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In developing countries, air conditioners are showing progress. Most importantly, air conditioners can relieve people in hot countries like India, China and Mexico. In a warmer world in the grip of climate change, a CA can literally be the difference between life and death.
However, these devices have a cost to our planet. Their use requires a lot of (currently) dirty energy and emits hydrofluorocarbons, greenhouse gases that retain heat in the atmosphere much more efficiently than carbon dioxide. In fact, the use of the air conditioner in the residential sector alone could increase the temperature of our planet by more than half a degree Celsius by 2100, while more and more people around the world are using air conditioners, according to a report released Monday by the Rocky Mountain Institute, a non-profit organization. dedicated to the transformation of the energy sector.
That's why the institute – with the support of technology billionaire Richard Branson – has just launched a global competition. Announced Monday, the Global Cooling Prize invites bright minds to innovate new cooling technologies, which will make air conditioning more accessible to people in the tropics while reducing its impact on the planet and health. Who wants $ 3 million?
According to the World Health Organization, by 2030, exposure to heat could cause an additional 38,000 deaths among seniors each year in the world. According to a 2017 study published in Nature, by 2100, up to 74% of the world's population could be exposed to lethal temperatures for at least 20 days a year. We need air conditioning, but its high energy consumption and our current reliance on fossil fuels to run air conditioning units could cause rising air pollution. A recent study estimated that all this extra air pollution could kill an additional 1,000 people each year in the United States by the middle of the century.
That's why the institute wants to find a balance between cooling people and not warming up the planet. As the report notes, current technological advances are not fast enough to achieve this, even though people had to start using these devices more efficiently tomorrow.
Participants have until June 2019 to submit their first applications. A more detailed application is expected by August 2019. In November 2019, one year after the announcement of the award, a maximum of 10 finalists will be announced. They will each receive $ 200,000 to build two prototypes, which must meet the stringent price requirements for energy consumption, cost, climate impact and water consumption. By the end of 2020, the winner will be announced. The final winner receives at least $ 1 million to put the product on the market.
The teams will test their prototypes in simulated environments, as well as in an existing apartment complex in India, whose government also supports the competition. And for good reason: in 2015, the country experienced heat waves that claimed the lives of more than 2,500 people. Sales of air conditioners are exploding, and India is expected to become the world's largest consumer of energy for cooling in 2050, according to the institute's report. This country is already facing severe air pollution and air conditioners will aggravate the situation unless something radical happens.
This is the goal here. Because global warming is taking a notch, it is less and less preferable to avoid AC.
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