Author: cprindia

Listen to the 44th episode of ThoughtSpace (above) featuring Shyam Saran, Former Foreign Secretary and Senior Fellow, CPR and Yamini Aiyar, President & Chief Executive of CPR.

In the last few weeks, a crisis has been brewing on our borders between India and China over the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Late last week, in an unprecedented move, top Generals from both countries met to seek a resolution to the crisis. The discussions have opened up the prospects of a second phase of dialogues. Against the backdrop of these dialogues, we explore the dynamics of India-China relations, the nature of this particular border dispute and the immediate and long-term implications this may have on India-China ties.

Saran, who is an expert on China, sheds light on the history of border disputes with China despite the LAC, the growing asymmetry of power between the two countries and calls for constraining Chinese aggression by cultivating strong ties with countries like the US. He also highlights that it is important to continue engaging on issues that may be mutually beneficial while at the same time confronting China where Indian interests are being threatened.

PART 5 OF A BLOG SERIES BY THE CENTRE FOR POLICY RESEARCH (CPR) AND PRAYAS (ENERGY GROUP)
ENERGY RESEARCH

The series is titled ‘Plugging in: Electricity consumption in Indian Homes’.

A small set of appliances such as fans, televisions, refrigerators, air-coolers, air conditioners, and water heaters contribute about 50-60% of the total residential electricity consumption in India. Large scale adoption of energy efficient models of these appliances can thereby significantly reduce future electricity consumption in homes. In this post, we look at the government’s Standards and Labeling (S&L) programme and three aspects of its effectiveness in achieving efficiency in the Indian appliances market.

The S&L programme is run by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), under the Ministry of Power. Since 2006, the programme promotes efficient appliances through informative labels and by eliminating lower efficiency models through mandatory standards. BEE gives a 5-star rating to the most efficient models and a 1-star rating to the least efficient ones based on a pre-determined schedule, communicated through a label affixed on the appliance (Figure 1). Eight appliance categories, including air-conditioners and refrigerators are mandated to carry these labels, and no model can be sold unless it meets the 1-star rating, at minimum. The programme is voluntary for 13 appliance categories, including ceiling fans and washing machines, and manufacturers can sell these models without BEE labels and with an efficiency less than a 1-star rating.

Mandate and tighten standards

For any appliance, BEE starts with a voluntary S&L programme and usually makes it mandatory in two-three years. BEE’s mandatory list has increased from two to eight and now covers most major appliances including, refrigerators and air-conditioners (Figure 2). Ceiling fans and air-coolers are notable exceptions. More than 95% of the ceiling fans sold do not carry labels and consume more than twice the most efficient model available in India. The programme has been voluntary for ceiling fans since 2010. Air-coolers guzzle much more electricity and are increasingly becoming popular but have not yet been included in the S&L programme. Making a programme mandatory for an appliance category ensures that inefficient models are not sold in the market.

Figure 2: List of appliances on the Standards and Labeling (S&L) Programme

BEE also periodically tightens the standards and labels to keep up with and promote the most efficient commercially available technologies. So, today’s 5-star model may become a 3-star model in the next phase and more efficient models can get the new 5-star tag. BEE has periodically tightened ratings for frost-free refrigerators and the current 5-star ratings are comparable with international standards, but the 1-star rating still has a scope for improvement. The ratings for air-conditioners on the other hand can be tightened further to align with the most efficient models available in India as well as abroad (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Tightening of star-labels for different appliances. (Approximate of typical appliances: 1.5 ton air-conditioner, 200 litre direct cool refrigerator and 300 litre frost-free refrigerator.)
Source: BEE, with authors’ assumptions for usage

Nudges and bulk procurement programmes

Mandating and tightening star-ratings is necessary but may not be sufficient for large scale adoption of energy efficient appliances. For example, appliance production data shows a significant drop in the production of 5-star rated frost-free refrigerators after tightening in 2014 and 2016 (Figure 4). Also, the share of 3-star models is the highest in most of the appliance categories.

