Illumination Improvement in a Commercial Building in Coimbatore, India

India is one of the highest GHG emitters in the world. Building energy efficiency measures can go a long way in contributing to reducing this emission. With lighting being a major contributor to commercial building energy consumption, improvements in this sector can be an effective way to bring energy savings and reduce GHG emissions. This paper studies the technical and economic feasibility of lighting improvements in a commercial building in Coimbatore, India using life cycle cost analysis. The study proposes use of LED bulbs to replace the 399 existing fluorescent and incandescent lamps of varying wattages (16×18W incandescent bulbs, 8×18W-CFL, 4×36W-CFL, 281×36W linear fluorescent tubes, 60×54W linear fluorescent tubes, 12×50W-CFL, and 18×60W-CFL) covering a total floor area of 3454m
²
. The project was found to be feasible with an NPV of INR 2,373,077, benefit-cost ratio of 14.44, and a simple payback of 0.6 years. It was also estimated to have 19.3 tCO
₂
e avoided emissions annually.