The Hindu Business Line : Centre bets on energy saving building code

New Delhi June 2 With a power crisis gripping the country, the Centre is betting big on its new energy conservation move to enforce efficient building designs, which aims at trimming the current rates of electricity consumption by large commercial buildings across towns and cities.

India, which announced a new Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC), is, however, way behind the developed countries — most of which shifted to such codes after the energy crisis of 1973. The mandatory enforcement of the new Code is expected to yield annual saving of 1.7 billion units in the first year itself, based on current estimates.

Efficient Design

"While the overall share of the commercial sector in electricity consumption is only about 7 per cent, it has been growing at a rate of about 12 per cent over the last few years. The annual energy consumption per square metre of the floor area in commercial buildings is about 200 kWh or even more, which can be brought down to 120-160 kWh by shifting to efficient design alone," according to a Power Ministry official.

The proposed ECBC stipulates minimum requirements for the energy-efficient design and construction of buildings across the country's five climatic zones. It prescribes standards for external walls, roof, glass structure, lighting, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, which could, according to the Bureau of Energy Efficiency estimates, reduce energy use for new buildings by 25-40 per cent.

Energy Efficiency

The code, the implementation of which would be voluntary initially, is being recommended for commercial buildings that have a connected load of above 500 kW or a contract demand of over 600 kVA.

The potential is all too obvious if building efficiency improvement initiatives being pursued by India Inc are any indication. For instance, the ICICI Bank Towers at the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai was built incorporating `green' building materials and concepts. Energy efficiency measures include day lighting, green rooftops, and double-glazed low-emissive windows. The total energy saving is estimated at over 4 million units annually.

The RBI Central Office building in Mumbai has been recording energy savings through the replacement of an old air-conditioning chiller package with energy efficient centrifugal chiller unit, besides measures such as switching to energy-efficient fittings and lamps over the last three years. Electricity bills have plummeted by nearly 35-40 per cent as a result.

The RBI also conducted an energy audit for the entire electrical installations in the building last year through the National Productivity Council to squeeze bills further.

Energy Audits

The Infosys Building in Bangalore implemented the use of timers in the switching application for the lights at its multi-level car park, with the result that the energy consumption, which was initially 25,000 units per month, fell to 15,000 units per month. The total savings in energy cost is estimated at Rs 8.4 lakh annually from just this measure.

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