Best prac­tice ex­am­ples

The number of room air conditioners is rising quickly throughout the world and especially in developing countries with warm climates. According to IEA, there could be over 3.7 billion room ACs in use in 2050. Emissions from room air conditioning will increase dramatically. Besides the decarbonisation of energy supply, increasing the appliances’ energy efficiency and using climate-friendly natural refrigerants are the only way towards zero-carbon and “green” cooling. HEAT has supported a pioneering room AC production conversion project which was implemented by GIZ and funded by the Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU). The Indian manufacturer Godrej ozone- and climate-friendly natural refrigerant R290 and started selling it in 2012. HEAT experts provided technical support for the new product design with a special focus on energy efficient and safe operation. HEAT also supported the elaboration of technicians training regarding the safe handling of flammable refrigerants in this context. In several related projects, HEAT experts have assisted the conversion to natural refrigerants in the production of household refrigerators as well as to natural blowing agents in the production of foam. …

Founded in Berlin in March 2009, the Green Chiller Association for Sorption Cooling is a platform of research facilities and manufacturers that are on the cutting edge of sorption chiller technologies in German-speaking countries. The Association was established to promote and develop solar and thermally-driven cooling technologies on a wide scale. Around 60% of all European manufacturer of sorption chillers in the small and medium-scale cooling capacity range are represented on the platform. All members offer closed sorption technologies like absorption cooling (working pair’s water/lithium bromide and ammonia/water) and adsorption cooling (water/silica gel and water/zeolith). The Association promotes the following main objectives: promoting and developing of the solar and thermal cooling markets in Germany and Europe, demonstration of different applications, and development of design tools and standardization. …

In cooperation with the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, Sustainable Design & Consulting LLC (SDC) implemented a project to test space conditioning systems termed “comfort islands”. Comfort island provide locally limited comfort conditions for occupants, hereby avoiding the conditioning of an entire space. Localized spaces with comfort islands are not dehumidified, and therefore a large amount of cooling for latent heat removal can be spared. Ideally installed comfort islands can provide energy savings of up to 70% compared with conventional space heating. …

The Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection (StMuV) and the Bavarian Environment Agency (LfU) have launched a multilateral cooperative effort with the Israel Ministry of Environmental Protection (MoEP) aimed at reducing fluorinated gases with high global warming potential in Israel’s refrigeration and air conditioning sectors. The main goal of the project (2014-2017) is to promote natural refrigerants such as hydrocarbons and ammonia in the cooling sector, in support of the international commitment made by Israel to the Montreal Protocol. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) is the implementing partner of the project, facilitating the transfer of best practice examples between Bavaria and Israel. Selected Israeli experts participated in a two-week Cool Training Course in Maintal, Germany in March 2017, where they learned how a shift to climate-friendly cooling appliances is viable both from an economic and technical perspective. Moreover, two technical workshops will be organized with the MoEP in Israel for local RAC experts. By training local technicians and political stakeholders, the project supports Israel in promoting green technologies. …

The Green Chiller NAMA project supports Indonesia in creating framework conditions to improve energy efficiency and sustainability in the refrigeration and air-conditioning sector. Through development of a Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMA) in the refrigeration and air-conditioning (RAC) sector a significant contribution to the achievement of the Indonesian GHG mitigation target will be made. The project focuses on four main areas: 1. NAMA strategy development 2. Establishment of incentive systems 3. Implementation of pilot measures 4. Capacity building …

MagFreeG, founded by Ubiblue in 2014, is a 30-month project aiming to commercialize and implement magnetic cooling across commercial cooling sectors in Europe. Under the CIP Eco-Innovation program of the European Union, MagFreeG received funding over 1.7M Euros. Ubiblue's MRS is the first industrialized, gas-free magnetic cooling system that offers a climate-friendly alternative to existing gas-based compressors for commercial refrigeration appliances. By introducing water-based MRS in professional refrigerated systems, MagFreeG may save up to the equivalent of 3200 tons of CO2 by the end of 2017, hereby enabling end users to contribute to the European 2020 environmental objectives. Currently, MRS has a cooling power of 400W, such that is applicable in smaller-scale appliances such as display cases or beverage coolers. However, MagFreeG is planning on extending MRS’s cooling power to 1000W, such that larger markets such as the industrial & medical refrigeration and transportation & storage can also benefit from this technology. …

The project “Promoting of Appliance Energy Efficiency and Transformation of the Refrigerating Appliances Market in Ghana” aims at improving the energy efficiency of cooling appliances marketed and used in Ghana. It is funded by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Green Energy Fund (GEF) and carried out by the Ghanaian Environmental Protection Agency. The project introduces a combination of regulatory tools such as Minimum Energy Performance Standards and Information Labels (S&L), as well as economic tools. Moreover, a Rebate Program encouraging households to replace old but functioning refrigerators with new and efficient ones has been introduced. The Ghanaian Energy Commission offers rebates of up to GH₵ 300 upon the purchase of new, Energy Efficient Labeled refrigerators. The Rebate Program was inaugurated on a pilot basis in 2012 for Accra and Tema, and was scaled up to cover all other regions by the end of 2013. The government of Ghana is providing GH₵ 1million per year for the Rebate Program, and the program will terminate once the funds are exhausted. …

Between 2008 and 2013, GIZ Proklima, on behalf of the German Environmental Ministry, supported the Indian company Godrej & Boyce to introduce hydrocarbon-driven (R290) split and room air conditioners to the Indian Market. Godrej & Boyce have installed a production line for R290 ACs while considering the necessary safety procedures to counter the risks arising from flammable hydrocarbon-based technology. Product certification and technician training are also a focus of the project. The new ACs have been designed according to European safety standards and have the highest energy efficiency in their class, hereby saving electricity costs and reducing indirect emissions. Each production line produces around 180,000 HCFC-free, energy efficient units annually. The direct and indirect emissions saved by these units, compared to earlier models using F-gases, amount to around 1 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. …