Global Cooling Prize was an award competition from 2018 until 2021 that awarded $3 million in prizes to submissions to built more energy-efficient home air conditioning units. The eight competition finalists each received $200,000 to build working prototypes for testing, with the winner of the Global Cooling Prize receiving $1 million to support commercialization of the technology. More than 2,100 initial submissions were received with two companies sharing the grand prize of $1 million.

History

The Global Cooling Prize began in 2018 as a collaboration between the Rocky Mountain Institute and India’s Department of Science and Technology and Mission Innovation. ¹ The competition’s ambassador was billionaire Richard Branson. ² The goal of the Global Cooling Prize was to produce more efficient home air-conditioning systems. ³

In 2018, there were 1.2 billion room air conditioners in use, with an estimated 3.3 billion more to be installed by 2050. ⁴ Promoters of the prize argue that the increase of air conditioning units has the potential to put a strain on electrical grids and potentially warm temperatures by 0.5 degrees Celsius by 2100. ⁵ By 2030, Global Cooling Prize estimates that half the world’s population will live in hot climates and demand will for air conditioning units will increase by three times globally and five times in developing countries. ⁶ It is estimated that modern air conditioning units only achieve 14 percent of maximum theoretical efficiency. ⁷

After launching in November 2018, participants were required to file a preliminary application by June 2019 to indicate interest. ⁸ By August 31, 2019, applicants were required to submit a detailed technical application with specific details on technology design and expected performance. ⁹ Applicants were evaluated from July through October 2019 with the announcement in November 2019 of eight finalists that were awarded $200,000 each. ¹⁰

From November 2019 through August 2020 the finalists were required to develop two prototypes to ship to India for testing by August 22, 2020. ¹¹ One unit would be tested for performance evaluation in a lab at the University of Ahmedabad and the other shipped to Delhi for field testing in an apartment complex for up to 60 days. ¹² Testing and evaluation of entries was conducted from September 2020 until January 2021. ¹³ On April 21, 2021 a Grand Award Ceremony awarded $1 million to the winner to support commercialization of the technology. ¹⁴

The Global Cooling Prize contest began in November 2018 and concluded in April 2021. ¹⁵

Prize Criteria

The Global Cooling Prize sought submissions that fulfilled eight criteria: increasing residential air conditioning efficiency with five times less climate impact, not costing more than double the baseline air conditioning unit installed, not consuming more than 700 watts from the power grid, not consuming an average of more than 14 liters of water per day, zero fossil-fuel emissions onsite, use of a refrigerant with zero-ozone depleting potential, usable in existing homes, and designed to meet a 5.3 kW cooling load at standard outdoor conditions. ¹⁶

Winners

Global Cooling Prize initially received over 2,100 initial registrations from 96 countries, 445 intent to apply submissions from 56 countries, and 139 detailed technical applications from 31 countries. ¹⁷ Despite the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, five of the eight finalists were able to complete and deliver prototypes to the testing areas in India. ¹⁸ Two grand prize winners split the $1 million prize. ¹⁹ The winners were Chinese-based Gree Electric Appliances, Inc. in conjunction with Tsinghua University and Daikin-India partnering with Japanese-based Nikken Sekkei Ltd. ²⁰

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