One nation, one AC temp? ACs in India to be restricted to lowest possible of 20°C

The air conditioners in India will soon be restricted to the lowest possible temperature of 20°C, compared to the current lowest temperature of ACs – 18°C (or even 16°C in some ACs), according to Union Minister of Power Manohar Lal Khattar.

Speaking at an event, Khattar said that the government is soon likely to implement the restriction, which will restrict—

• The lowest possible temperature of an AC to 20°C, and
• The highest possible temperature would be 28°C

According to the minister, this will reduce excessive power consumption due to extremely low cooling settings in the ACs.

According to the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), raising the temperature from 20°C to 24°C can lead to 24% power savings.

For every 1°C increase, you can save approximately 6% electricity.

The bureau noted that if 50% of India’s AC users adopt this change, the country could save 10 billion units of electricity annually.

This would also translate to about ₹5,000 crore in reduced power bills and can lower CO₂ emissions by 8.2 million tonnes.

India is not the only country to implement such norms, many countries across the globe have such restrictions to curb energy consumption and tackle climate change. Below are some of the examples.

USA: 21-24°C

Japan: 26-28°C

Italy : 23-25°C

Europe: 22-25°C

Middle East: 20-24°C