Representative picture | Photo Credit: PTI
The instructions designed by the Minister of the Union for the Manohar Lal Khattar power last week at the conference to limit the operating temperature range of air conditioning across the country, built on the 2018 plan presented by the Energy Efficiency Office (Bee).
In 2018, Bee, which is associated with the Ministry of Energy, issued instructions for the main commercial device to save energy through optimal air conditioning temperature settings. The facility included airports, hotels, shopping centers, offices and government buildings (ministries and connected offices, state government facilities and public sector companies, etc.).
The instructions were voluntary and the bee stated that it would have a survey to check the design efficiency.
In 2020, the government ordered all air conditioning to have the default setting of 24 degrees Celsius – considered an optimal environment for human comfort. However, this still allowed individuals to control the temperature setting of their choice.
“The new proposed instructions are doing this one step further by the new air -conditioners say they will work at a fixed temperature range of 20 to 28 degrees Celsius,” said Alok Kumar, a former minister of power.
He explained that while individuals may have different degrees of thermal comfort, having a fixed range would probably increase the efficiency of energy consumption in closed public places such as conference rooms and auditoriums.
While Mr. Khattar emphasized the support of the “healthy” temperature range, the Ministry of Energy expects a higher extent to promote energy savings.
The bee estimates that, in view of the current market trend, the total load in India will be about 200 Gigawatt (GW) as a result of air conditioning by 2030 and can be further increased because it will currently use only about 6% of households. Energy Minister Pankaj Agarwal said last week that the Indian cooling demand was approximately 50 GW, or about one fifth of Indian high -end energy demand. “By increasing a temperature of 1 degree Celsius we save 6% of electricity. In India is 10 Crore AC, adding 1.5 crore each year,” he said.
Some countries, such as Japan, have regulations for the functioning of air conditioning units. Japan supports the default settings for air conditioning at 28 degrees Celsius in offices and public buildings.
Published – June 14, 2025 20:54 is
