Leading air conditioning companies Daikin and Gree are among eight finalists for the Global Cooling Prize, the international innovation competition to develop super-efficient and climate-friendly residential cooling solutions.
The $3m initiative, launched last year with backing from British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, is a two-year competition to find a residential cooling technology with at least five times less climate impact than standard room air conditioning units.
The competitors showcased technologies that reduce or eliminate refrigerants linked to climate change, advances that will be vital as the number of room air conditioners nearly quadruples by 2050.
The eight teams selected pitched a wide range of technologies, including smart hybrid vapour compression designs, evaporative cooling systems, and solid-state cooling technologies.
The Daikin concept involves an air conditioner using the low GWP HFO refrigerant R1234ze(E), utilising the heat of vaporisation to lower the temperature of the air that the outdoor unit takes in. Gree’s solution is a hybrid of vapour compression refrigeration, direct evaporative cooling, and ventilation.
Sir Richard Branson, founder and CEO of the Virgin Group and the prize’s global ambassador, said the competition had attracted “some absolutely revolutionary cooling ideas”.
“What makes this competition especially exciting, is the market transformation opportunity,” he said. It could be one of the biggest technology-based steps we can take to arrest climate change.”
The Global Cooling Prize was launched in November 2018 by a global coalition led by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India; Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) — a leading global research institute; and Mission Innovation — a global initiative of 24 countries and the European Union to accelerate global clean energy innovation.The initiative is also supported by Conservation X Labs, Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE), and CEPT University, and a coalition of over 20 leading international non-profit organisations.
The winner of the Global Cooling Prize will be announced in November 2020.
