FAQ

The baseline room air conditioner (RAC) unit selected is a Voltas 1.5 TR (5.3 kW) fixed-speed, mini-split type RAC unit with an Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) of 3.5 W/W and using R22 refrigerant with a global warming potential (GWP) of 1760 (based on IPCC AR5 report).The model details of the baseline AC unit are: Voltas SAC 183 JZJ.

The baseline unit’s electricity consumption is based on RMI’s energy model, simulating a 90 square meter apartment with south and east exposure, in New Delhi, India and is determined to be 2,969 kWh/year. The energy model considers the full year temperature and humidity seasonal profile for New Delhi and requires the baseline unit to maintain the indoor conditions below 27°C dry bulb temperature (DBT) and 60% relative humidity (RH) when the outdoor air temperature is above 20°C DBT.

The Prize Criteria of the Global Cooling Prize has two components: Primary Criteria and Supplementary Criteria. The “Primary Criteria” includes the Climate Impact and Affordability Criteria. The “Supplementary Criteria” includes the limitations on refrigerants, water, full-load power consumption, materials and operational requirements that a participating cooling technology should overcome in order to qualify for the competition. Points will be awarded to the participating technologies based on their performance on the climate impact and affordability criteria as compared to the baseline for this competition. Finally, a combination of the total points scored on the primary criteria and the achievement of the supplementary criteria will be used to rank the finalists, thus reflecting the Prize’s objective of identifying a solution with 5X lower climate impact at no more than 2X the cost of today’s standard AC units to consumers.  

The 5X in the Global Cooling Prize implies that the cooling solution must achieve at least five times or 80% lower climate impact compared to the climate impact of the baseline unit. The climate impact is evaluated through a combination of reduction in grid electricity consumption (kWh) and the reduction in global warming potential (GWP) of the refrigerant used. The 80:20 weighting is used for electricity and refrigerant respectively, to arrive at the overall climate impact of the cooling solution.

The climate impact of a cooling technology is determined by a combination of two factors – electricity reduction (kWh) and refrigerant GWP reduction, using assigned weighting of 80:20 respectively, as compared to the baseline. To achieve a 5X lower climate impact, an overall reduction of 80% (electricity kWh and refrigerant GWP combined) as compared to the baseline will be required. For example, if a technology achieves a 75% reduction in electricity from the baseline and also uses a zero GWP refrigerant, it achieves a 100% reduction from the GWP baseline (R22 at a GWP of 1760). The overall percentage reduction achieved using the assigned 80:20 weighting would be 80% or 5X lower climate impact.

To achieve a 5X lower climate impact, an overall reduction of 80% (using the assigned 80:20 weighting for electricity and refrigerant respectively) as compared to the baseline will be required. The overall percentage reduction achieved from the baseline will then be converted to equivalent points. A zero percent reduction from the baseline i.e. a technology at baseline will receive zero points. A technology achieving 100% reduction from the baseline will receive 100 points. Any percentage reduction between 0% and 100% will be ratably converted to equivalent points between 0 to 100. Example: A technology that is powered by solar PV mounted on it, without exceeding the overall unit volumetric sizing requirement, and uses zero GWP refrigerant, would achieve an overall reduction of 100% from the baseline and will receive 100 points. If a technology achieves a 75% reduction in electricity from the baseline and also uses a zero GWP refrigerant, it achieves a 100% reduction from the GWP baseline (R22 at a GWP of 1760). The overall percentage reduction achieved using the assigned 80:20 weighting would be 80%, and therefore will receive 80 points.

The Climate Impact is one of the two primary criteria of this competition and it is the expectation that all the participating technologies achieve at least 5X lower climate impact than the climate impact of the baseline AC unit.

To the extent that the total number of qualifying finalists selected, that meet or exceed the 5X lower climate impact criteria, falls short of the desired number of teams to go through to the final round, the Technical Review Committee may decide to invite designs that meet all other threshold criteria, show high early stage potential to exceed 80% climate impact reduction in the future and currently exceed at least a 64% climate impact reduction from the baseline, to develop prototypes for testing.

If a participant can demonstrate in their application that the cooling technology effectively delivers the full 5X lower climate impact through a combination of the standalone unit performance and reducing energy consumption in adjacent systems, the Technical Review Committee may decide to consider such application as complying with the climate impact criteria. In such a case, the Technical Review Committee will include the corresponding incremental climate impact and to the degree appropriate award additional points. The final selection will depend on the total points obtained with regard to the climate impact criteria and the affordability criteria, reflecting the Prize’s objective of identifying a solution with 5X lower climate impact at no more than 2X the cost of today’s standard AC units to consumers.

Renewable energy harvested by the device may be used, subject to the following criteria:

• Any renewable energy generation equipment used must be directly integrated into the cooling unit.
• The energy offset is accounted for only if it is used directly by the cooling equipment (net metering is not accounted for).
• The renewable energy component combined with the AC unit must not exceed the maximum size outlined under the scalability criteria.

