In India last week, ACEEE’s sister organization released the first-ever scorecard to track the energy efficiency efforts of India’s 29 states and capital, Delhi – a step forward for the country.
India has one of the world’s fastest growing economies. This growth makes energy efficiency necessary for balancing energy demand and supply, keeping power system capital requirements affordable, and expanding electricity access to all villages. In ACEEE’s recent International Energy Efficiency Scorecard, India ranked 15th out of 25 major economies, indicating substantial room for improvement.
While India’s central government has often led on efficiency initiatives, it has encouraged Indian states to get more involved in recent years. On August 1, our sister organization, the India-based Alliance for an Energy-Efficient Economy (AEEE), released the State Energy Efficiency Index.
This Index, based loosely on ACEEE’s State Energy Efficiency Scorecard, rates all 30 Indian states and territories in six areas – buildings, industry, municipalities, transport, agriculture/distribution companies, and cross sector. It has four goals: (1) help drive state and local energy efficiency policies and program implementation; (2) highlight best practices and encourage healthy competition among states; (3) track progress in managing India’s energy footprint; and (4) set a baseline for efficiency efforts and state-specific targets.
The Index gathers data from each state, assigns a total of 100 points to 63 metrics, and groups states into four categories: front-runner, achiever, contender, and aspirant. The five states earning front-runner status include Kerala (on the southwest coast), Rajasthan (home of Jaipur), Andhra Pradesh (south-central India, just south of Hyderabad), Maharashtra (home of Mumbai), and Punjab (in the north bordering Pakistan) (see illustration below). Each of these states has gross state product per capita above the Indian average.
AEEE worked closely with ACEEE and two Indian government agencies, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency and Niti Aayog, to develop the Index. AEEE plans to revise it annually and offer technical, policy, and implementation assistance to states so they can improve their scores, just as ACEEE does with its State Scorecard.
The State Energy Efficiency Index is part of a multi-year collaboration between ACEEE and AEEE. Other elements of the collaboration are a biennial energy efficiency conference called INSPIRE, work on managing India’s sharply rising cooling demand in a sustainable fashion, and work on super-efficient appliances for India.
India is not the only country interested in state energy efficiency scorecards. ACEEE is currently assisting Efficiency Canada with the first Canadian provincial scorecard and has also discussed state scorecards with organizations in Australia, China, and Japan.
To find out more about India’s new Index visit http://www.aeee.in/state-ee-index/ .
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