Cooling is central to economic development. As India faces record-breaking temperatures, how can the country meet increasing cooling demand, while simultaneously reducing energy intensity and mitigating potential environmental impacts?  This emerged as the key question in a conference that CLASP hosted to explore how implementation of India’s Cooling Action Plan could be accelerated.

India, with its predominantly tropical climate, is experiencing rising temperatures along with population growth and rapid urbanization, which are contributing to a steep increase in cooling demand. As temperatures continue to rise due to climate change, there will be an increase in cooling demand and greenhouse gas emissions.

To meet a growing cooling demand in a sustainable manner,  India set a precedent with the launch of a comprehensive National Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) in 2019. ICAP aimed to lower cooling needs across various industries by 20-25% and decrease the energy required for cooling by 25-40% by 2037-38. The plan prioritizes the deployment of a robust mix of energy-efficient cooling technologies and environment-friendly refrigerants to meet growing cooling requirements.

In December 2022, CLASP hosted a workshop to convene key industry representatives, government agencies, civil society organizations, manufacturers, and other stakeholders to explore how ICAP implementation could be accelerated.

Abhay Bakre, Director General of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), delivered the keynote address and highlighted the role of efficient cooling devices in reducing peak energy demand. He also stressed on the need to transition to the best available cooling technologies.

Arijit Sengupta, Director of BEE, highlighted key action areas and initiatives of BEE in implementing ICAP. These include efficiency policies and programs across space cooling in buildings, cold chain and refrigeration and transport air conditioning.

“India plays a leadership role globally in setting the cooling agenda. Dramatic climate changes demonstrate the critical role cooling appliances play in keeping economies healthy and productive. The ICAP is both a challenge and an opportunity for India to address rising cooling needs through policy and coordinated action.” – Christine Egan, CLASP CEO

Some of the key takeaways from the workshop include:

• Representatives from Energy Efficiency Services Limited, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Manufacturers Association, United Nations Environment Program and Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association discussed the need to create incentives programs for utilities/consumers to transform the market towards efficient cooling appliances.
• Civil society organisations (CSOs) play an important role in accelerating ICAP implementation. Representatives from AEEE, Prayas (Energy Group), Consumer Voice, NRDC, and CLASP discussed the need to improve the availability of energy efficiency best practices, operation and maintenance guidelines in local languages.
• The importance of enhancing communication and connecting with people to showcase the monetary benefits of using efficient (labelled) appliances to change consumer behaviour.

“The workshop emphasized the importance of collaboration and coordination among diverse stakeholders to achieve ICAP targets,” explains Bishal Thapa, CLASP’s Senior Director. “It is clear that the ICAP is a critical step towards reducing energy consumption, protecting the environment and promoting sustainable development.”

Minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) for appliances and equipment play a critical role in meeting ambitious international climate goals. By adopting updated MEPS aligned with international targets and best practice, governments can deliver further energy and cost savings to consumers and take action to curb the worst impacts of climate change.

CLASP evaluated the stringency of MEPS requirements for six major appliance categories—lighting, air conditioners, refrigerators, electric motors, water heating, and space heating—across ten of the world’s highest greenhouse gas-emitting economies—Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

This report identifies economies with the most ambitious MEPS, and highlights opportunities for further policy intervention across all economies. The analysis will be updated periodically, with updated data available on the World’s Best MEPS tool page. 

Webinar Materials | How to Achieve the World’s Best MEPS

• Presentation slide deck
• Americas/Africa/Europe panel and Q&A
• Americas/Africa/Europe panel recording
• Asia panel and Q&A
• Asia panel recording

Improving inclusivity is crucial to achieving a just energy transition and maximising energy access gains, especially for vulnerable groups like women, people with disabilities and low-income households. CLASP through Efficiency for Access published a first-of-its-kind report which includes a meta-analysis of 19 household surveys spanning 5,483 solar lighting and appliance customers in eight countries and self-reported company data for nine solar product manufacturers and distributors. It is a first step towards establishing a baseline to understand how well the sector is performing across different dimensions of equity and inclusion, including:

• An understanding of the ‘typical solar product user’
• An assessment of how well the sector is reaching women, people living in poverty, and people with disabilities
• Analysis of gender gaps in hiring and compensation among private sector companies and the diversity of product expertise and offering

The report concludes with recommendations for donors, market development programs, investors, and private sector companies on improving data collection efforts and better integrating diversity, equity and inclusion principles into their work.

