Manufacturers are competing to minimize power consumption and refrigerants as the machines multiply
The basic cooling technology behind air conditioning and refrigerators hasn't changed significantly since 1902, when a young American engineer named Willis Carrier devised the first air conditioner to solve a humidity problem for a printing company in New York City.
Strategically, the prize focuses not on the central air systems common in U.S. homes, nor on window units, but on a single-room air conditioner similar to those commonly installed in apartment buildings in India, where the competition will take place.
The prize aims to accelerate the development of air conditioners that use dramatically less energy together with climate-friendlier coolants.
The winning unit must cost no more than twice what a standard room air conditioner costs and must keep people cool in the sweltering heat of an apartment block in Delhi, India, where the heat index-a measurement of how hot it feels-can reach 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
In addition to making air conditioners more efficient, there's an urgent need to replace the hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants that most air conditioners still use, despite global efforts to phase out the chemicals.
Roughly 1,000-3,000 times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas, these refrigerants slowly leak into the atmosphere and escape when air conditioners are destroyed.
The air conditioner's efficiency will depend on how the team applies the pressure to the crystals.
Transaera, a startup out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for example, is collaborating with Qingdao Haier Air Conditioner Gen Corp. Ltd to build a device that removes water molecules from the air using a new, highly porous material called a metal organic framework.
To keep global emissions from new air conditioners from rising, new technologies that meet the prize criteria of five times less global warming potential would have to scale up extremely quickly, hitting the market by 2022 and capturing nearly 100 percent of annual sales by 2040, RMI has calculated.
New air conditioners won't be sufficient to stave off these deaths-other measures, such as building with better insulation materials than glass and concrete, are also needed.