Innovations for Energy Efficiency Retrofitting Financing in Construction Sector: Indian Perspective

Existing buildings have significant untapped resource of energy, referred to as "lock-in" period for the life of the built facilities. It can be described as the unrealised energy savings of buildings, building elements and equipment due to non-stringent and unambitious energy requirement targets. It would, therefore, be practical for Government of India (GoI) to fast-track policies for retrofitting of existing building stock to unlock this mega potential saving. In India, lack of financing mechanisms have been identified as a major obstacle in achieving energy efficiency (EE) and warrants a focused research to identify barriers and propose innovative financial models. This research identifies that, in India, financial institutions (FI) are in a strategic position to facilitate in EE in the existing built-environment, but relationship between FI's role in EE has to be supported through supportive policy mechanisms. This study has identified GoI initiated case studies that highlight interlinking strategies of EE retrofitting, their financing models and institutional policies for implementation, and has ascertained that public buildings have tremendous scope for retrofitting as they successful attract financial models especially through energy service company (ESCO) and renewable ESCO (RESCO) route, moreover serve as inspirational demonstration projects.