India is currently battling two different weather extremes in two different directions. While northern India is witnessing an extended winter season due to a flurry of intense western disturbances (WDs) in February and early March, the southern part of the country was under heat wave conditions on March 6, 2019, according to data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

According to the IMD, “heat wave need not be considered till maximum temperature of a station reaches at least 40 degree Celsius for plains and at least 30 degree Celsius for hilly regions for two or more days continuously.”

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 Last year, heat waves had started affecting parts of northern and north western India in late March, which spurred the formation of a series of unusual dust and thunderstorms in the region. This time around the same states are undergoing an extended winter. Heat waves are the third highest cause for deaths among natural disasters in India, after lightning strikes and earthquakes; but the Indian government does not consider it as a natural calamity. In fact, the IMD came up with advisories for heat waves only in 2016 — the first time in the institution’s 140 year-history.

India Cooling Action Plan:

India is one of the first countries in the world to develop a comprehensive Cooling Action plan which has a long term vision to address the cooling requirement across sectors and lists out actions which can help reduce the cooling demand.

Importance: Cooling requirement is cross-sectoral and an essential part for economic growth and is required across different sectors of the economy such as residential and commercial buildings, cold-chain, refrigeration, transport and industries. ICAP provides an integrated vision towards cooling across sectors encompassing inter alia reduction of cooling demand, refrigerant transition, enhancing energy efficiency and better technology options with a 20-year time horizon.

The India Cooling Action Plan seeks to

• Reduce cooling demand across sectors by 20% to 25% by 2037-38
• Reduce refrigerant demand by 25% to 30% by 2037-38
• Reduce cooling energy requirements by 25% to 40% by 2037-38
• recognize “cooling and related areas” as a thrust area of research under the national S&T Programme
• Training and certification of 100,000 servicing sector technicians by 2022-23, synergizing with Skill India Mission. These actions will have significant climate benefits.

The following benefits would accrue to society over and above the environmental benefits:

• Thermal comfort for all – provision for cooling for EWS and LIG housing
• Sustainable cooling – low GHG emissions related to cooling
• Doubling Farmers Income – better cold chain infrastructure – better value of products to farmers, less wastage of produce
• Skilled workforce for better livelihoods and environmental protection
• Make in India – domestic manufacturing of air-conditioning and related cooling equipment’s
• Robust R&D on alternative cooling technologies – to provide the push to innovation in a cooling sector

Challenges:

• ICAP has not indicated the benchmark for thermal comfort that needs to guide energy efficiency measures for all – users of active as well as passive cooling.
• ICAP’s actual intent is “myopically” focused on only the market for personal air conditioners, ignoring the fact that demand for cooling is driven by people and not by sale of air conditioners.
• ICAP must capture equity issue, ensure thermal comfort for all without over dependence on active cooling.
• ICAP must take note of the fact that about 60 per cent of current space cooling energy consumption is by top 10 per cent of the population.
• Over 96 per cent of transport cooling energy consumption is due to personal cars (13.5 per cent of population) and this small minority skews electricity demand and locks in enormous carbon energy guzzling.

Way forward:

• The ICAP must emphasize the urgency and need for better planning, zoning and building regulations to prevent Urban Heat Islands.
• ICAP can be strengthened further by calling for a mapping exercise by local jurisdictions of vulnerable populations and their cooling needs.
• The ICAP must provide some guidance to states and articulate the role of non-state actors such as builders, manufacturers, consumer groups, industry associations in supporting the recommendations.
• ICAP must provide recommendations to set up robust data collection frameworks needed for monitoring, verifying, enforcing and improving the proposed interventions.
• The ICAP must say more on moderating cooling demand from rich through price signals and regulations, sensitising consumers to the environmental and social impact of AC buying.

Conclusion:

Sustainable cooling for India cannot be achieved by technological solutions alone. It has to respond to India’s unique needs that vary across the country. The overarching goal of ICAP is to provide sustainable cooling and thermal comfort for all while securing environmental and socio-economic benefits for the society.