Prize Criteria Tool

Evaluation and Scoring Page

All the participating cooling technologies need to demonstrate that they meet or exceed the Primary and Supplementary Prize Criteria of the Global Cooling Prize to compete in the competition. The “Primary Criteria” includes the Climate Impact and Affordability Criteria. The “Supplementary Criteria” includes the criteria on refrigerant, water, power demand, scalability, emissions, materials and operational requirements. All the prize criteria must be met by the participating cooling technologies to qualify in the prize. You can learn more about the Prize Criteria here.

For the purpose of the prize, the performance of all the participating cooling technologies will be evaluated against the performance of the baseline AC unit.

Defining the baseline AC unit

The baseline room air-conditioner (RAC) unit selected is a Voltas 1.5 TR (5.3 kW) cooling capacity, fixed-speed, mini-split type, having an Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) of 3.5 W/W. The AC unit also uses R22 refrigerant with a global warming potential (GWP) of 1760.

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 maintaining indoor conditions below 27°C dry bulb temperature (DBT) and 60% relative humidity (RH) over the entire year when outdoor air temperature is above 20°C DBT. This baseline electricity consumption is determined to be 2,969 kWh/year.

The installed cost to consumer (excluding standard installation labor costs for the unit and any taxes) of the baseline AC unit for this competition is considered to be INR 36,515 (Indian National Rupee; $534 based on 2018 average USD to INR currency exchange rate).

Evaluation and Scoring

To compete in the prize, the participants must submit the Detailed Technical Application before August 31, 2019, on their application portal. The Technical Review Committee (judges of the prize) will evaluate these technical applications based on the details of the technology provided by participants on each of the prize criteria. After evaluation, up to 10 participants will be selected to go to the next round. The selection and ranking of up to 10 finalists will be done using a points-based system. Points will be awarded on the climate impact and affordability criteria while the Supplementary Criteria will serve as necessary qualifying requirement.

For the climate impact criteria, points will be awarded based on the reduction in the climate impact from the baseline. A participant can score a maximum of 100 points by achieving a 100% reduction in climate impact from the baseline. A minimum of 80 points must be scored in order to qualify under this criterion.

For the affordability criteria, points will be awarded based on the installed cost to consumer of the proposed cooling solution. A participant can score a maximum of 40 points if the proposed cooling solution has a zero installed cost and scores zero points if the installed cost to consumer is five times the baseline AC unit cost. A minimum of 24 points must be scored in order to qualify under this criterion.

A Prize Criteria Tool has been developed to help participants assess the performance of their cooling technologies. This tool will reflect the total points scored by your technology in this competition on the different criteria.

Using the Prize Criteria Tool

The prize criteria tool has three sections which include – Climate Impact criteria, Affordability Criteria and Supplementary Criteria.

In the Climate Impact Criteria section, input the annual grid electricity consumption of your solution in kWh/year as well as the GWP (global warming potential) of the refrigerant of your proposed cooling solution in the space provided to determine the climate impact of your solution with respect to the baseline. In case your cooling solution uses no refrigerant or uses any natural refrigerant, input “0” to signify zero GWP of the refrigerant used in your solution.

The tool evaluates the percentage reduction in grid electricity consumption and GWP from that of the baseline AC unit. The electricity and GWP reduction achieved is assigned weights in the ratio of 80:20 to signify their relative climate impact. The tool calculates the overall percentage reduction in Climate Impact with respect to the baseline. 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. The overall percentage reduction achieved using the assigned 80:20 weighting would be 80%. This climate impact reduction is converted to equivalent points which is shown in the “Climate Impact Points Scored” field.

In the Affordability Criteria section, input the bill of materials cost of your proposed cooling solution assuming that the components are manufactured at scale of 100,000 units per year in the space provided to determine if your solution meets the affordability criteria of the prize. The total installed cost to consumer (excluding the standard installation labor costs and any taxes) includes the “bill of materials cost” – cost of all AC components, any installation related materials and consumables; and “other costs and margins” – profits, dealer margins, distribution costs, overhead cost etc. Based on our research, we have determined that the bill of materials cost is about 40% of the total installed cost to consumer. Once you input the bill of materials cost at a scale of 100,000 units per year, the tool will automatically calculate the total installed cost of your proposed cooling solution to the consumer in the field “Total installed cost of your proposed cooling solution (USD).”

In the Supplementary Criteria section, indicate whether your proposed cooling solution meets the criteria requirement.

Once all the fields are complete, the tool will assess the performance of your cooling solution and determine if it qualifies to compete in the competition.