Source: BEE web site
If you are somebody bothered by high electricity bills and the damage to the environment because of rising energy consumption, then you will be extremely happy to know that the Bureau of Energy Efficiency has a come up with a wonderful system to help you choose which products to buy. The Bureau of energy Efficiency (BEE) is an agency functioning under the Ministry of Power set up by the Government of India in March 2002 under the provisions of the 2001 Energy Conservation Act. The agency’s objective is to promote awareness of the need for energy conservation and encourage adoption of products that are highly energy efficient.
In order to make it easy for the public and consumers to identify energy efficient products in the market, the BEE has introduced the Energy Efficiency Star labelling system which simplifies and standardizes ratings for energy efficiency for different electrical home appliances. Under this system, manufacturers can affix a label with a BEE logo on their products to indicate their energy efficiency. A label with five stars would mean that the product is among the most energy efficient products in the market and a label with just one star would mean it’s among (or next to)the least energy efficient.
This rating system is currently invoked for most kinds of common household equipment. Here’s a list of items that are covered under the Standard and Labeling Program of electrical home appliances from the BEE website.
- Refrigerators
- Tubular Fluorescent Lamps
- Room Air Conditioners
- Direct Cool Refrigerators
- Distribution Transformers
- Induction Motors
- Pump Sets
- Ceiling Fans
- LPG
- Electric Geysers and
- Televisions.
What this means is that every time you buy one of these products, you can choose to buy a product that is extremely energy efficient and thereby save a lot on your electricity expenditure.
A high energy efficiency ratio for a product you regularly use means less consumption of energy which translates into lower electricity bills and higher savings for you. Even though affixing the BEE star rating label is voluntary for most products currently, it has been made mandatory for room ACs from January 2010. This is understandable considering that an AC consumes a huge quantity of electricity and high energy efficiency ratio (EER) can make a big difference over a long time. The likely savings from reduced electricity consumption for an air-conditioner can be as high as Rs. 2000 over a year. So just imagine how much electricity can be saved in a particular flat or house if you replace all electric appliances with energy efficient variants. The average apartment in an Indian city could save thousands of rupees every year with such a move.
For more information on BEE star labelling system, visit http://cribb.in/save-electricity-by-checking-bee-labels.htm
