Co-benefits of Energy-Efficient Air Conditioners in the Residential Building Sector of China

Wang, Xu; Purohit, Pallav; Höglund-Isaksson, Lena; Zhang, Shaohui; Fang, Hongyuan

doi:10.1021/acs.est.0c01629

Cited by 16 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Promotion of less-energy intensive affordable technologies, including evaporative cooling (Yang et al 2019) climates and contribute to improve access to basic cooling. Adoption of refrigerant with low global warming potential in AC under the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol is vital in achieving climate goals (Wang et al 2020). Some limitations apply to this study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Cooling access and energy requirements for adaptation to heat stress in megacities

Mastrucci

Byers

Pachauri

et al. 2022

Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Change

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As urban areas are increasingly exposed to high temperatures, lack of access to residential thermal comfort is a challenge with dramatic consequences for human health and well-being. Air-conditioning (AC) can provide relief against heat stress, but a massive AC uptake could entail stark energy demand growth and mitigation challenges. Slums pose additional risks due to poor building quality, failing to provide adequate shelter from severe climatic conditions. Thus, it is unclear how many people in the Global South will still lack access to basic cooling under different future climate and socioeconomic developments. We assess the impact of different shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs) and climate futures on the extent of population lacking access to cooling where needed—the cooling gap—and energy requirements for basic comfort for a set of 22 megacities in the Global South. We find that different SSPs greatly influence the extent of future cooling gaps, generally larger in SSP3 due low income levels, and consequent limited access to AC and durable housing. Megacities in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia have the largest share of population affected, ranging from 33% (SSP1) to 86% (SSP3) by mid-century. Energy requirements to provide basic cooling for all are higher in SSP1 for most megacities, driven by urbanization, and can increase by 7 to 23% moving from 2.0 to 3.0 °C temperature rise levels. Strategies combining improved building design and efficient cooling systems can improve adaptation to heat stress in cities while reducing energy and emission requirements to reach climate and sustainability goals.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Cooling access and energy requirements for adaptation to heat stress in megacities

Mastrucci

Byers

Pachauri

et al. 2022

Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Change

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“…There exist different efficiency improvement potentials of different type of cooling technologies in different scenario (see details in Table 5). In the first two alternative scenarios, we only consider the ACs system's efficiency improvement, whereas in the last two alternative scenarios, we consider both the energy efficiency improvement of the cooling technologies (Purohit et al 2020;Wang et al 2020) and the efficiency improvement due to transition towards low-GWP refrigerants (Purohit et al 2018;UNEP-IEA 2020).…”

Section: Scenario Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The implied emission factors have been taken from the GAINS model (Amann et al 2008), which involves series of air pollutants and GHGs from global, national, and regional energy consumption. The implied emission factors used in this study include the CO 2 and CH 4 , as well as the SO 2 , NO x , and PM 2.5 together with the short-lived climate pollutants (BC and OC) that the expected region/province-and year-specific fuel mixes used in power plants in the IEA-WEO 2018 Current Policies Scenario (CPS), 2 New Policies Scenario (NPS), 3 and Sustainable Development Scenario (SDS), 4 respectively, in the timeframe to 2050 (Wang et al 2020). Further information is available in IEA (2018a, b) and Rafaj et al (2018).…”

Section: Co-benefits Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cooling in NRBs (commercial air conditioning) presents a key opportunity for reducing GHG emissions by cutting down fossil fuel-based electricity consumption through improved efficiency (Engelmann et al 2014;Khanna et al 2019;Purohit et al 2020) and by transitioning to low-GWP (Global Warming Potential, GWP) refrigerants (Sharma et al 2014;Höglund-Isaksson et al 2017;Purohit et al 2018;Wang et al 2020). The Kigali Amendment (KA) 1 to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (entered into force on 1 January 2019) is an international agreement to gradually reduce the consumption and production of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Transitioning to low-GWP alternatives with enhanced energy efficiency in cooling non-residential buildings of China

Wang

Purohit

2022

Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Change

Self Cite

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The electricity demand for space cooling in the non-residential building (NRB) sector of China is growing significantly and is becoming increasingly critical with rapid economic development and mounting impacts of climate change. The growing demand for space cooling will increase global warming due to emissions of hydrofluorocarbons used in cooling equipment and carbon dioxide emissions from the mostly fossil fuel-based electricity currently powering space cooling. This study uses the Greenhouse Gas and Air Pollution Interaction and Synergies (GAINS) model framework to estimate current and future emissions of hydrofluorocarbons and their abatement potentials for space cooling in the NRB sector of China and assess the co-benefits in the form of savings in electricity and associated reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG), air pollution, and short-lived climate pollutant emissions. Co-benefits of space cooling are assessed by taking into account (a) regional and urban/rural heterogeneities and climatic zones among different provinces; (b) technical/economic energy efficiency improvements of the cooling technologies; and (c) transition towards lower global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants under the Kigali Amendment. Under the business-as-usual (BAU) scenario, the total energy consumption for space cooling in the NRB sector will increase from 166 TWh in 2015 to 564 TWh in 2050, primarily due to the rapid increase in the floor space area of non-residential buildings. The total GHG mitigation potential due to the transition towards low-GWP refrigerants and technical energy efficiency improvement of cooling technologies will approximately be equal to 10% of the total carbon emissions from the building sector of China in 2050.

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“…Although researchers increasingly urge for comprehensive circularity assessments to better inform options for resource management and sustainability, ,, CE indicators for use-phase material use and environmental impacts are noticeably lacking . Products’ use phase influences the effectiveness of ME strategies, especially for products that require material or energy inputs to function. − …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improved Copper Circularity as a Result of Increased Material Efficiency in the U.S. Housing Stock

Wang

Berrill

Zimmerman

et al. 2022

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Material efficiency (ME) can support rapid climate change mitigation and circular economy. Here, we comprehensively assess the circularity of ME strategies for copper use in the U.S. housing services (including residential buildings and major household appliances) by integrating use-phase material and energy demand. Although the ME strategies of more intensive floor space use and extended lifetime of appliances and buildings reduce the primary copper demand, employing these strategies increases the commonly neglected use-phase share of total copper requirements during the century from 23–28 to 22–42%. Use-phase copper requirements for home improvements have remained larger than the demand gap (copper demand minus scrap availability) for much of the century, limiting copper circularity in the U.S. housing services. Further, use-phase energy consumption can negate the benefits of ME strategies. For instance, the lifetime extension of lower-efficiency refrigerators increases the copper use and net environmental impact by increased electricity use despite reductions from less production. This suggests a need for more attention to the use phase when assessing circularity, especially for products that are material and energy intensive during use. To avoid burden shifting, policymakers should consider the entire life cycle of products supporting services when pursuing circular economy goals.

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Co-benefits of Energy-Efficient Air Conditioners in the Residential Building Sector of China

Cited by 16 publications

References 59 publications

Cooling access and energy requirements for adaptation to heat stress in megacities

Cooling access and energy requirements for adaptation to heat stress in megacities

Transitioning to low-GWP alternatives with enhanced energy efficiency in cooling non-residential buildings of China

Improved Copper Circularity as a Result of Increased Material Efficiency in the U.S. Housing Stock

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