Green signal to energy efficient homes
new delhi — Recently, the Economist reported that India is pleasantly surprising the world with its green energy policies. As a growing economy, India ranks third in carbon emission behind China and America.
In keeping with the new government’s holistic approach to carbonfree energy, the Modi government is working on a scheme to promote energy efficient homes by offering cheaper loans and lower registration fee, provided the residential units are built clearly around energy saving principles or show visible signs of depending on alternative forms of fossil-based energy.
This is not an entirely new scheme. The earlier Congress—led UPA government had already put out a proposal to this effect in 2007. The present government’s discussions towards formulating ‘Energy Conservation Building Code for Residential Sector (ECBCR)’ are based on the lines of such a code for government and commercial buildings framed in 2007.
Between the two, a vast acreage of Indian realty would be covered. The major change is that Residential units will be included now in the new scheme.
The minister for power, coal and renewable energy, Piyush Goyal, is scheduled to release the new version of the code, ECBC-2017, next Monday, outlining a leap towards a greener outlook for Indian realty.
The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), an outfit under the power ministry, is working on a scheme to incentivise new homes that are more energy efficient and make lower demands on utilities for lighting and cooling energy. The incentives could be direct cash distribution, material contribution, or soft loans.
Also there is a proposal to extend the incentives to make existing residential properties more energy efficient through retrofitting. The thinking behind the proposals is in line with the incentives given to rooftop solar projects for the residential sector, which have been brought under the ambit of home loans that enjoy low interest rates.
The move for a code for residential buildings has been prompted by concerns for sustainable growth and lowering carbon emission will be marketed politically as a ‘Make in India’ campaign, a pet scheme of Narendra Modi.
The World Bank estimated India’s market potential for energy efficient products at Rs1.6 lakh crore, on the basis of the success of Ujala — the Narendra Modi government’s scheme to replace old filament and CFL bulbs with modern LED lamps.
The green efforts will reduce carbon emissions and generate employment. While all this is still at the formulating stage, one must mention that Indian realty itself is not in the best of shapes. Big builders like Jaypee, in Noida, have been unable to give possession of flats 7 years after exceeding deadlines, and face hundreds of cases. In a situation as hostile as this, it is not clear green energy homes and incentives in that direction will bear immediate fruits.