| | JULY 20189WITH THE WORLD TODAY TRANSFORMING ENERGY SYSTEMS TO IMPLEMENTING ENERGY EFFICIENCY, THE TIME IS OPPORTUNE FOR INDIA TO BRING HOME GLOBAL PRACTICES TO ACHIEVE COMMON CLIMATE CHANGE & SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALSrenowned as the world's biggest distribution programme of ener-gy efficiency LED bulbs till date, UJALA combined demand aggre-gation with public procurement to reduce LED prices to as low as Rs.38 per bulb, a 10th of its rate only two years prior. Suddenly able to buy durable, long-lasting, and more energy efficient LED bulbs, consumers quickly joined India's pursuit of energy efficiency. The model underpinning this price reduction and scale was soon applied to many other daily use electrical appliances, to achieve staggering reduction in energy use. As per June 2017 findings, the combined energy savings from energy efficient LED bulbs, fans and tube-lights helped save 32 bil-lion kilowatt electricity annually, which would have required the consumption of 19 million tons of coal. Our energy program's use of market-based initiatives has set us apart from our international coun-terparts, most of whom are heavi-ly reliant on government grants subsidies. Designed to be self-suffi-cient, India's energy efficiency pro-grams have not only demonstrated measurable energy savings and emission reduction, but also trans-formed markets with large-scale investments in green products, en-abling job creation.At the time of writing this, India's energy efficiency programs had saved approximately 13 GW of annual generation capacity during peak hours. To put this in perspec-tive, a new 10 GW thermal power plant can cost almost Rs.70,000 crore, giving credence to the idea that energy efficiency has the po-tential to be any nation's `first fuel'. Including Energy Efficiency Ser-vices Limited (EESL), there are today 127 energy service company (ESCO) formally registered with the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), a government agency creat-ed to develop programs to enhance energy conservation in India. The nation today has an energy efficiency market potential of $12 billion per year. If 12 GW of avoid-ed peak demand is what India can achieve in only six years, imagine the cumulative energy saving po-tential of India's ESCO ecosystem, in synergy with existing govern-ment programs. The strong de-mand & adoption for energy effi-cient products have signaled global interest, bringing about innovative financing schemes & support from multilateral funding agencies. What India needs to capital-ize on this opportunity is stronger stakeholder participation. An ideal scenario would be one where ev-ery industry and all demand-side usage is energy efficient by de-sign. Creating mutually beneficial partnerships will need a sharp un-derstanding of energy usage, tech-nologies, and business needs, and necessitates acquiring resources & knowledge from leading Indian & international research institutions. With the world today transforming energy systems to implementing energy efficiency, the time is op-portune for India to bring home global practices to achieve com-mon climate change & sustain-able development goals. Across cities, villages states, businesses, and homes, India has never had a better time to transform energy use everywhere. Saurabh Kumar
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