India is nowadays a booming economy, with more people demanding always more energy. But the local government is smart and aware of the staggering potential of energy efficiency as it will replace all streetlights to LED in the next two years.
The world’s largest democracy is betting heavily on LED lighting as well as Treehugger reported that ” in 2 years, all streetlights in India will be LEDs “.
The amounts of streetlights to be replaced is between 20 and 35 million. The amount of electricity will decrease from 3,400 MW to 1,400 MW. This is a 58 percent reduction of energy demand ! Subsequent savings could reach $850 million (750 million euros) per year.
But it is not all, as Cleantechnica reported, India has recently approved a national offshore wind energy policy which may lead to a significant rise in the country’s wind energy capacity. This will likely lead to a huge boom of wind energy in the country.
Currently India has an installed wind energy capacity of 23.8 GW which is targeted to be increased to 75 GW by 2022. The local authorities recently upgraded the onshore wind energy potential of the country to 302 GW. ( that’s as much as the entire world’s capacity last year… )
To conclude, it is worth reminding that India has announced recently it was going big on solar as it will provide electricity to 400 million people with this energy source.
Now this energy efficiency venture. It makes so much sense : on one hand you decrease energy demand by increasing efficiency, on the other, you provide clean electricity to everyone. The fact that efficiency is part of the solution makes the energy transition so easier.
Image credits : India Presidential Palace, Inhabitat.