Refrigerant Reclamation
Assessment of the potential emissions impact of R-410A refrigerant reclamation in the United States’ Residential HVAC Sector.
Global Cooling Initiative
What is it?
Cooling is essential to modern life, from air conditioning in buildings to preserving food and managing data. It includes technologies like air conditioners and refrigerators as well as the use of refrigerants and their management. As global temperatures rise, efficient and affordable cooling solutions are crucial to keeping people healthy and safe, while reducing energy consumption and minimizing climate pollution for a sustainable future.
Why it Matters
Cooling is a defining issue of our time, with 4 billion people facing extreme heat by 2030. Access to cooling is vital for health, productivity, and economic development. But current cooling technologies operate far below best possible efficiency levels and also use refrigerants that are potent greenhouse gases and often leak from the equipment. By accelerating energy-efficient cooling, using eco-friendly refrigerants, and improving refrigerant lifecycle management, we can provide cooling for all without warming the planet.
What We’re Doing
The RMI-led Global Cooling Prize, concluded in 2021, demonstrated residential AC technologies with five times lower climate impact and dramatically lower operating costs. Now, through the Global Cooling Efficiency Accelerator, RMI and partners are shaping the market to commercialize these solutions. Additionally, we’re advancing research on life-cycle refrigerant management.
Resources
When Heat Becomes Deadly: The Importance of Next-Generation Air Conditioning
It’s time to move beyond temperature as a proxy for comfort. Next-generation testing standards and performance rating systems can help.
Reshaping the Future of Heating and Cooling
Two hope-inspiring initiatives — the Global Cooling Pledge and Buildings Breakthrough — are unveiled at COP28.
Beating the Heat: A Sustainable Cooling Handbook for Cities
The world’s cities are heating up at twice the global rate. This handbook lists sustainable urban cooling solutions and guides cities on how to use them.
Global Cooling Prize: Solving the Cooling Dilemma
Learn how two teams of innovators developed affordable cooling technologies with five times lower climate impact to win the Global Cooling Prize.
Global Cooling Prize: A Pathway to Net-Zero Residential Cooling by 2050
The Global Cooling Prize—a journey that began back in 2018—is now in its final stretch: the winner(s) will be announced during the virtual Grand Award Ceremony later this month.
Primer for Space Cooling
Why and How to Transition to Sustainable Cooling Solutions.
External Resources
NBC News
Communities fight to keep their cool
MIT Technology Review
Why air-conditioning is a climate antihero
Washington Post
How air conditioners will have to change in the future
HVAC&R News
AC testing standards ‘inadequate’, says RMI
Cooling Post