India leads in energy efficiency: Survey

India Blooms News Service

New Delhi, Sept 30 (IBNS) Business leaders throughout India give a higher priority to energy efficiency in their facilities than do those in any other major country, according to the Johnson Controls Energy Efficiency Indicator (EEI).

This year's survey results provide a look at how business leaders in India are prioritizing and investing in energy efficiency compared to last year and to other regions around the world.

According to the survey, 85% of business leaders in India consider energy management very or extremely important. This is a drop from 94% last year but significantly higher than in other parts of the world in 2010 -- 52% in the U.S., 58% in Germany, 61% in the U.K. and 79% in China.

In addition, nearly all respondents in India are planning to make capital (87%) and operating (93%) investments in energy efficiency over the next 12 months, up from 64% and 72%, respectively, in 2009.

Globally, a smaller percentage are planning to make capital (63%) and operating (70%) investments in efficiency compared with India, although global investment plans are up from 54% and 62%, respectively, in 2009.

"Despite the recession, decision-makers have put efficiency high on their agendas for 2010, especially those in India and China," said Pramoda Karkal, vice president and managing director, Building Efficiency, Johnson Controls, India.

"In our business we help buildings to operate efficiently and profitably, and we see these benefits being recognized in new markets and regions worldwide."

Although there is broad consensus that improving energy efficiency helps control rising energy costs, reduces a company's environmental footprint, and increases the value of buildings, Karkal noted that there are still several barriers preventing global implementation.

The most commonly cited barrier to improving energy efficiency in India is a lack of technical expertise to identify opportunities, followed by a lack of internal capital budget. Limited capital availability ranked first in the United States and Europe, according to this year's EEI.

"In India and throughout the world, new financing and procurement models are needed to stimulate energy investments," said Karkal. "These models need to be scalable and bring private capital, technical expertise and performance guarantees to the market."

Installing onsite renewable energy systems is the top greenhouse gas reduction strategy for 24% of respondents in India, compared to only 4% in the United States. India leads the world in the percentage of respondents considering solar photovoltaic technology (73%) or biomass (36%) in new construction or retrofit projects.

Additionally, 95% of India respondents believe significant legislation mandating energy efficiency and/or carbon reduction is at least somewhat likely to be enacted in the next two years in India.

The Johnson Controls EEI tracks energy management priorities and investment plans among decision-makers responsible for managing commercial buildings and their energy use. This is the second year Johnson Controls has conducted the EEI survey in India.

This year's study included 311 respondents from a variety of regions and industry segments. India results are part of a global survey of more than 2,800 executives across Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Poland, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States conducted in June 2010.

Global EEI survey results will be presented on Thursday during an event at the Shangri La in Delhi.

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Gopinath S
Chief Executive
nRG Consulting Services, Bangalore
http://in.linkedin.com/in/gopimysore
http://nrgcs.blogspot.com/
+91 99161 29728

Can clean energy companies close India’s energy gap?

A new report from the World Resources Institute and partners claims that the market for clean energy products among India's rural poor is potentially worth $2.11 billion per year. $2.04 billion of this market is for decentralized renewable energy such as that produced by biomass kilns or small-scale hydro-electricity plants. The clean energy enterprises surveyed in the report have also seen annual gross revenue grow by an average of 36 percent per year since 2004.

India has one of the fastest growing economies in world, due to expand by 8 percent in 2010, and its energy demands will more than double by 2030. At the same time 400 million people in the country have no access to electricity. The result is a severe energy shortage, in particular in rural areas.

The report concentrates on India's BoP (Bottom of the pyramid) population which consists of households who spend less than $75 a month on goods and services but make up 60 percent of the population, higher in rural areas. BoP households spend approximately $4.8 billion per year on energy, mainly on fuels like firewood, kerosene and dung which are harmful to health and the environment. Studies have found that indoor air pollution from these fuels contributes to 4-6 percent of all disease-related deaths in India.

Decentralized renewable energy (DREs) resources are mainly small hydro-electric and biomass projects where the electricity is distributed using company-owned mini grids (a local grid based on energy resources available in a specific area) or undersupplied existing grids. Biomass gasifiers produce electricity from wood chips or crop residues. Their generating capacity is in the range of 25kW to 100kW which can supply a village of 500-1200 households. The cost is generally 8-12 Indian rupees per kilowatt which makes prices comparable to diesel generator-based electricity.

Small-scale hydro plants built along mountain streams are even cheaper, at 2-2.5 Indian rupees per kilowatt, and they produce more energy. Plants generate from 100-1000 kW. However, the upfront construction cost of 50 million rupees ($820,000) up is massive in comparison to biogas and hydro power is not suitable for all areas.

One interesting point is that the success of DREs relies heavily on being able to predict demand efficiently. Demand estimation and demand response are crucial to the integration of renewables into the utility grid and will be one of the major issues for smart grid vendors. Could India and similar countries be a secondary market for tech startups targeting the smart grid?

Other technologies covered in the report were solar energy systems for individual households, solar lanterns and energy-efficient cooking stoves, all of which have a much smaller current market than DREs, but which is expected to grow considerably in the future.

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Gopinath S
Chief Executive
nRG Consulting Services, Bangalore
http://in.linkedin.com/in/gopimysore
http://nrgcs.blogspot.com/
+91 99161 29728