To promote 5-star rated appliances, complementary approaches like behavioural interventions and bulk procurement programmes can be useful. Consumer behaviour research shows that consumers, faced with a menu of options, often simplify their decision making by choosing an option that resembles a ‘middle’ or ‘compromise’ option. Is this resulting in people buying more 3-star rated models? Can this be addressed by designing interventions that can nudge people towards buying more 5-star rated models? BEE’s recent app to estimate monetary savings from an efficient appliance helps consumers in understanding the labels. More such initiatives can be effective.

Figure 4: Appliance production across star-labels (in millions)
Source: BEE

Bulk procurement programmes (similar to UJALA for LED bulbs) can also help in market transformation to energy efficient appliances. These programmes can incentivise the production of the most efficient appliances (beyond 5-star) to pull up efficiency levels in the market. BEE can then further push market efficiency up by tightening standards. The programmes can smoothen the transition phase to higher standards and labels. However, one needs to be cautious about the rebound effect where consumers buy more appliances because the programme has made buying and using them cheaper thus negating the expected savings.

Credibility of the S&L programme

A final point is regarding the credibility of the S&L programme. Transparency in the standards setting process and ensuring conformance with the standards is important to strengthen credibility. BEE has recently taken positive steps in this direction. It published proceedings of the technical committees that set the standards and labels, and data on appliances production across various categories is now available on the BEE website. Going ahead, BEE can also publish the check-testing results it is supposed to conduct on a random sample of appliances collected from the market. A periodic testing for conformance with the standards can significantly increase the consumer trust in the labels. If the models do not comply with the standards, BEE can publish the results in newspapers to warn consumers, as it has done once in the past.

To summarise, the Standards & Labeling Programme can effectively improve the efficiency of India’s household appliances, as discussed in this post. However, this is a resource intensive activity. Given the limited resources, BEE can instead prioritise a smaller number of appliances with rigorous implementation, rather than adding more appliances to the programme.

In the next post, we examine the appliances owned within affordable housing, and the extent of their energy efficiency.

This piece is authored by Aditya Chunekar and Mrudula Kelkar at the Prayas (Energy Group).

This blog series is also available on the Prayas website here.

This article was republished in Eklavya Magazine in Hindi under ‘स्रोत विज्ञान एवं टेक्नॉलॉजी फीचर्स’, and can be accessed here.

To subscribe to email updates on the series, click here.

Other posts in this series:

• Electricity Consumption in Indian Homes
• Trends in India’s Residential Electricity Consumption
• India’s LED Lighting Story
• Illuminating Affordable Homes
• Appliances used in Affordable Housing
• Electrifying the National Capital Region
• Exploring the different uses of household appliances
• Role of human behaviour in driving electricity use

FULL VIDEO OF PANEL DISCUSSION AS PART OF CPR DIALOGUES
INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

Watch the full video of the panel discussion on ‘The Emerging World Order and India’s Role’, organised as part of CPR Dialogues, featuring Ibrahim Gambari, Nabil Fahmy, chaired by Ambassador Shyam Saran.

The world is undergoing a momentous political, economic and social transformation and this is leading to major shifts in inter-state relations. The centre of gravity of the global economy is shifting from the trans-Atlantic to the trans-Pacific and in its wake existing security arrangements and alignments among states are also undergoing a change. The emergence of China as a front ranking power is one aspect of this transition, but Asia is now home to a cluster of major powers deploying significant economic and military capabilities. The trend towards multipolarity in Asia appears to be irreversible but this diffusion of power requires an appropriate economic and security architecture. What role can emerging powers like India play in shaping the Asian order? This is one challenge.

The other is the reality of our increasingly inter-connected and interdependent world, in which the salience of cross-national global issues such as Climate Change, Cyber Security, Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Global Pandemics like Avian Flu, require global responses delivered through institutions of international governance and multilateral processes.