Download the Appliances for All: Assessing the Inclusivity of the Solar Lighting and Appliances Sector report.

About Efficiency for Access

Efficiency for Access is a global coalition working to promote renewable and energy efficient appliances to deliver clean energy to the world’s poorest people. It is coordinated jointly by CLASP and the UK’s Energy Saving Trust.

Most of Ethiopia’s population (78%) lives in rural areas, and only 36% of that population has access to electricity. Urban dwellers are well-electrified, with 93% of people having access to electricity. Still, households and businesses experience frequent power outages even in grid-connected areas. For example, a World Bank study found that 80% of surveyed companies in Ethiopia experienced frequent power outages – 8 times per month, for 6 hours on average during each outage. This unreliable access and large unelectrified rural population provide an opportunity for increased energy service delivery for Ethiopians via solar home systems and accompanying off-grid appliances.

CLASP, as co-Secretariat of Efficiency for Access, engaged a local consultant in collecting appliance data and reporting on the market conditions in Ethiopia. Our findings reveal that although Ethiopia’s solar market is emerging, with great potential for growing its productive use of renewable energy (PURE) product market, the solar appliance sector is nascent. Obstacles such as appliance affordability, low consumer awareness, and inconsistent interpretation of tax policies and importation guidelines require resolution for continued growth.

Read the full report for detailed insights on the off- and weak-grid market landscape, the common power type, size, price, and warranty of off-grid appliances sold in retail markets, and other findings relevant to sector stakeholders working in Ethiopia.

Download the Off- and Weak-Grid Appliance Market: Ethiopia report here.

About Efficiency for Access

Efficiency for Access is a global coalition working to promote renewable and energy efficient appliances to deliver clean energy to the world’s poorest people. It is coordinated jointly by CLASP and the UK’s Energy Saving Trust.

Effective energy efficiency policy is more important than ever for mitigating carbon emissions and improving energy access globally. Policymakers and researchers can take advantage of Mepsy, CLASP’s free policy analysis tool, to make data-driven decisions about managing the top energy-consuming appliances, now including lighting and considerations for varying compliance levels.

This webinar, held on 16 March 2022, informed participants of two major additions to Mepsy’s toolkit: lighting and compliance. In addition, CLASP demonstrated how to use Mepsy to perform custom analyses and multiple tier policy analyses, in response to high demand for the feature.

A PDF version of the slides is available above, but to view the videos presented during the slideshow, please see the link below. Other related materials can also be downloaded below.

• Download Presentation (Read Only)
• 2022 Mepsy Webinar Q&A
• Analyzing Multiple Policy Tiers Guide
• Multiple Tiers Tool (Excel sheet)
• Transcript

For more information on Mepsy, see the Mepsy tool page and watch our launch webinar.

Calculating the Return on Investment of Appliance Energy Efficiency

While the social and economic benefits of energy efficiency are widely documented, few studies have explored the cost-effectiveness of policy interventions from an administrative perspective.

This study adds to the evidence base that appliance energy efficiency is a worthwhile investment, comparing the administrative costs of running such policies and their climate impact to the social cost of carbon.

By calculating the return on investment of 10 policy interventions, we find the administrative costs needed to achieve a one-ton reduction in CO₂e are below the social cost of carbon, with estimates ranging from less than one cent per ton to one dollar per ton. 

Our findings underscore the large value for money appliances standards and labeling policies pose to governments and implementing agencies. Read the full report to explore each case study in detail.

Uganda’s electrification rate is growing rapidly, but 59% of people still do not have access to electricity. This large off- and weak-grid population, a sharp increase in mobile money operations, and the established markets for component-based solar energy systems all provide a strong foundation for appliance sales in Uganda.

While the solar market in Uganda is growing fast, ownership of appliances such as TVs and refrigerators remain extremely low. There is also insufficient data about off-grid appropriate appliances that can help manufacturers, policymakers, distributors, mini-grid operators, investors, and other market actors to make informed decisions and identify high quality, efficient products sold in their region.

