By Sudheer Perla

In the background of COP28 and India’s recently concluded G20 presidency, great emphasis has been laid on “accelerating global energy transitions while ensuring universal energy access and just, affordable, and inclusive energy transitions in line with achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”. Inclusive energy transitions are important for India – to ensure that the progress made over the past 15 years, where 41.5 crore people have exited poverty between 2005-06 and 2019-21, are not reversed. Democratising energy transition in the long-term will require transformation of the market from both the supply and the demand sides. On the demand side, one of the key levers in the climate change mitigation efforts is prioritizing the transition to more sustainable cooling solutions (such as District Cooling and Cooling as a Service models).

However, relying solely on individual cooling units to meet this demand will result in an increase in electricity consumption and carbon emissions. According to a report by IEA and UNEP, direct and indirect emissions from air conditioning and refrigeration are projected to rise 90% above 2017 levels by the year 2050. Air conditioners and other traditional cooling systems also produce waste heat as heat of the indoor air is transferred to the outside air and into the environment. This can increase the overall earth’s temperature, and also adds to heat island effects, where urban/built up areas become much hotter than normal, and in comparison, to surrounding lesser developed areas. Further, cooling in most parts of India is still considered a luxury with 323 million people falling in the bracket of high-risk population due to lack of access to cooling. We can expect this unequal gap in thermal comfort accessibility to widen in the absence of effective mitigative and adaptive action plans and strategies.

The government of India has been amongst the forerunners globally in developing research and action around cooling through the release of the India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) in 2019, which includes District Cooling (DC) amongst the basket of solutions for the future. In 2023, Bureau of Energy of Efficiency (BEE), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy, acknowledging DC as a critical cooling infrastructure, unveiled District Cooling Guidelines – a holistic handbook to educate stakeholders and facilitate DCS adoption in India. Globally as well, cities are looking to dramatically rethink and localise power consumption as opposed to being entirely dependent on the state/national electricity grid.

Both District Cooling (DC), and Cooling as a Service (CaaS) models provide innovative solutions that look at cooling as an integrated part of a larger urban ecosystem.

What is District Cooling and Cooling as a Service (CaaS) model?

District Cooling is a centralised cooling system that produces chilled water, which is then distributed through a wide network of pipes to multiple buildings to transfer heat. It works well for large spaces, campuses, or a densely populated network of buildings. The water source can be a natural lake, river, ocean, or even grey water and treated sewage discharge, thereby creating the opportunity for a circular system. In the past decades, DC adoption has widened beyond GCC, Europe & North America to South Asia. India, too, has seen adoption at GIFT City in Gujarat, and several upcoming projects are in the pipeline for airports, malls, and commercial areas.

Regarding wider adoption in India, initial capital cost is often a concern. Here, the Cooling as a Service (CaaS) business model can provide a starting point, where customers pay per use, similar to other utilities like water/gas/electricity.

The way forward – Innovative Cooling Solutions for India

The growing cooling needs of India are diverse in nature, where a one-size-fits-all all approach will simply not work. One, there is a spurt of urbanization, with plans of developing large commercial areas, connectivity and infrastructure, as well as residential campuses. Here DC can be considered at the planning stage itself, and several large builders, conglomerates, and state and city governments are already considering the DC integration. Two, there are older, existing constructions (brownfield constructions), where there is the possibility to retrofit the DC technology and use the CaaS model. Three, there is a growing middle class, pushing up the demand for space cooling. Here greater knowledge and awareness on alternate cooling technologies could push wider adoption and demand.

Fourth, and finally, there is an even larger working population in the unorganised workforce, that is not even aware that thermal comfort can be both affordable and accessible. Here is the opportunity to transform the lives and perhaps conditions of livelihood for millions. Imagine a fruit and vegetable market, where vendors have access to thermal comfort. Or, a large slum area, that is adjacent to commercial areas where DC is set up, and hence the same setup could potentially be used to cool these living quarters as well.

While statistics on global warming and its effects on livelihoods, food security etc., are widely discussed amongst intellectual, policy circles, the end consumer, be it an individual or an entity, i,e, the ultimate adopter who needs to brace for changing situations is not fully informed and is not looking for long term solutions. There is a lack of foresight when it comes to the planning of growing cooling needs in the near future. Taking a systems approach to developing urban architecture will allow for context specific solutions that enable integration of energy needs (heating, cooling, electricity) with other resource needs such as water and sanitation, as well as support livelihoods.

(The author is managing director, Tabreed Asia. Views expressed are the author’s own.)