Focus: AC companies plan cool designs for warming world, but high costs a hurdle

Daikin Industries

05/12/2023 03:00

By Gloria Dickie
       DUBAI, Dec 5 - When temperatures climbed north of 40
degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in Seville during this
summer's crushing heatwave in Europe, air conditioning use
jumped 23% in the southern Spanish city compared to how many
hours ACs ran during the same period in 2022. 
Lisbon's average AC use, too, went up by about 41% in mid-June
to mid-July, compared with the same period the previous year,
according to data analysis from Sensibo, a company which
specializes in smart devices that can control ACs remotely to
cut energy use. 
While cooling technologies can save lives during deadly heat,
they also threaten to worsen the climate crisis.
    The energy used in cooling and refrigerants accounts for
about 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and demand could
more than triple by 2050, according to the International Energy
Agency.
    "We've got a big problem," said Lily Riahi, head of the
United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) Cool Coalition.
"Without strong policy actions, emissions will skyrocket."
At this year's U.N. climate summit, governments and companies
are grappling with the problem by discussing energy efficiency
and reining in high-polluting refrigerants.
Dozens of countries are backing a COP28 pledge to reduce
cooling-related emissions by at least 68% by 2050 from 2022
levels.
    But industry experts say governments need to offer
incentives for companies to bring sustainable AC technologies to
market and scale up.
    Even making today's most efficient units more affordable
could help, she said.
    "There is super efficient equipment available today that is
not being tapped into," Riahi said. "We need to create demand
with policy."
     
    COOL DESIGN 
    AC companies have been developing better products for years,
with units using less power and releasing fewer
hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), potent greenhouse gases.
    One way conventional ACs are so energy intensive is through
processes for eliminating humidity.
    Conventional ACs transfer heat outside by converting gas
refrigerants to liquid and back again, which generates cooling.
    Removing humidity requires cooling air to the point at which
water vapour becomes a liquid to be drained. This inability to
get rid of humidity without first cooling the air makes
conventional ACs less efficient.
    "Humidity is what drives comfort, even more than
temperature," said Sorin Grama, CEO of the U.S. startup
Transaera. "Current air conditioners suck when it comes to
removing humidity."
    Grama co-founded Transaera in 2018 based on novel cooling
materials discovered at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.
    The company's AC prototype uses these materials to dry out
air, aiming to produce fewer emissions than traditional ACs.
Two major AC companies, Gree Electric and Daikin  6367.T , won a
2021 competition supported by the Indian government and
nonprofits to build a better air conditioner.
    Like Transaera, the winning prototypes focused on removing
humidity and achieving a climate impact five times lower than
available ACs.
Two years later, there are no plans to bring those winning
prototypes to market. While Gree hopes soon to offer a
scaled-back model, Daikin said material costs and supply chain
issues were still obstacles.
    "It's not economically feasible," said Miki Yamanaka,
department manager of Daikin's Global Environment Center.
     
    MARKETS OF SCALE
Industry experts say policies and incentives are needed to lower
consumer costs. More than 1 billion people living in warm
climates still lack access to cooling, according to nonprofit
Sustainable Energy for All.
    "Cooling is more like a right than a luxury," said Larissa
Gross of climate think tank E3G.
    UNEP's Riahi said governments can consider implementing
stricter energy performance standards, clearer efficiency
labelling, subsidies or bulk procurement to stimulate demand and
lower costs.
    Meanwhile, import tariffs can help prevent inefficient,
second-hand models being resold in developing countries.
    Gree is not yet releasing commercial models that replicate
its super-efficient prototype. Market research suggested people
were not willing to pay as much as 150% more, said thermal
engineer Baolong Wang of Tsinghua University in Beijing who
worked with Gree on its prototype.
"Some countries like Indonesia, the economics are not so
developed, but they need this kind of cooling," Wang said. "You
have to focus on affordable cooling".
    The company instead plans to soon market a similar model but
for drier conditions in the Middle East. This model uses the
prototype's high-efficiency air compressor, but switches to a
cheaper refrigerant with higher emissions potential than the
prototype's R152a refrigerant, he said.
    Wang said Gree was also working on a model for the more
humid Indian market. 
    Another startup from Britain called Barocal is also working
on improving AC technology, with its initial prototype using
solid refrigerants instead of climate-polluting gases.
    "We've been working hard on a second generation of
prototypes that are performing well in all metrics — good
cooling power and efficiency," said Barocal founder Xavier Moya,
a material physics researcher at the University of Cambridge. 
    The startup Transaera, which last year received $4.5 million
in seed funding from U.S. company Carrier's venture capital
group, aims to get a product to market by 2025.
    "This industry goes slow," Grama said. "You have to generate
supply chains and partnerships ... We have to work within the
confines of a 100-year-old industry changing its direction."
      ___
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(Reporting by Gloria Dickie; Editing by Katy Daigle, Simon
Jessop and Josie Kao)
((gloria.dickie@thomsonreuters.com))