building code. State governments appoint State Designated Agencies to enforce the Act within the state.

The Energy Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2022 widened the parent Act. It provided for a Carbon Credit Trading Scheme, allowed the Centre to prescribe a minimum share of non-fossil energy for designated consumers, and brought large residential buildings within the scope of the energy conservation code, which was renamed the Energy Conservation and Sustainable Building Code.

Bureau of Energy Efficiency

The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) is the statutory body set up under the Act; it came into existence on 1 March 2002 under the Ministry of Power. Its Governing Council is chaired by the Union Minister of Power and it is headed by a Director General. BEE does not generate power; it regulates and persuades. Its main programmes are Standards and Labelling, the Energy Conservation Building Code, demand side management in agriculture and municipalities, capacity building of energy auditors and the national energy conservation awards.

Standards and Labelling: the star label

BEE launched the Standards and Labelling programme in 2006. Every covered appliance carries a label showing a rating from one star to five stars: the more stars, the less electricity the appliance uses for the same output, so five stars is the most efficient. The label also prints the brand, the model and the annual energy consumption in kilowatt-hours, which lets a buyer compare running costs. The scheme has a mandatory list, on which the label must be displayed and the minimum standard met, and a voluntary list that manufacturers may join; appliances move from the voluntary list to the mandatory list over time, and the star bands are tightened periodically so that yesterday's five-star machine may earn four stars today.

PAT: efficiency as a tradable commodity

The Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) scheme runs under the National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency, one of the missions of the National Action Plan on Climate Change. Each designated consumer in the notified sectors is given a target to cut its specific energy consumption over a cycle. A plant that beats its target earns Energy Saving Certificates (ESCerts), which it can sell on the power exchanges to a plant that has fallen short; a plant that misses the target and buys no certificates faces a penalty. The first PAT cycle covered eight energy-intensive sectors: thermal power plants, iron and steel, cement, fertiliser, aluminium, textiles, pulp and paper, and chlor-alkali. Later cycles added more sectors, including railways, refineries and electricity distribution companies.

Building codes

The Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) was launched in 2007 for new commercial buildings with a connected load of 100 kW or more or a contract demand of 120 kVA or more. It sets requirements for the building envelope, lighting, air conditioning, water heating and electrical systems. For homes, BEE brought out the Eco Niwas Samhita, the residential building code, in 2018. Because land and buildings are state subjects, a code becomes enforceable only when the state notifies it.

UJALA and the lighting programmes

Lighting was the easiest saving to harvest, because a 9 watt LED bulb gives roughly the light of a 60 watt incandescent bulb. An incandescent lamp yields about 15 lumens per watt and a compact fluorescent lamp about 60, while an LED yields upwards of 100; the CFL also contains a little mercury, which the LED does not. On 5 January 2015 the Government launched the Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme, renamed UJALA (Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All), and the Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP) on the same day. Both are implemented by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a joint venture of four public sector undertakings under the Ministry of Power. Under UJALA, LED bulbs, tubelights and ceiling fans are sold to domestic consumers at well below the retail price with a warranty, the cost being recovered through bulk procurement; under SLNP, EESL replaces conventional street lights with LED street lights for urban local bodies and is paid out of the savings in their electricity bills. National Energy Conservation Day is observed on 14 December, when the national energy conservation awards are presented.