The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) said all room air conditioners should have a default temperature of 24 degrees Celsius. This ruling has come into effect from 1 January, 2020 onwards.
This means that when the room air conditioner is switched on, it will start at 24 degree Celsius. The central government in consultation with BEE had notified new energy performance standards for room air conditioners (RACs) on 30 October, 2019, according to a statement by the power ministry.
According to the notification, all brands and types of star-labelled RACs, which are rated from one star to five stars based on their energy efficiencies and manufactured, commercially purchased or sold in India, shall ensure default setting of temperature in the room air conditioners at 24 degrees Celsius, with effect from 1 January, 2020.
Having said, it’s worth pointing out that you can still manually change the temperature of the RACs, which usually goes as low as 16 degrees.
The new norms provide that the Indian Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (ISEER) as per the new standards will range from 3.30 to 5 for split and 2.70 to 3.50 for window air conditioners.
However, these performance standards, except default temperature of 24 degrees Celsius, will be applicable from 1 January, 2021, onwards.
The BEE is a statutory body under the Ministry of Power, Government of India. It develops policies and strategies with the objective of reducing the energy intensity of the Indian economy.
The BEE launched a voluntary star-labelling programme for fixed-speed RACs in 2006 and this programme became mandatory on January 12, 2009.
Thereafter, in 2015, a voluntary star-labelling programme for inverter RACs was also started, which was further made mandatory with effect from January 1, 2018. The BEE star-labelling programme for RACs now covers both fixed and inverter RAC up to a cooling capacity of 10,465 watts (2.97 tonne of refrigeration).
The star-labelling programme for RACs has led to saving of an estimated 4.6 billion units of energy in 2017-18 and a cumulative energy saving of 46 billion units translating to a reduction of 38 million tonnes of carbon emission.
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