Dialling up the cooling conversation at COP 29

The Conference of Parties 29 has brought to the forefront the pressing need for action over negotiations. In India, we are dealing with some hard realities of global warming: Atmospheric heat is on the rise while our ambitious economic growth will increase cooling demand. Meeting cooling demand using traditional individual air conditioning units leads to greater energy consumption, greater emissions, and greater heat. Adopting DC enables a systems approach to cooling, enabling integration with: green building elements or passive cooling features to minimise cooling demand of the building; on-site technology innovations such as radiant or evaporative cooling that reduce dependence on the mechanical processes; the mechanical system itself which may rely on vapor compression cooling technologies or absorption or even adsorption technologies; and finally, ancillary technologies for sourcing water and energy to create circular systems. As the current developer approach focusses on cost effective technology for the short-term, the government needs to take a long-term systems’ approach - analysing cooling needs and demand alongside associated power demand and costs, water availability, health and other planetary considerations.