Proposed AC temperature-control norms build on 2018 guidelines
In 2018, the BEE, which is affiliated to the Power Ministry, issued guidelines to major commercial establishments to conserve energy through optimum temperature settings for air conditioners. The establishments included airports, hotels, shopping malls, offices and government buildings (Ministries and attached offices, State government establishments and public sector undertakings, etc).
The guidelines were voluntary and the BEE said it would undertake a survey to check the proposal's effectiveness.
In 2020, the government mandated that all air conditioners have a default setting of 24 degrees Celsius – considered an optimal setting for human comfort. However, this still allowed individuals to control the temperature settings to their choice.
'The new proposed guidelines take it one step further by having new air-conditioners hardwired to operate in a fixed temperature range of 20 to 28 degrees Celsius,' said Alok Kumar, a former Secretary of the Ministry of Power.
He explained that while individuals may have varying degrees of thermal comfort, having a fixed range would likely increase power-consumption efficiency in closed public places, such as conference rooms and auditoriums.
While Mr. Khattar stressed on promoting a 'healthy' temperature range, the Power Ministry expects the higher range to promote energy conservation.
The BEE estimates that considering the current market trend, total connected load in India due to air conditioning will be about 200 gigawatt (GW) by 2030 and could further increase as only about 6% of households use one or more air conditioners currently. Power Secretary Pankaj Agarwal said last week that India's cooling demand amounted to around 50 GW, or roughly one-fifth of India's peak power demand. 'By increasing the temperature by 1 degree Celsius, we save 6% of electricity. There are 10 crore ACs in India, with 1.5 crore being added each year,' he said.
Some countries, such as Japan, already have regulations in place for the functioning of air conditioners. Japan encourages a default setting for air conditioners at 28 degrees Celsius in offices and public buildings.
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