GLOBAL COOLING INNOVATION SUMMIT

Global Cooling Prize:

• Duration: It is an international competition which will run over the course of the two-year.
  
  
• Objective: To incentivize the development of a residential cooling technology that will have at least five times less climate impact than the standard Room Air Conditioning (RAC).
  
  
• Agencies involved:
  • The prize is supported by Mission Innovation, the Government of India through the Department of Science and Technology and its partner organizations namely Ministry of Power, Bureau of Energy Efficiency, and Ministry of Environment.
    
    
  • It will be administered by a coalition of leading research institutes—Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), Conservation X Labs and CEPT University – which will support mass adoption of the breakthrough technology around the world, starting from India.
    
    
  
  
  
• Prize money:
  • Over US$3 million will be awarded in prize money over the course of the two-year competition. The winning technology will be awarded at least US$1 million.
    
    
  • Up to 10 short-listed competing technologies will be awarded up to US$200,000 each
    
    
  
  
  

Significance:

• There are currently 1.2 billion Room Air Conditioning (RAC) units in service around the world, which will increase to at least 4.5 billion by 2050. India alone will see over 1 billion air conditioning deployed in the market by 2050.
  
  
• The energy consumption associated with comfort cooling represents one of the largest end-use risks to the climate, putting the most vulnerable populations at risk.
  
  
• It is believed that a winning technology of the global cooling prize could prevent up to 100 gigatons (GT) of CO₂-equivalent emissions by 2050.