Some are supportive of the proposed change to air conditioner settings. Sunil Kumar, a 47-year-old from East Delhi, said the rule could prevent fire hazards and lower bills.
“People used to live without air conditioners. We can adjust,” said Kumar, who drives a small commercial vehicle known as a tuk-tuk.
New Delhi-based businessperson Surjeet Singh said turning air conditioners down to their current lowest setting was “unnecessary.”
“People have gotten too comfortable,” he said, suggesting that cities invest in planting trees to tackle urban heat.
Indian air conditioners are inefficient
Abhyankar, the California professor, said that while changing temperature settings will help, requiring air conditioners to be energy efficient would do more.
“Tightening the minimum efficiency standards can change things pretty significantly,” said Abhyankar, who has also studied the energy sector in the U.S., China, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Calling the proposed air conditioner rule a “step in the right direction,” Pramod Singh, an energy savings expert with New Delhi-based Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy, said replacing the country’s estimated 80 million older generation, inefficient air conditioners is a key challenge for the government.
Many units available in India are so inefficient they couldn’t be sold in many other countries, Abhyankar said.
“Although India imports most key components for its air conditioners from China, nearly 80% of the air conditioners that are currently sold in India would be banned in China,” he said.
Energy experts said other small changes can reduce energy use and customer costs, such as making sure new buildings have adequate ventilation, combining air conditioners with other cooling methods and using smart technologies to run air conditioners.
“Air conditioner use reduces significantly if users also run their ceiling fans, as the room cools much faster,” said Abhyankar.