Global Cooling Prize receives 139 applications from 31 countries

This prize is expected to stimulate innovation in cooling technology that can be accessed by millions of people in India initially and around the world eventually.

Union Minister for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences, and Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Harsh Vardhan will announce the finalists of the ‘Global Cooling Prize’ (GCP) at an Award Ceremony here tomorrow, being organized by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) under the Mission Innovation (MI) programme.

GCP has received 139 applications from 31 countries around the globe from innovators, start-ups, research institutes, universities, and key AC industry manufacturers. The largest number of 45 applications were received from India. The seven finalists will be awarded the US $200,000 to develop two prototypes for real field testing in India. This prize is expected to stimulate innovation in cooling technology that can be accessed by millions of people in India initially and around the world eventually.

Mission Innovation (MI) is a global initiative of 24 countries and the European Union to accelerate global clean energy innovation. MI identified the “Affordable Heating and Cooling of Building Innovation Challenge” as one of the seven innovation challenges. India agreed to its engagement as MI Member for the Mission Innovation Challenge # 7: Affordable Heating and Cooling Challenge. The objective of the MI Challenge #7 is to make low carbon heating and cooling affordable for everyone.

Department of Science & Technology (DST) in partnership with BEE & MoEF&CC has launched GCP jointly with Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), an independent non-profit research institute and think tank founded in 1982 in the US, to spur development of residential cooling solution that has drastically (up to five times) less climate impact than today's standard products especially contextualized to Indian context. GCP aims to spur the development of a residential cooling solution that has at least five times (5x) less climate impact than today's standard products.

Following the launch of the GCP by Dr. Harsh Vardhan a year ago, on 12th November 2018, and announcing India’s Commitment to participate in GCP, the prize has gained international recognition and prominence. This competition runs for two years and will disburse at least US$3 million in interim and final awards to best innovative residential cooling technologies that demonstrate performance. Since scaling up is also an important criterion, the winning technology be perhaps the most effective technology at that point in time.

India has proposed to support this innovation prize with a grant up to $2 million, which would fund the India-based teams in developing working prototypes of their innovative cooling technology designs including model energy-efficient building. The performance of these prototypes will be evaluated both in labs and under real-life conditions over a period of sufficient length to ensure robust results.

The global increase in cooling demand will see the world go from 900 million units today to 2.5 billion units by 2050. Air conditioning already accounts for 40–60 percent of summer peak load in large Indian cities and is on track to contribute 140 GW to peak demand (~30 percent of total peak demand) in 2030 and between 300 and 500 GW by 2050. Developing countries will see a fivefold increase in demand over this same period. India already contributes 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and future increases in cooling demand will not only exacerbate this impact but also place an undue burden on India’s electricity sector. 1.2 billion room air conditioners (RACs) today, to over 4.5 billion by 2050 alone could add up to 180 GT of C02 emissions, cumulatively, between now and 2050, making it nearly impossible to meet the goal of Paris Agreement to keep global warming to less than two degrees above preindustrial levels.

In line with the discussion held in preparatory meeting on Mission Innovation (MI) at Ottawa from 30 January – 1 February 2018, RMI has requested DST for partnering in Global Cooling Prize. The objective of this competition is to develop a cooling technology that requires radically less energy to operate, utilizes refrigerants with no ozone depletion potential and with low global warming potential, and has the potential to be cost-effective at scale. The competition is India specific.  The Prize has drawn on global talent to design a cooling solution for a typical housing unit in a highly populous city in India. The world today needs an extremely efficient cooling technology, a solution that can sustainably meet the comfort-cooling needs of our growing populations without contributing to runaway climate change or costly stresses on already burdened electricity systems.

GCP received 139 applications from 31 countries around the globe from innovators, start-ups, research institutes, universities, and key AC industry manufacturers, out of which max. 45 are from India. 

At tomorrow’s event, senior officials from national and international organizations will present their activities on cooling as a development priority and making it sustainable through linkages with policies, markets, financing, etc.

The representatives from DST, NITI Aayog, World Bank, Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) will participate besides experts, industries, industry associations, and researchers.

(With Inputs from PIB)