Assessing the Cost-Effective Energy Saving Potential from Top-10 Appliances in India

Given rising incomes and falling appliance prices, demand for residential, commercial, and industrial appliances in India has been growing rapidly over the last few years. Over the next 15-20 years, peak electricity demand from the top ten most electricity consuming appliances and equipment such as air-conditioners, chillers, refrigerators, TVs, ceiling fans, lights, electric water heaters, agricultural pumps, motors, and distribution transformers is projected to be more than 300GW or 60-70% of the projected total peak load by 2030 or so. Such growth in the appliance demand poses serious energy security, equity, and environmental challenges. In this paper, we assess the total energy efficiency improvement potential and assess its cost-effectiveness for top-10 energy consuming appliances in India. We find that 20% of the appliance energy (and ~25% of their peak load contribution) could be saved cost-effectively by enhancing their efficiency. This translates to a potential energy saving of 300 TWh/yr at bus-bar, a peak load reduction of over 70 GW, and avoided CO₂ emissions of 200 million tons/yr by 2030. This potential saving is equivalent to avoiding the construction of 150 new power plants of 500 MW each. In order to realize this large cost-effective potential, a coordinated approach of market push (standards) and market pull (awards, labels, and incentives) is needed.