The Finance Ministry has issued guidelines for mandatory installation of energy-efficient appliances in all Central Government buildings across the country.
It has said 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. The Department of Expenditure under the Ministry of Finance will enlist the services of Energy Efficiency Services (EESL) on nomination basis to assist various ministries and departments to retrofit energy-efficient appliances in all their premises.
Under the programme, EESL intends to bring in investment of around ₹1,000 crore covering more than 10,000 large government/private buildings by 2020.
Saurabh Kumar, Managing Director, EESL, in a statement said:, “Any Central government office can now directly reach out to us on nomination basis for retrofitting of inefficient appliances with efficient alternates. We assure our complete support and cooperation in carrying out audits and retrofitting of appliances, whenever any ministry or central government department approaches us with such tasks.”
Currently, EESL is the implementation agency for the Buildings Energy Efficiency Programme, which was launched in May by Power Minister Piyush Goyal.
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 centralised AC systems, energy audits, and New Generation Energy Management System in buildings.
Retrofitted buildingsEESL has already retrofitted energy-efficient appliances in a number of government buildings including that of the NITI Aayog, Nirman Bhawan, Sardar Patel Bhawan, Shastri Bhawan, J&K Assembly, Jammu Secretariat, Vidyut Bhawan, and Rajiv Chowk Metro station.