The cooling solution’s “installed cost to consumer” includes the cost of all AC components, any installation related materials and consumables such as refrigerant, piping, and other costs and margins (profit margins, distribution costs, overhead cost etc.). For the purpose of this competition, the evaluation of installed cost will assume a consistent “other costs and margins” which is 60% of the total installed cost to consumer. Also, the installed cost to consumer will not include any labor costs required for installation and any taxes to consumers. 

The technology’s final cost to consumer will be evaluated at manufacturing scale of 100,000 (hundred thousand) units by a panel of industrial engineers using the Bill of Materials (BoM) and other documentation submitted as part of the Detailed Technical Application. The panel of industrial engineers will use the information to arrive at the material cost estimates for the AC unit’s components at a manufacturing scale of 100,000 units. The standard distribution costs and margins will then be added to this cost and the final cost to the consumer will be determined (excluding taxes). This final cost to the consumer should be less than two times (2X) the baseline unit’s cost to the consumer.

For any material, component or consumable that is directly procured from the market at retail or wholesale price, it is expected that the participant use that price as the unit cost of that material, component or consumable to input in the excel template “Total installed cost to consumer”. The participant should then estimate the unit cost of that material, component or consumable when procured or manufactured at a scale of 100,000 units per year and provide any supporting assumptions and references. Similarly, the unit cost of all other material, component or consumable should be determined/estimated (in respective tabs in the excel template provided in the technical application), and this combined cost at a scale of 100,000 units per year will be multiplied by 2.5 in order to calculate the “total installed cost to consumer” for the cooling solution.

The cooling solution’s “installed cost to consumer” includes the cost of all AC components, any installation related materials and consumables such as refrigerant, piping, and other costs and margins (profit margins, distribution costs, overhead cost etc.). This cost should be assessed at the quality standards of the test market i.e. India (at minimum) for this competition. 

No. The cost evaluation will not take into consideration any financing mechanism or incentives available in the market. Our assessment will be purely based on the bill of materials and other relevant information shared with us through the application which will then be evaluated by an independent panel of industrial engineers.

The Affordability is one of the two primary criteria of this competition and it is the expectation that all the submitting technologies achieve the cost of no more than 2X the cost of the baseline unit at assessed manufacturing scale of 100,000 units.

If a competing technology is not able to achieve the 2X cost limit at assessed scale but the participants can demonstrate in their application that the cooling technology brings reduced cost benefits in adjacent systems, the Technical Review Committee may decide to consider such applications as complying with the criteria and reflect the corresponding reduction in costs. The final selection will depend on the total points obtained with regard to the climate impact criteria and the affordability criteria, reflecting the Prize’s objective of identifying a solution with 5X lower climate impact at no more than 2X the cost of today’s standard AC units to consumers.

The cooling capacity of the participating technologies will be assessed as part of the Indian Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (ISEER) test. This requirement is also part of the “Operation” criteria of the prize. We believe that a cooling solution that has a design capacity of less than 1.5 TR (5.3 kW) will find it challenging to maintain the indoor conditions below 27°C dry bulb temperature (DBT) and 60% relative humidity (RH) throughout the test period when the outdoor air temperature is above 20°C DBT. However, based on the overall performance of the cooling technology against the prize criteria, the Technical Review Committee will take the final decision on allowing such technology to continue in the competition.

The refrigerant criterion of the prize requires that the cooling technology uses Class A refrigerant that has low toxicity and is considered safe for residential applications. However, if the participant chooses to use a Class B refrigerant, which has higher toxicity, but restricts its use to outdoor unit of the air conditioner with no exposure to the inhabitants, the Technical Review Committee may allow such a solution, provided it meets all other prize criteria, at their sole discretion. 

For the purpose of evaluating the ability of a solution to meet the stated international guideline IEC 60335-2-40 for maximum allowable charge of a flammable refrigerant, participants should assume the room size to be 25 square meter for determining refrigerant charge. This aligns with the sizing of the internal chamber that will be used for the lab simulated year-round performance test at CEPT University, India. Also, for the field test, this room size will be materially similar to that of the master bedroom or living room where the prototypes of finalist technologies will be installed in the apartment units. Please note that the apartment units selected for the field test will have multiple rooms for a total area of approximately 90 square meters. Apartment units for the field test have not yet been selected; we will share the final sizing, floor plans and details with all participants as soon as the apartments are secured.

Yes, the 700 W maximum power demand criterion applies to power draw from the electricity grid i.e. if the cooling technology has an integrated solar panel, that generation is not counted towards the 700 W limit. However, the cooling solution using any thermal energy source or solar energy source will have to also meet the affordability, scalability and emissions criteria of the prize to compete in the competition.

The Scalability criteria requires that the total volumetric size of the cooling solution should not be more than two times the volumetric size of the baseline unit i.e. the total volumetric size should not exceed 0.52 cubic meters. The total volumetric size must include any dedicated renewable power generation resources and any external components that make up the proposed solution.

