THE FUTURE OF AIR CONDITIONING FOR BUILDINGS
IEA A/C Efficiency Goals Compared to Today's Baseline and Most Efficient Products AC Efficiency Metric (SEER / IEER)
Baseline (2016)
Most Efficient (2016)
30 2050 Target: 50% Savings
25 20 15
2030 Target: 20% Savings
10 5 0 Residential CAC (SEER)
Commercial CAC (IEER)
Source: IEA (2011)28, Lennox (2016)97, Carrier (2016)98
Figure 5-3: IEA A/C efficiency goals compared to baseline and most efficient products99 While today’s most efficient products already meet the EIA’s performance targets, many of these high-efficiency technologies still have prohibitively high upfront costs for most of the global market. For example, the highest efficiency A/C products in the U.S. can carry an upfront cost premium of 50%-150% or greater, although this spread is gradually decreasing.100 Consumers predominantly purchase baseline or moderate-efficiency equipment, so reducing the cost of highefficiency products will continue to be a key research focus. Along with performance goals, which reduce operating costs, the IEA also sets an equipmentcost reduction goal of 5-20% for high efficiency technologies. These lower-cost, high-efficiency systems will have a larger market impact through wider customer adoption and have the potential to drive new government appliance standards. For these reasons, the BTO emerging technology program sets cost reduction targets for various heat pump systems to “bend the cost curve” for high efficiency products and accelerate market adoption (See Table 5-2).
Lennox XC25. Accessed April 2016. http://www.lennox.com/products/heating-cooling/air-conditioners/xc25 Carrier WeatherExpert 48LC. Accessed April 2016. http://www.carrier.com/commercial/en/us/products/packagedoutdoor/outdoor-packaged-units/48lc/ 99 Performance estimates based on residential split-system A/C and commercial rooftop A/C products in US market. A/C equipment efficiencies (SEER, COP) are not directly comparable across equipment types or countries due to differing climate, technical specifications and test procedures. 100 EIA. 2015. “Updated Buildings Sector Appliance and Equipment Costs and Efficiencies.” U.S. Energy Information Administration. http://www.eia.gov/analysis/studies/buildings/equipcosts/pdf/full.pdf. Estimated price decreases reflect adjustments in DOE minimum efficiency standards and the availability of higher efficiency products. 97 98
Energy Efficiency Improvements 33