Policy Briefs & Reports

Saving Energy: Taking Building Efficiency to New Heights

Radhika Khosla
Srinivas Chary Vedala, Raj Kiran Bilolikar, Anjali Jaiswal

NRDC Publication

January 1, 2011

Efficiency is everywhere, but it is an invisible resource and often underutilized. Energy efficiency is the fastest, cleanest, and cheapest way to meet energy needs— India alone could save $42 billion each year by largely improving energy efficiency in buildings, which currently consume more than 30 percent of the country’s electricity. With a projected skyrocketing increase in building-occupied area in India, from 8 billion square meters in 2005 to 41 billion by 2030, any building constructed without optimizing efficiency represents a lost opportunity to lock in energy and cost savings for decades.