Atmospheric Environment Vol. 30, No.5, pp. 803-808, 1996 Copyright © 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed. in Great Britain. AU rights reserved 1352-2310/96 $15.00 + 0.00 1352-2310(94)00215-8 BOMBAY EFFICIENT LIGHTING LARGE-SCALE EXPERIMENT (BELLE): BLUEPRINT FOR IMPROVING ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND REDUCING PEAK ELECTRIC DEMAND IN A DEVELOPING COUNTRY M. ANJALI SASTRY System Dynamics Group, M.LT., Cambridge MA 02142-1347, U.S.A. and ASH OK J. GADGIL Center for Building Science, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, U.S.A, (First received 30 October 1992 and in final form 3 June 1994) Abstract-This paper presents the Bombay Efficient Lighting Large-Scale Experiment, a practical approach to the problem of simultaneously meeting development and environment goals through increasing electric end-use efficiency, The major elements of the project are described, together with an exposition of the barriers to implementation that they are designed to address. The discussion illustrates the potential benefits, as well as the difficulties, of increasing energy efficiency in developing countries. Key word index: Electric end-use efficiency, compact fluorescent lamps, India, 1. INTRODUcnON Practical means of improving electric end-use effici- ency can benefit both the developing and developed countries. Since efficient technologies use less elec- tricity to deliver the same or better-quality services as the equipment they replace, their use can generate both environmental and economic payoffs. Carbon dioxide, acid rain and particulate emissions can be avoided to reducing the demand for new electric power plants; lower power generation requirements can also reduce potential damage from hydroelectric dam construction and risks from nuclear power plants. In addition, freeing capital that would other- wise be invested in expanding utility capacity can significantly further economic development. For developing countries, these twin payoffs are even larger than for the industrialized world, since any electric power that is made available through effici- ency improvements can be put to use immediately elsewhere in the economy-many developing coun- tries currently suffer from power shortages in all sectors. The capital and power that can be saved through improved efficiency has the potential to gen- erate larger increases in the standard of living for the world's poorest citizens-who currently have inade- quate access to lighting, refrigeration and irrigation services-than for the better-off. In addition, imple- menting efficient technologies can bring electrical 803 services to more people far sooner than building costly new power plants, which usually take over a decl,lde to complete in developing countries. While it is the case that per capita power consumption remains relatively low in the developing countries, it is increasing at a far faster rate there than in the developed countries. This large increase in power consumption brings attendant increases in related pollution and environmental dam- age, a problem that is gaining attention both within the developing world and in international fora. Other benefits include reduced international poli- tical tension: national security can be strengthened by reduced dependence on imported fuels. In the long term, locally manufactured efficient products may actually obviate the need for imported fossil fuels and power generation equipment. A secondary benefit of implementing efficient lighting equipment is that it can increase the economic attractiveness of a range of alternative supply options. For example, solar photo- voltaic systems may become more cost-effective when coupled with efficient fluorescent lamps that use only one-quarter the electricity required by incandescent bulbs. In this paper, we introduce these practical dimen- sions of planning and executing a lighting efficiency program in Bombay, India designed to capture the potential benefits of increased energy efficiency. We show how operational, political and economic consid- erations were incorporated into the design of the