USA: The deployment of super-efficient air conditioners worldwide could avoid the need for more than 120 500MW power plants by 2020, saving over 360TWH/yr, according to a new report by the USA's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
The authors maintain that their predictions that air conditioning efficiency could be cost-effectively improved by 20 to 40% in most major economies may have a large impact on energy efficiency strategy for countries such as India and China as they attempt to cope with high energy demand and the capacity required to address peak load.

'The main significance of this study is that the estimated future electricity footprint of air conditioners is on par with or surpasses the electricity to be generated from renewable sources such as wind and solar,' said Berkeley Lab scientist Nihar Shah, the lead author of the report. 'This implies that policies to promote more efficient air conditioning equipment should be pursued with a similar seriousness and concern.'

In India, China, and Brazil alone, where electricity demand to power room air conditioners is expected to reach more than 500TWh/yr, adoption of cost-effective efficiency levels would save more than 140TWh/yr by 2020.