MUMBAI:
A key driver for electricity demand globally is the ever-increasing use of air conditioners in homes and offices. India is not untouched by this phenomenon. According to the Indo – German Energy Forum 2018 report, by 2027 India’s cooling energy demand is expected to increase by 2.2x.
With growing disposable income, rising middle class and urbanization, the number of room air conditioners in use in India is projected to be a whopping 1 billion by 2050. The growing use of Air Conditioners is amplifying the ‘urban heat island’ effect, in turn making cities warmer. It is also known that Air conditioners are power guzzlers and an increase in demand for Air Conditioners will, in turn, put an upward pressure on the energy generation, leading to higher emissions.
The emission report by UNEP confirms that global GHG emission for the year 2018 stood at 55.3 giga tonnes of CO2 Equivalent emission. And if the emissions continue at this rate, the average temperature in India will shoot up from about 24°C to about 28°C by 2100, as said in a research by the Climate Impact Lab. This further stresses the urgency for an improved cooling efficiency technology for all, without warming the planet.
It is in this context that a million dollar challenge was thrown across the globe to explore innovative solutions to the unfolding climatic threat posed by the growing demand for residential air conditioning. About 2100+ registration, with 139 applications across 31 countries participated in this competition instituted by a global coalition of Government of India and Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI). The participants ranged from major air conditioner manufacturers, research institutes, universities and start-ups. 8 of these 2100+ entrants have moved to the next level involving prototyping, Godrej Appliances being one of them.
Commenting on this development, Kamal Nandi, Business Head and Executive Vice President, Godrej Appliances, said “We are happy to share that Godrej Appliances is one of the eight finalists across the globe and among 139 applicants for the Global Cooling Prize. ‘Environment friendliness’ for us is a value that has been ingrained in our corporate DNA since our inception. Continuous innovation on the Green Technology front therefore, has been a business imperative for us. It is important to note that Godrej Appliances are not the greenest only in terms of usage of environment-friendly refrigerant, but also because of high levels of energy efficiency in our products. Being selected as a finalist is a matter of pride for us as it helps us place Indian technology prowess on the world map.”
With Green at its heart, the brand has put forth the concept of leveraging evaporative cooling coupled with a natural low Global Warming Potential refrigerant to deliver powerful cooling but with 5X less climate impact. The design employs highly optimized vapor compression cooling system integrated with advanced evaporative cooling technology to reduce energy consumption. While small solar PV incorporated in the design will be instrumental in reducing power consumption from the grid, intelligent integration is accomplished through smart control systems. Furthermore, such a solution would be able to provide affordable access to cooling, which has become a critical necessity in many hot climates around the world.
Burzin Wadia, Executive Vice President & Head – Engineering and Technology , Godrej Appliances further added, “We are honored to be selected as a finalist for this global competition. With our latest design concept – an innovative evaporative cooling based, energy-efficient and sustainable technology employing low GWP refrigerant, we will be able to reduce energy consumption by 80% for air conditioners. This is a revolutionary technology which will go a long way in solving the global warming crisis.”
Richard Branson, Founder and CEO of the Virgin Group and global Ambassador for the prize said: “It gives me immense satisfaction to say that we have received some absolutely revolutionary cooling ideas. What makes this competition especially exciting is the market transformation opportunity. It could be one of the biggest technology-based steps we can take to arrest climate change. Congratulations to the finalists of the Global Cooling Prize. I look forward to following all of you on your journey to winning the Prize and scaling your solutions globally.”
