Growing global air conditioning market: driving forces
[ added 12 July, 2010 ]
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The growth in the global air conditioning market is expected to soon recover from the decline triggered by the economic recession. According to a recent report, the market is expected to reach 78.8 million units in volume sales by 2015 with factors such as the focus on energy efficiency improvements, growing replacement needs and increasing demand from developing countries driving the growth. But what else needs to be considered?
Once a luxury good, comfort cooling is fast becoming a necessity in most countries, opening opportunities for the industry. Market demand especially in the residential segment is fueled by factors such as global warming, depletion of the ozone layer and the El Nino effect. These issues along with market trends and growth drivers are explained in the “Air Conditioning Systems: A Global Strategic Business Report” issued recently by Global Industry Analysts, Inc (GIA). Global warming: a driver…
Indeed the warming of the climate contributes to a growing demand for comfort cooling. Moreover, the focus of government policies on climate and energy issues further pushes the market towards improving energy efficiency of products. “Government driven focus on energy efficiency injects optimism among air conditioner manufacturers, as it promises to drive demand for energy efficient air conditioning systems such as inverter based air conditioners in the upcoming years”, reads the report. Other drivers of increased growth for the market in the coming years include rapidly growing replacement needs of units in the US and Europe as well as the increasing demand from developing countries.
… or an impact?
Of course the increasing focus on energy efficiency improvements of appliances is a market driver stemming from the need to alleviate the sector’s impact on global warming.
This factor pinpointed by GIA can be taken a step further, expanding the focus of manufacturers on reducing their product emissions related to energy use to reducing overall emissions related to air-conditioning products, including therefore refrigerant emissions. Indeed some manufacturers have introduced or are considering the introduction of models using natural refrigerants such as hydrocarbons that have a minimal impact on global warming unlike chemical refrigerants such as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) which are potent greenhouse gases.
With the market predicted by GIA to reach 78.8 million units in volume sales by 2015, the need for going beyond HFCs becomes imperative. Several studies have underlined how the continuation of current practices would result in an mounting contribution of HFC emissions to the climate problem and that action on reducing these is not only recommended but also among the low hanging fruit in the fight against climate change.
