Global Cooling Prize prototypes now online

The Global Cooling Prize finalists’ prototypes have been installed for performance testing at the field test site in Bahadurgarh, India.

The Global Cooling Prize is an innovation competition designed to spur development of a radically more energy-efficient cooling technology. Eight finalists were selected late last year, based upon their potential to have at least five times less climate impact than standard entry-level room air conditioning units being sold in the market today.

Now the competition moves from the design stage into the testing stage, with the finalists vying for more than US$1 million in prize money.

COVID-19 travel restrictions have delayed the schedule. The prize administrators transitioned to a remotely accessible installation and commissioning process by hiring an experienced local team. Site restrictions at the field test site also caused delays.

But despite these challenges, the prototypes are now installed, and field testing has commenced. The team has also released a prototype performance dashboard that tracks each team’s prototype anonymously.

The dashboard displays an hourly snapshot of performance each day during the lab test, and shows the competing results of the finalists’ prototypes, as well as the two baseline units being tested.

You can see how the prototypes are performing with relation to the 5X climate reduction parameter, as well as the climate impact of the best available technology currently on the market.

The dashboard also showcases the gigatons of CO₂e emissions that could be avoided annually, if the best performing unit of that day were scaled globally.

The prototype performance dashboard is available to view here.