The building sector in India is experiencing unprecedented growth. This sector alone accounts for over thirty per cent of India’s total electricity consumption. It is estimated that India is building 3,00,000 square feet of commercial floor space every day and will see one of the largest commercial and residential building construction boom over the next two decades. India is at an inflection point where forty per cent of the building stock that will exist in the next twenty years is yet to be built. This would generate greater demand for energy and hence there is an urgent need to optimize building energy demand in upcoming as well as existing building stock.

In 2001, the EC Act was enacted with the primary objective of providing a necessary legal framework for promoting energy conservation measures (BEE, 2017). The key directives of the act included standards 4 and labelling for appliances, identification of the energy intensive establishments to be notified as Designated Consumers (DC) and their inspection, energy audits by accredited energy auditors, among these were energy efficiency improvement in building sector and amendment of energy conservation building codes to suit local conditions.