The volumetric size of the cooling system is calculated as the sum of the measured maximum height, width and depth of each standalone assembly and any integrated external components as configured in the operation mode.

The below image in Figure 1 can be used to determine the volumetric size of each standalone assembly.

Figure 1

If the cooling solution has integrated solar PV panels, the PV can rotate or auto-adjust the tilt angle to orient it to the sun to ensure maximum generation. The additional space behind the panel will not be counted towards the volumetric size. The below image in Figure 2 can be used to understand the calculation of the volumetric size of a cooling system with an integrated solar PV or any other external component that is integrated in a similar way to the cooling system.

Figure 2:

No, standard piping connections required for components or collecting condensate will not be included in determining the total volumetric size of the cooling technology. However, if the piping volume is materially different from that used baseline AC unit (1.5 TR mini-split AC unit for this the competition), it may be considered in the total volumetric size constraint of 0.52 cubic meters at the sole discretion of the Technical Review Committee.

The energy simulation of the baseline AC unit – 1.5 TR (5.3 kW), fixed speed, EER 3.5 W/W mini split unit, operating in a typical apartment indicates 1600-2200 operational hours depending on the climatic location in India. The actual operation hours could be reduced or increased based on the proposed cooling solution. For the purpose of this prize, the solution should demonstrate that it meets the Operation criteria i.e. maintain indoor conditions below 27°C dry bulb temperature (DBT) and 60% relative humidity when the outdoor air temperature is above 20°C DBT, during the technical application and testing phase with a provision for unmet hours allowance. Hence, there is no specific operating hours constraint for the competition as long as the proposed solution meets the Operation criteria. For more details on the Testing, please visit the Testing Protocol page. 

The achievement of the minimum threshold indicated under each supplementary criteria i.e. power draw, water, emissions, materials, refrigerant, scalability, operation is an expectation of all applications.

During evaluation of the Detailed Technical Application, if one or more supplementary criteria are not met, the Technical Review Committee will take a decision on whether or not the participant is qualified to compete in the competition.

Similarly, during the testing stage, in case one or more supplementary criteria are not met by the competing technologies, the Technical Review Committee will take a decision on whether or not the participant is qualified to compete in the final round.

An “adjacent system” is defined as a system which is typically installed or will be installed in an existing apartment building to serve the cooling or heating requirements. If the operation of the cooling solution coincides with such heating or cooling requirement in an adjacent system such that it offsets the energy use and/or capital cost of such a system, the Technical Review Committee will reflect the corresponding incremental climate impact or reduced capital costs in the evaluation of the solution.

An energy credit of up to 5% of the baseline AC unit’s energy consumption, will be given to the participants designing a cooling solution with heat recovery to generate hot water.  

The methodology that will be adopted is noted below –   

• Electricity savings for hot water system, resulting from heat recovery, will be deducted from the cooling electricity consumption and accordingly the Climate Impact criteria points will be calculated using the Prize Criteria tool.   

• The electricity savings will be considered only for the number of days (or hours) that the cooling solution operates. 
• The maximum credit that the participants will be allowed for the electricity savings will be the lower of two –  

• •  Actual calculated electricity savings based on measurements/analysis   
  • 5% of the total energy consumption of baseline AC unit for this prize 

Please note that any material cost (such as piping, heat exchanger) associated with integrating a hot water system with the cooling solution must be included in the bill of material details as part of the  Affordability criteria. 

No, the prize is focused on the efficiency and climate impact of the cooling technology only. Any other energy conservation measure that is not related to the technology will not be considered. 

No, the participants are not allowed to include any system that depends on onsite combustion of fossil fuels. Including distributed combustion sources not only possesses potential safety concerns for residential applications, but also undermines the impact of increasing penetration of renewables in the electricity grid and the corresponding reduction in grid emissions intensity.  

The structure of the Global Cooling Prize competition is designed to support the winning technology to scale in markets across the world. Up to 10 shortlisted technologies would be required to develop and produce two prototypes of their solution which will be tested in India. They will be notified around November 2019 and then required to deliver two fully operational prototypes for field testing by May 2020 i.e. at this stage the shortlisted technologies will be at least TRL 6 (prototype systems tested in intended environment with close to expected performance). At successful completion of the field testing in 2020, technologies would be TRL 7 (demonstration system operating in intended environment at pre-commercial scale.

It is an expectation of the Technical Review Committee that the participants are able to demonstrate the readiness of their cooling technology for field testing in May 2020 when submitting their Detailed Technical Applications in August 2019. It is a clear expectation for participants selected to go to the next round (i.e. testing stage) that they either are at or have a route to quickly transition to the required technology readiness level in order to meet the requirement of development and production of two prototypes by May 2020 and compete further in the competition.

The Technical Review Committee will be the judges of the Prize and will be responsible for setting the technical criteria, reviewing applications, and selecting the finalists and winning solution. All decisions of the technical review committee will be considered final and not subject to any appeal or arbitration.