Photo @Gritt Zheng on Unsplash

NRDC and the China National Institute of Standardization (CNIS) shared the initial finding of a joint report on the development trend of added features (e.g. smart functions) in room air conditioners (AC) and their potential impact on energy efficiency at an online workshop held during China’s annual National Energy Saving Week in July 2020. The report findings underscore the importance of raising public attention on the importance of energy efficiency of AC: According to the report, over 98% of consumers would be willing to pay higher price for high efficiency AC, when they learn that more energy efficient ACs can reduce utility cost, reduce air pollution and carbon emission, thus helping to tackle climate change. The report also finds that certain added feature such as zonal cooling and smart sensing could potentially help save energy, while other features like increasing outside air supply, while helping to improve indoor air quality, could also significantly increase energy consumption. The report calls for setting standards to steer manufacturers to improve the efficiency performance of the additional functions. Experts from research institute, industry association, NGOs and AC manufacturers attended the workshop and discussed topics including green cooling retrofit of public buildings, green cooling practice of chain stores and market potentials for high efficiency AC. See industry media coverage on China Energy News and China Industry News.