Considering the fact that majority of the government buildings are old constructions and, therefore, consume large amount of energy, the Ministry of Finance has issued guidelines for mandatory installation of energy efficient appliances in all Central Government buildings across India.

The Ministry, in a statement, has directed that usage of LED based lightings and energy efficient cooling equipment such as fans and air conditioners in government buildings will lead to savings in the long run through reduction in energy consumption. To implement this, Department of Expenditure under Ministry of Finance has decided to take up services of Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a joint venture of PSUs under the Ministry of Power, on nomination basis to assist various ministries and departments to retrofit energy efficient appliances in all their premises across the country.

Currently, EESL is the implementation agency for the Buildings Energy Efficiency Programme, which was launched in May 2017 by Minister of State (IC) FOR Power , Coal , Mines & New & Renewable Energy , Shri Piyush Goyal. Under the programme, EESL intends to bring in investment of around 1000 crore covering more than 10,000 large government/private buildings by 2020. It is estimated that about one crore LED lights, 15 lakh energy efficient ceiling fans, and 1.5 lakh energy efficient ACs will be retrofitted by EESL in these buildings. Apart from retrofitting, EESL also aims to widen its services in areas like centralized AC system, Energy Audits, and New Generation Energy Management System in buildings.

The Buildings Energy Efficiency Programme has two business models: a) The ESCO (Energy Servicing Company) model, where the entire upfront investment is made by EESL, which is paid back by the building owner out of the resulting energy savings from the intervention, and b) The PMC (Project Management Consultancy) model, where EESL is the project management consultant for implementing the project for the client. The client invests the entire project cost and bears one-time PMC charges of EESL.

With the Buildings Programme, EESL aims to enhance the savings portfolio and ensure energy security for each citizen. EESL has already retrofitted energy efficient appliances in prominent Government buildings such as NITI Aayog, Nirman Bhawan, Sardar Patel Bhawan, Shastri Bhawan, J&K Assembly, Jammu Secretariat, Vidyut Bhawan, and Rajiv Chowk Metro station where energy efficient LED lights, energy efficient ceiling fans, and energy efficient air conditioners have been retrofitted. EESL has so far installed about 94,000 LED lights, 3,000 energy efficient air conditioners, and over 400 energy efficient ceiling fans in these buildings. At present, the savings through 28 completed building projects across seven states are estimated to be over 11.03 MU, which is bound to increase with each completed project.

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi on 5th January, 2015 had launched the National LED Programme, to facilitate rapid adoption of LED based home and street lighting across the country. The programme components, Unnat Jeevan by Affordable LEDs and Appliances for All (UJALA) and Street Lighting National Programme (SNLP) of EESL are currently under implementation in 29 States and 7 Union Territories.

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