Brief studies for energy efficiency in residential housing in India

Energy consumption in India has been on a constant rise in recent years. Energy efficiency (EE) is thus an increasingly important issue, especially in the buildings sector, which is estimated to account for 40 percent of the energy consumption. In India, residential buildings account for 70 percent of the energy consumption within the buildings sector.

Against this backdrop, the German development bank KfW provided a line of credit of EUR 50 million to the National Housing Bank of India (NHB) for refinancing of home loans for apartments in energy efficient building developments. Given its success, the German and Indian governments decided to continue the programme by providing another credit line. adelphi has been leading the consortium of consultants for the accompanying technical assistance (TA) of the first credit line.

In order to guarantee a successful implementation of the successive credit line, KfW commissioned adelphi to conduct a series of studies with high relevance for the prolongation of the programme. The studies generally aimed at analysing the experiences made and the lessons learnt during the first phase of the TA and to then optimise the concept and conditions of the successive credit line. In May 2014 adelphi conducted a total of seven studies: incremental costs analysis of EE measures in buildings both from a construction and a life cycle point of view, with the conclusion that discounted payback periods are notably more attractive in EE buildings compared to standard construction practices; exploring possibilities to combine the ongoing programme with the concept of affordable housing; evaluation and adjustment of the minimum energy efficiency target set as a requirement for eligibility for the EE loans; a residential building sector update, observing a “green revolution”, i.e. rising awareness for EE; an overall evaluation of the first TA phase as well as recommendations for the next phase of the TA; an analysis of the role of developers, e.g. as potential borrowers; and last but not least an evaluation of different promotional mechanisms and suggestions for the type, terms and conditions of the lending scheme in the next phase of the programme.