According to the current announcement made by the Power Ministry of India in light of the protection of energy and the environment, some new rules are for using your Air-conditioners have been framed.
Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has carried out a study in order to help the government to bring in the regulation which is an absolute need at the moment to promote energy efficiency. Through this initiative, 20 billion units of electricity can be saved per year. The new regulation came into force from 1st January 2020.
According to the new regulation, the default temperature of the AC (the temperature shown when a new AC is bought and switched on) sold in India under star ratings from BEE will be 24-degree-celsius. Earlier the default temperature used to be 21-degree-celsius but now as it has been increased to 24, which would save up to 24% of electricity compared to earlier.
“It is estimated that by increasing the temperature of the room by 1 degree Celsius, we can save about 6% of electricity. Typically, room temperature is set between 20-21 degrees Celsius whereas, as per standard comfort conditions, the ideal temperature is 24-25 degrees Celsius. Considering change from 20degree Celsius to 24 degrees Celsius, there is potential to increase at least 4 degrees Celsius, which will lead to savings of about 24% of electricity,” Ministry of Power explained.
The default temperature as explained above just means the temperature at which an AC starts, it does not mean that one cannot increase or decrease the temperature. One can change the settings accordingly as always.
Also, there are questions that what is the use of such regulation if the temperature can be set below 24 degrees. The answer is that, in India, most people do not change the settings as they are comfortable with the default auto mode. In that way, people will be able to save electricity and conserve power unknowingly without any trouble.
Developed and Smart countries like Japan, after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, issued a regulation to set the default temperature at 28-degree-celsius. Even in California, people are not allowed to lower the temperature below 26-degree-celsius.
The new regulation is applicable to all the brands and all the types of AC with a star rating from one to five, commercially manufactured and sold in India. It will also depend upon the device’s relative energy efficiencies up to a rated cooling capacity of 10,465 Watts (9,000 kcal/hour) .
ISEER (Indian Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) is the ratio of the total annual amount of heat that equipment can remove from the indoor area when operated for cooling in active mode to the total annual amount of energy consumed by the equipment during the same period.
According to the new regulation, the ISEER will range from (3.30 – 5.00) for split AC and (2.70 – 3.50) for window air conditioners. This will be applicable from next year that is January 1, 2021.
