Energy Efficient Lighting – India

This project was developed by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) to promote energy-efficient lighting in India, thus reducing the electricity, and therefore carbon emissions generated from the grid.  When established, around 76% of India’s electricity was generated from coal – and so by reducing energy consumption and efficiency, over 35,000 tonnes of CO2e are offset each year.

At the time the project was established, it was estimated that there were over 400 million light points in India using Incandescent Lamps (ICLs).  Extremely energy in-efficient, just 5% of the electricity input is converted to light, with the remaining lost to heat. In recent years the Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) has emerged as an energy efficient alternative, as a CFL uses only one-fifth as much electricity as an ICL, providing the same amount of illumination. By replacing ICLs with CFLs a potential reduction of over 6,000 MW in electricity would be achieved each year.

Through the funding of Carbon Offsetting, the project aims to incentivise households to use energy efficient CFL lightbulbs, by providing them at the same cost as incandescent bulbs. Quality long-life CFLs are distributed to grid-connected residential households in exchange for an incandescent lamp (ICL) or INR 15. 

In addition to directly reducing energy consumption, the project also aims to provide education on energy efficiency in the home, as well as providing a financial benefit to households – with lower energy consumption and bills each month.