Journal Papers

Journal: Building and Cities, Volume 2, Issue 1

Authors: Nidhi Rai Jain, Rajan Rawal, Vishnu Vardhan, Shubhashis Dey

Abstract: India’s current standards and labels for room air-conditioners (RACs) account for energy efficiency, but omit other important criteria that could influence product development and

consumer choice: thermal comfort and environmental impact. This study proposes comprehensive RAC evaluation criteria by accounting for the operational energy, thermal comfort and environmental impact through the metrics of the Indian seasonal energy efficiency ratio (ISEER), cooling seasonal energy consumption (CSEC) and total equivalent warming impact (TEWI), respectively. It uses five RAC product cases based on the Indian RAC market to demonstrate the enhanced evaluation criteria across the climatic conditions of 55 Indian cities subject to static and adaptive (air-conditioned, AC; and mixed-mode, MM) thermal setpoints. The analysis yields a significant difference in the number of RAC operational hours between the static and adaptive (AC and MM) methods, resulting in a difference in the overall performance of RACs across varied climatic contexts.