COOL SOLUTIONS

India can significantly reduce the energy consumed by its building and construction sector by promoting contextual cooling mechanisms

- SUGEET GROVER

THE building and construction sector has significant energy consumption and carbon footprint. A major share of this is due to space cooling. NITI Aayog estimates that 65 per cent of the energy demand in India comes from space cooling and heating. A warming climate, increasingly frequent episodes of heatwaves and growing access to space cooling are set to bring about a surge in cooling demand in the country.

India is projected to see an 11-fold increase in cooling demand in buildings by 2037-38, compared to the 2017-18 baseline, as per the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Recognising this threat, the country in 2019 became one of the first in the world to bring out a Cooling Action Plan (ICAP). It predicts that a potential reduction of around 20 per cent in cooling load could be achieved by 2037-38, through climate-appropriate building envelopes. An additional 30 per cent reduction in cooling energy can be achieved through improvements in cooling equipment efficiency and better servicing and operation and maintenance practices, it adds. The current codes also specify cooling equipment efficiencies but are largely focused on refrigerant-based cooling. Low-carbon cooling has so far gained very little traction.

CUSTOMISE SOLUTIONS