To help address this challenge, Efficiency for Access has worked to gather data on the availability of off-grid appropriate appliances in key countries, including Uganda. The Off- and Weak-Grid Appliance Market Country Profile for Uganda analyses four types of off-grid appliances surveyed in 2018 and 2020—TVs, fans, refrigerators and SWPs.

The profile explores the overall market landscape in Uganda, the common power type, size, price and warranty of off-grid appliances sold in retail markets, and other findings. The market insights can help inform sector stakeholders, such as development programmes, distributors, manufacturers, mini-grid developers, policymakers, and others, on the state of the market. In addition, we hope that the publication can help its readers identify opportunities to encourage higher market penetration for high-quality off- and weak-grid appropriate appliances.

Download the Off- and Weak-Grid Appliance Market: Uganda report here.

About Efficiency for Access

Efficiency for Access is a global coalition working to promote renewable and energy efficient appliances to deliver clean energy to the world’s poorest people. It is coordinated jointly by CLASP and the UK’s Energy Saving Trust.

Inconsistencies in performance reporting and a lack of reliable data make it difficult for buyers to identify high-performing products such as TVs and fans. Coupling this with the fact that appliances are a significant cost for most off-grid consumers, ensuring that products are high-quality and perform as expected is crucial.

To help market actors evaluate and compare product quality, Efficiency for Access piloted a quality assurance (QA) framework for standalone off-grid TVs and fans. Building on Equip Data’s appliance testing and data-sharing process, Efficiency for Access developed a set of quality criteria, evaluated products using the quality criteria, and shared findings and data with stakeholders to promote quality products.

The learning paper documents key learnings from testing and evaluating off-grid TVs and fans and provide recommendations for future QA efforts. The learnings aim to help the off-grid solar sector align and standardize on test methods and performance reporting, and enable market actors across the value chain to make faster, more informed decisions about off-grid products.

Download the learning paper here:  Quality Assurance for Off-Grid TVs and Fans: Lessons Learned and Paths Forward

About Efficiency for Access

Efficiency for Access is a global coalition working to promote renewable and energy efficient appliances to deliver clean energy to the world’s poorest people. It is coordinated jointly by CLASP and the UK’s Energy Saving Trust.

In 2018, CLASP conducted research and provided technical assistance to policymakers to improve the uptake of efficient cooling appliances, particularly air conditioners. Regions of focus for CLASP’s 2018 cooling portfolio included Africa, South America, and South and Southeast Asia. From identifying trade and industrial policy barriers for high-efficiency air conditioners in Brazil to tracking rapid market transformation brought about by highly efficient inverter compressor technologies in India, Vietnam and Thailand, Cooling in a Warming World guides readers through the findings of our recent market and product analyses. The featured market assessments, policy analyses, and research highlighted in the magazine are driving discussions with policymakers, industry, and other stakeholders on ambitious efficiency policies and setting the stage for future market transformation programs.

The Global LEAP Awards Buyer’s Guide is a catalog of the world’s best off-grid appliances. The 2017 edition contains information about off-grid fans and televisions that were named Winners and Finalists in the 2016-17 Global LEAP Awards. It is designed to serve as a procurement tool for use by off-grid solar companies and other distributors, and to provide general market intelligence to other interested stakeholders. It includes rated product specifications, performance metrics based on laboratory testing, and sales contact information.

The Global LEAP Awards identify one Winner as the best overall product nominated for each category, with other high-quality products in that category identified as Finalists. The 2017 Buyer’s Guide lists these products, and contains a total of 17 off-grid fans and 15 off-grid televisions.

The 2017 Global LEAP Awards Buyer’s Guide is published by Global Lighting and Energy Access Partnership (Global LEAP), an initiative of the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) with support from Power Africa’s Beyond the Grid Initiative.

Download the 2017 Global LEAP Awards Buyer’s Guide: Fans and Televisions here.

About Efficiency for Access

Efficiency for Access is a global coalition working to promote renewable and energy efficient appliances to deliver clean energy to the world’s poorest people. It is coordinated jointly by CLASP and the UK’s Energy Saving Trust.