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Standard and labelling for evaporative air coolers: A roadmap to affordable & sustainable space cooling solutions in India

Panel: 9. Products, appliances, ICT

This is a peer-reviewed paper.

Authors:
Srishti Sharma, Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE), India
Akhil Singal, Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE), India
Tarun Garg, Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE), India

Abstract

India has around 3000 cooling degree days per year. However, it is one of the countries with the lowest access to cooling with per capita space cooling energy consumption at 69 kWh compared to the world’s average of 272 kWh. India being one of the fastest growing economies in the world, will result in an increase in demand for a better quality of life and enhanced thermal comfort in the coming future. On the other hand, it has been estimated that a significant share of households will not have the purchasing power for room air conditioners (RACs) for attaining thermal comfort in the coming decade. RACs, despite their low penetration (~9%), accounts for ~ 42% of the space cooling energy consumption (~135TWh) in 2017-18 in India. In addition, RACs are not climate-friendly as they use refrigerants with high Global Warming Potential (GWP) that contribute to ozone layer depletion and carbon emissions to a large extent.

It has also been projected that the affordable housing sector will add another 360 million sq.m. by 2022 to the building footprint. This will lead to an increase in demand for affordable space cooling solutions, which in turn will require the deployment of affordable and sustainable space cooling solutions such as evaporative air coolers (EACs). EACs can effectively provide thermal comfort by evaporation of water to cool and humidify the supply air in residential and commercial settings under India’s hot-dry and composite climatic zones. The current penetration rate of EACs in Indian households stands at 15%. In addition to that, India’s EAC market is projected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 14.2% during 2019-25.

However, their market is majorly unorganised, and there is an absence of a Standard and Labelling (S&L) program for EACs in India. In contrast, the RAC market is organised and regulated by the S&L program. Thus, the development of the S&L program for EACs shall lead to market organisation. This paper provides an overview of India’s policy, regulatory and institutional landscape concerning the S&L program. It establishes a comparative assessment between standards adopted nationally and internationally for EACs. This paper aims to bridge the information gap and act as a catalyst in facilitating the key decision makers to develop the S&L program and create a market for energy efficient EACs in India.

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Download this paper as pdf: 9-087-21_Sharma.pdf