Transforming Energy Demand 2025

In 2015, India recognized significant levels of wasted energy and cost in domestic lighting, which represented 27% of domestic energy due in part to the fact that only 0.4% of the installed lighting base comprised LEDs. Uptake was prevented by the high cost of LED bulbs, even though they use 75% less energy and last around 25 times longer than incandescent bulbs. The government overcame this barrier in four ways through its UJALA programme: –Created a tender for large-scale LED bulb procurement. –Signed offtake value chain agreements with state governments and utilities to distribute bulbs. –Provided two payment options: upfront and on-bill repayments through electricity bills. –Built swap schemes for rural households where one LED bulb could be swapped for a working incandescent bulb. Creating economies of scale for LED bulbs lowered upfront costs per bulb to as low as $0.8. This drove the uptake of more than 1.15 billion LED light bulbs by 2020, resulting in annual savings of over $2.5 billion and around 47 billion kilowatt hours (kWh).20CASE STUDY IV Public sector action in buildings (widespread retrofit) Transforming Energy Demand: Accelerating Business Action through Government Leadership 14