Consumers can now save up to 20 per cent on their monthly electricity bills without incurring any additional expenditure during construction by following the energy efficiency norms proposed by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE).

“Initially, we were apprehensive about a possible higher cost of developing these energy efficient projects. But, according to our analysis, the cost was just 6-10 per cent higher about two years ago. Now, as these designs are optimised and material availability has improved, there are many that are just 2-3 per cent higher, and some of them are almost the same cost,” said Abhay Bhakre, Director General of BEE, told BusinessLine . . “So, at almost the same cost, one can develop an energy efficient construction in both commercial and residential premises, and make a minimum saving of 20 per cent on the monthly electricity bills,” he added.

Till now, electricity savings could be made in residential premises only via appliances rated by the BEE Star Label programme. The BEE has now developed standards for designing homes to maximise energy efficiency under the Eco-Niwas Samhita programme.

It has developed software to popularise this code, said Bakre. It takes into account factors such as location, how the sunlight falls on houses, climate and weather conditions. “We are now doing the capacity building of architects to help them understand how to design these houses,” he added.

“We have also developed a user-friendly software in which one can feed in the layout of the house, the location, and material to be used. The software will then calculate the energy saving compared to a conventional house and inform the user.

“There will be a minimum saving of 15-20 per cent. It can go up to 35-40 per cent. That may raise the cost of insulation or require the use of hollow bricks. But, generally, the saving ranges between 20 per cent and 45 per cent.”

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