Demand side energy efficiency plays an important role in countries’ efforts for climate change mitigation, energy security, and pollution control. An international conference was held in New Delhi, India on 4-5 November to share experiences on demand side energy efficiency initiatives from different parts of the world and discuss how to speed up and scale up the efforts, especially in India.
Representatives from Armenia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Nepal, Pakistan, and the United States presented the approaches and experiences with demand side energy efficiency improvement in their countries. The conference was co-organised by the World Bank and the Indian Energy Efficiency Service Limited and the supporting organization included Indian Bureau of Energy Efficiency, ADB, IEA, the Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency, and ESMAP. Among the participants were the key government agencies and think-tanks on energy efficiency from the countries, and in addition, business representatives from India.
The conference brought out success stories from different countries, including that of Energy Efficiency Services LTD. (ESSL), a super-esco established by Indian public sector, which has helped replace more than 153 million incandescent lamps by LEDs. This and India’s INDC has brought energy efficiency into the spot-light and much more international attention and scrutiny of India’s efforts in this area. The country has a per capita energy consumption much lower than the world average, but its total energy consumption is already the third biggest in the world and is projected to increase rapidly in the coming decades. India’s energy consumption is dominated by coal and some big Indian cities, are among the worst polluted cities in the world. Energy efficiency is therefore considered not only from a climate perspective but also to reduce local pollution. The Asian Development Bank recently approved 200 million USD in loans to India for efficient street lighting, efficient lighting among households, and efficient water pumps in rural areas.
At the conference, the World Bank presented three studies on demand side energy efficiency improvement in India, including an assessment on the readiness for energy efficiency implementation at state-level in India and the South-Asia region, a study on how to improve energy efficiency communication in India, and the opportunities and business models for demand side management through utility-level interventions.