Eight teams from around the world invent affordable cooling solutions with potential for five times less climate impact
NEW DELHI, Nov. 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A global coalition led by the Government of India along with Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) today announced the Finalists of the Global Cooling Prize, an innovation competition to develop super-efficient and climate-friendly residential cooling solutions. The competitors showcased breakthrough cooling technologies that not only use less electricity but also reduce the use of refrigerants linked to climate change; advances that will be vital as the number of room air conditioners around the globe will nearly quadruple by 2050.
The Finalist teams are led by some of the world's largest air conditioner manufacturers, including Gree Electric Appliances Inc. of Zhuhai, Daikin AirConditioning India Pvt. Ltd., and Godrej and Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd.; startups and corporations S&S Design Startup Solution Pvt. Ltd., Transaera Inc, M2 Thermal Solutions and Kraton Corporation; and Barocal Ltd. The selected teams showcase a wide range of innovative residential cooling technology solutions, including smart hybrid vapor compression cooling, evaporative cooling, and solid-state cooling technology designs.
"It gives me immense satisfaction to say that we have received some absolutely revolutionary cooling ideas," said Richard Branson, founder and CEO of the Virgin Group and global ambassador for the Prize. "What makes this competition exciting is the market transformation opportunity. It could be one of the biggest technology-based steps to arrest climate change. I look forward to following all of you on your journey to winning the Prize and scaling your technology."
A global coalition led by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, 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, launched the Global Cooling Prize in November 2018 with the aim of spurring the development of a climate-friendly residential cooling solution.
RMI Chief Executive Officer, Jules Kortenhorst, highlighted the impact of such innovations in the future. "The Residential AC industry represents a 60-billion-dollar market today and is set to grow to nearly four times that size by 2050," he said. "The Prize initiates an era of transformation for the cooling industry. The winning breakthrough technology has the potential to prevent up to 0.5 degrees of global warming by 2100."
Contact: Nick Steel, nsteel@rmi.org
