United States.
The Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) is composed of the energy ministers of 80% of the world's greenhouse gas-emitting countries and 90% of global clean energy investment countries, along with key partners such as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development.
Last weekend ministers launched the Advanced Cooling (AC) Challenge at their 7th meeting in San Francisco, California (June 4-5). The founding members of the new initiative are the United States, India, China, Canada and Saudi Arabia, which have pledged to implement policies to stimulate demand for energy-efficient refrigeration products.
The goal is to improve the efficiency of air conditioning technology by 30% and, in doing so, reduce emissions by up to 25 billion metric tons of CO2 over the life of the equipment, reducing peak electricity demand by up to 340-790 GW (the equivalent of 1,550 coal-fired power plants).
The CEM said the aim of the AC Challenge was to pressure governments and industry to research and develop air conditioning applications based on "super-efficient" natural refrigerants, and other refrigeration equipment at low prices. It will also install friendly and efficient cooling equipment and contribute to a "global advanced cooling database containing the fastest growing financial and technical data in the world's markets and high-performance models."
Many companies have already signed up for the AC Challenge, such as Ingersoll Rand, Danfoss and San Francisco International Airport. Danfoss committed to accelerating the adoption of natural refrigerant technologies by implementing the ejection technology that can make CO2 more efficient in warmer climates and by investing in a $5 million application development center to enable equipment manufacturers to test their products and come up with more efficient ways of doing things.
