Inefficient air-cons are being dumped in Southeast Asia. That’s costly for consumers and the climate
Inefficient air-cons are being dumped in Southeast Asia. That’s costly for consumers and the climate
Millions of inefficient air-cons are being sold in Southeast Asia. But governments can put a stop to it - and help consumers save money in the longer term.
You're viewing a single thread.
In the us market there is a new standard for evaluating efficiencies seer2 and hspf2. The minimum standards are only 1.3 seer higher than the old standards. In that sense it’s a bit sensationalized.
The article touched on the upcoming change in the US market to switch to lower global warming potential refrigerants. The new ones are about a fifth lower.
These might be coming from Europe as the us is still transitioning. Additionally the old refrigerants are not barred from being manufactured and will be continued to be used to maintain older systems. Again this is somewhat sensationalized.
We already created the equipment and ‘spent’ carbon emissions to manufacturer these. It would be a waste to throw it away.
If some of these are older, there have been several increases in minimum efficiency as well as switching away from older refrigerants
— https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=40232
Story time: at the beginning of this year, my brother got a new air conditioner. However he got it dirt cheap because of surplus inventories that could no longer be sold, unless he bought “last year”. While jump in efficiency from this past increase in the minimum standard may be small, it was significant enough to make a huge difference in pricing and supply
Certainly, the equipment might become unusable, but rather than disposing of it, they are repurposing it elsewhere. Considering the environmental impact, whether the efficiencies and lower global warming potential (GWP) outweigh the benefits of discarding an already manufactured system, which would necessitate manufacturing anew for compliance, is uncertain.
I would estimate payback period to align with a lifespan of around 10 years, matching the expected duration of some of these systems. This estimate entirely anecdotal.
payback period to align with a lifespan of around 10 years
That’s the critical fact: what is the payback in terms of cost were deployed to drive the decision, and in environmental impact which needs to constrain the decision.
It’s also important to know wether more inefficient units continued to be manufactured because there was still that secondary market, but calling it “dumping” implies not