The power ministry has advised air conditioner manufacturers to regulate default air conditioner settings to promote energy efficiency. AC companies have been told to maintain default temperature setting at 24°C; this may be made mandatory at a later stage. The ministry has launched an awareness campaign around air conditioning to target substantial energy savings and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In a meeting called by Power Minister R.K. Singh, manufacturers have been advised to create consumer awareness by fixing labels on ACs to indicate the optimum temperature settings as 24°C to 26°C. “Every one degree increase in the air conditioner temperature setting results in a power saving of 6%,” Singh said. After receiving public feedback in the next six months, the ministry may consider making the optimum temperature levels mandatory. Some countries like Japan have enacted regulation to keep the default AC temperature at 28°C. “If all the consumers comply, this will result in savings of 20 billion units of electricity per year,” the statement said. Going by current market trends, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) estimates that the total connected load in India due to air conditioning will be 200 GW by 2030. This may increase further as only 6% of households in the country are using ACs today.