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Improving air conditioners in India

The recent report “Improving Air Conditioners in India” underlines actions for the Indian room AC market to grow sustainably by using “climate-friendly” room ACs that are both energy efficient and use climate-safe refrigerants.

In a recent report “Improving Air Conditioners in India”*, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development (IGSD) and the Indian Energy and Resources Institute(TERI) stress that urbanization, rising temperatures, and more frequent heat waves in India are driving cooling demand higher. Further, as living standards rise and electricity reaches more homes across India, sales of room air conditioners (ACs) are growing. So they underline actions for the room AC market to grow sustainably by using “climate-friendly” room ACs that are both energy efficient and use climate-safe refrigerants.


The room AC stock has skyrocketed from 2 million units in 2006 to approximately 30 million units in 2017. Room AC sales are projected to increase significantly between 2017 and 2030, leading to an installed stock of between 55 and 124 million room ACs in 2030.


In India, fulfilling the Kigali Amendment is expected to avoid the use of HFCs equivalent to between 2 and 6 billion tons of carbon dioxide through 2050 – about 20 to 25% of which is likely to come from reductions in HFCs used for room ACs. On top of that, the Indian market has an opportunity to save at least an additional 950 million tons of HFC use through 2050, if India can phase down faster, on pace with the majority of developing countries under the Kigali agreement.


Air conditioning manufacturers in India already offer ACs using refrigerants such as low global warming potential (GWP) hydrocarbon HC-290 (propane), with GWP of 3, and transitional refrigerant HFC-32, with GWP of 677, compared to the refrigerants HCFC-22 with GWP of 1760 and HFC-410A with GWP of 1924. The estimated room AC sales in India by refrigerant in 2017 are the following: R22: 70%; R32: 17%; R410A: 11%; R290: 2%.


Improving the energy efficiency of room ACs can deliver even more remarkable climate benefits – perhaps three times as large as the benefits of switching refrigerants. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimates that if by 2030, India’s AC stock improves in average efficiency by 30% from 2015 levels, annual carbon dioxide emissions will decrease by approximately 180 million metric tons per year.


As of early 2018, more than 50 room AC models having Indian Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratios (ISEERs) of 4.0 or greater – are already on the Indian market. The best room ACs as of April 2018 have already reached ISEER 5.8 and upwards in the Indian market, sold by Daikin, Godrej, Panasonic, LG and Hitachi.


The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) Star Labeling program has succeeded in strengthening AC efficiency standards and labels by about 35% since 2006, representing major cost and energy savings in India. On this basis, the authors recommend in particular to advance the minimum ISEER to 4.0 in 2020. They also recommend to reinforce consumer awareness about energy efficiency through the BEE Star Rating Program.


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