Impressed by Andhra Pradesh’s housing programme ‘Pedalandariki Illu’, Germany’s State-owned KfW Bank has shown interest in sharing of best practices in energy efficiency, and is also exploring the possibility of extending financial support for the electricity distribution infrastructure to the housing project.
In a statement on Sunday, Andhra Pradesh State Energy Conservation Mission (APSECM) CEO A. Chandrasekhara Reddy said the KfG had communicated to the State Special Chief Secretary, Housing, Ajay Jain that the head of the energy team from the bank Martin Lux, along with senior executive of KfW Hemant Bhatnagar, would hold a physical meeting with the State officials tentatively in the second week of July.
The German team has proposed financial support of around 150 million euros for the construction of energy efficient houses and two million euros towards technical assistance besides additional support for electricity distribution infrastructure and strengthening of the network of power supply.
He said that in yet another initiative, the Housing Department has suggested to the APSECM and Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) to introduce cool roofs as a pilot project to reduce the heat ingress (entry of heat) from the roof and to maintain thermal comfort for the occupants inside the houses. It would help reduce the indoor temperature by two degrees Celsius to three degrees Celsius compared to the regular roofs. These roofs could be installed by use of materials like high reflective albedo paint, heat reflective tiles or membrane, he said.
