Berkeley Lab Report: Simple Energy Efficiency Measures Can Eliminate Electricity Shortage in India

[bananas]

http://newscenter.lbl.gov/feature-stories/2010/05/25/energy-efficiency-measures-can-eliminate-electricity-shortage-in-india/

Berkeley Lab Report: Simple Energy Efficiency Measures Can Eliminate Electricity Shortage in India
India signs on to DOE’s Super-efficient Equipment and Appliances (SEAD) initiative

May 25, 2010
Julie Chao
Feature

Electricity in India can be a dicey proposition. Half the population lacks access or is too poor to afford it. The other half is using so much that demand far outstrips supply, resulting in daily power outages. Businesses and factories rely on diesel or gasoline generators during the brownouts, creating additional pollution. And with a growing middle class buying more TVs, air conditioners and the like, the situation will only get worse.

As chaotic as things are, there is a solution: simple energy efficiency measures, according to a new report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), can eliminate the electricity deficit as early as 2013. What’s more, doing so will add $505 billion to India’s gross domestic product (GDP) between 2009 and 2017 (compared to India’s total GDP of $911 billion in 2007-2008), as businesses that have had to cut back due to electricity shortages can restore production.

“None of these measures are retrofits; they are all new sales of items such as light bulbs and refrigerators. We tried to keep it as simple as we possibly could—no buildings, no transport,” said report co-author Jayant Sathaye, a Berkeley Lab senior scientist who leads the International Energy Studies Group in the Environmental Energy Technologies Division. “Air conditioners alone are growing at 25% per year in India. But because of this rapid growth, you can capture the new sales, sell only efficient products and make a difference.”

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Berkeley Lab has played a role in India’s energy efficiency programs, working with state regulators and utilities to set up demand-side management programs and working with BEE on building codes and appliance standards and labeling. Currently, four appliances in India, including refrigerators and air conditioners, have mandatory labels with ratings of 1 star (meaning it meets a minimum energy performance standard) to 5 stars (highly efficient). “We look at LBNL as a major resource in providing us policy options and analyses to create an environment that allows people to make energy efficient choices,” said BEE Director Ajay Mathur, who visited Berkeley Lab this month.

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[Nihil]

1. That is a lesson that the "developed world" should also take on board ...

... but maybe they'll have to learn the hard way (again).
:shrug: