From Guest Blogger Susan Kraemer: India's Need for Energy Efficient Air Conditioning
India’s incredible temperatures this summer were killers.
Over 2,300 Indians died of dehydration and heat stroke in what has been characterized as the fifth deadliest heat wave in earth’s recorded history.The temperatures near 120 degrees were not only standout temperatures in themselves, but they occurred in a record number of days in succession. And climate change means more years like this lie in the future.
India is not just hot to begin with but will be hotter.
So it is not surprising that as the climate heats up, demand for air conditioning is growing rapidly in India. Temperature is literally a life or death issue. So-called cooling degree days (CDD) are a comparison of temperatures to a baseline comfort level. India has a much greater number of cooling degree days than Miami or Washington or San Diego – or indeed any US city.
This means that there is a greater demand for space cooling, not only because it is hotter, but because more people are crammed into cities.
In general, the larger the population of a city, and the greater the number of cooling degree days, the greater the demand for air conditioning. India, with over a billion people, has three times the population of the US, concentrated in its cities, further concentrating its air conditioning needs. Currently, few people in India have air conditioners. EIA figures show 87% of U.S. households have air-conditioning equipment. Similar data for India show just 2% of Indian households have air conditioning.
Air conditioner sales are now increasing by 20% each year. Indians growing middle class bought about 3.3 million air conditioners in 2014, which added to the 25 million total units already in service.
India’s electric grid has already been having trouble keeping up, and adding air conditioning will create a big rise in power demand.
Already, in the summer of 2012, a nationwide blackout caused by overuse of the power grid, plunged 600 million people into the dark.
India’s electricity generation was not sufficient to meet demand, and operators tried to get by, by using rolling blackouts – selectively cutting off residential service for as much as 16 hours a day in some parts of the nation.
This summer’s searing heatwave set records in many parts of the country a harbinger of what is to come with climate change, and with it, additional power demand as the rapidly rising middle class in India adds air conditioner-related power demand to the grid. A possible solution would be the wider adoption of solar power. More energy can be generated from solar power than the possible output of fossil fuel reserves in the country. And of course, it would all be clean, renewable energy, as opposed to the highly polluting coal reserves it has been using, as the world’s third largest coal consumer. Energy efficiency is also a great way to help reduce a rise in energy demand due to air conditioning needs. In 2006, India began its first efficiency program for air conditioners through the
Energy efficiency is also a great way to help reduce the rise in energy demand due to air conditioning needs. In 2006, India began its first efficiency program for air conditioners through the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE).
The program involves a standard minimum efficiency level with a competitive labeling program above that level so consumers can compare higher efficiency levels when purchasing air conditioners.
“An early analysis of the program from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) estimated that the standards and labels would save 27 terawatthours (TWh) of electricity use annually by 2020, nearly 14% of projected electricity use for air conditioning in 2020. Without the efficiency program, the study projected a base case consumption of 42 TWh in 2010, 195 TWh in 2020, and 552 TWh in 2030 for air conditioning.” EIA
Author: Susan Kraemer
Image Credit: suffix via Pixabay under Creative Commons Licence
