In July, I was back in China…. this time as part of the ‘Promoting Energy Efficient Room Air Conditioners’ (PEERAC) project, a five-year GEF/UNDP effort. One 2008 survey found that fully 86% of the air conditioning (AC) units being manufactured in the country fell into the lowest, most inefficient Grade 5 category – and PEERAC was subsequently designed & implemented to help address that situation. The tremendous importance of this project can be seen in two fundamental facts: 1) the figure below (based on a 2009 study in the Netherlands) shows the dramatic increase in energy use that is expected to occur in this century, as rising incomes in developing countries and global warming itself drives the demand for increased AC; and 2) China now manufactures 70% of the world’s AC units.

PEERAC began in late 2010, and I was retained at the half-way point to lead a three person evaluation team whose job was to see how well things were progressing, and to figure out how it might be improved. My two colleagues in this Mid-term Review were Dr. Bai Quan and Prof. Yu Cong, both affiliated with the Energy Research Institute (the energy research arm of China’s NDRC). I had met & worked with Prof. Yu more than ten years ago, when we were both part of a team that helped develop the China End-Use Energy Efficiency Programme (EUEEP) – a successful proposal that landed $17 million in GEF funding. It was really great to work with her once again, as well as with my new colleague, Dr. Bai. In the last few days of our project, he left for a six month visiting scholar position at Nagoya University in Japan – but conscientiously made sure that all of his work had been submitted and incorporated into the report.

AC energy demand; Isaac and van Vuuren, D., Energy Policy, 2009; graphics: The Economist, 05 January 2013.

Fortunately, the Chinese government has undertaken a number of energy efficiency (EE) programs since that 2008 survey, including new EE technical standards for AC units, and governmental stimulus funding (after the financial crisis) offering rebates to consumers buying EE units, as well subsidies for manufacturers producing them. So PEERAC is not alone in tackling this major, major energy and environmental concern – but we obviously hope that our evaluation and recommendations will help too!