Paradoxically, however, it is precisely at this historical inflexion point that we are witnessing a wave of narrow nationalism and rejection of multilateral institutions and collaborative initiatives. This is most damaging for developing countries whose interests are best served through a rule-based multilateral order. What role can emerging countries like India play in strengthening and in creating, where necessary, institutions of international governance, including the United Nations and reviving multilateral processes such as the World Trade Organization? This special session brought together three very distinguished thinkers and high ranking diplomatic practitioners from the developing world to share their own perspectives on the transformation taking place in the world order, its scope, nature and possible evolution.

Dr Nabil Fahmy, former Foreign Minister of Egypt looked at this subject from the unique standpoint of a leading country in the Arab world; Dr Ibrahim Gambari, former Foreign Minister of Nigeria, presented an African perspective. The session was a rare and unprecedented opportunity to look at the world through a lens very different from the dominant Western narrative that sometimes conditions our thinking. The session was moderated by Shyam Saran, former Foreign Secretary of India, who shared an Indian view on the theme of the session. The aim of the session was not only to bring to the table perspectives from key developing countries which also play important roles in their respective regions but which also have a record of contributing to multilateral institutions and regional arrangements. It will also enable us to see India through their eyes, what India’s emergence means to them and what their expectations are concerning India’s role in this changing world order. It is hoped that this high level panel will be the first of many such conversations with fellow developing and emerging countries across the world. India will need to work together with them if it aspires to be one of the architects of the new world order.

Ambassador Shyam Saran is Member of the CPR Board and former Indian Foreign Secretary.

Ibrahim Gambari is the former Foreign Minister of Nigeria.

Nabil Fahmy is the former Foreign Minister of Egypt.

The question and answer session that followed can be accessed here.

Coverage of the panel by ThePrint (digital partner for CPR Dialogues) can be accessed here.

Access the key takeaways about the Dialogues by Ibrahim Gambari and Nabil Fahmy.

Watch all other sessions of the Dialogues below:

• The International Climate Change Regime: Looking Back to Look Forward 
• Research for Policy Action on Air Pollution, in collaboration with CECFEE
• India’s Technology Transition: The Present and the Possible
• CPR Youth Awards: A Youth-Driven Agenda for Change
• India’s 21st Century Transitions
• Understanding India’s Energy Transition in Global Context
• Is the Urban Future Metropolitan? Big Cities in Urban Systems
• Geopolitics and Geo-Economics in a Changing South Asia

FULL VIDEO OF CORP SEMINAR
SANITATION URBAN SERVICES

Watch the full video (above) of the CORP Seminar by Dr Sanghmitra Acharya addressing the factors characterising sanitation work and how the instricially discriminatory nature of this work impacts the lives of the workers.

With a focus on the experiences of Dalits engaged in scavenging and cleaning, Dr Acharya argues that, while a majority of the literature around the issue explores social discrimination in general, it does not adequately reflect on the experience of social discrimination and humiliation experienced by these workers; and consequences of such experiences.

Dr Acharya is Director, Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, New Delhi.

The question and answer session that followed can be accessed here.

This is the 13th in the series of the Community of Research and Practice (CORP) seminars planned by the Scaling City Institutions for India: Sanitation (SCI-FI: Sanitation) initiative. More information can be found at the event page.

FULL VIDEO OF TALK
ECONOMY

Watch the full video (above) of the talk by Anirudh Krishna, based on his book ‘The Broken Ladder’, which delves into the lives of ordinary individuals to take a ground-up view towards answering questions about the potential of civic participation in the growth of India’s economy.

Through decades-long investigations conducted on the ground, living in villages and investigating slum communities, Krishna reveals the eye-opening details of missed opportunities and the immense, but untapped, talent that can and should be honed, with immense consequences for both growth and equity. From presenting possible solutions to the problems of neediness and inequity, to mulling over ways of fixing inequalities of opportunity, his book provides a comprehensive account of India’s development strategies.

Anirudh Krishna is the Edgar T. Thompson Professor of Public Policy and professor of political science at Duke University, USA. His research investigates how poor communities and individuals in developing countries cope with the structural and personal constraints that result in poverty and powerlessness.