Calculation of Consumption of Room Air Conditioners (RAC) for the Purpose of Energy Performance Targeting

Knowing who is responsible for what is essential for a sustainable energy use. Each appliance, each use, will have more and more an associated information on its impact, which will not restrain the freedom of the consumer but that will inform consumers and companies (including electric utilities) wanting to reach some environmental or least cost targets. In order to make it possible to define the total cost of a Room Air Conditioner (RAC) over its life time (LCC) and to find its minimum, to allow the definition of a target based on field consumption, not only on test chamber performance, it is important to have a very simple computation model giving a distinct result for a distinct appliance. Practically, it is necessary to know for how long these apparatuses function and which is their effectiveness - EER - on average (or Seasonal) known as SEER. One developed a method here relating SEER to EER and representing load as a number of hours at full rate: SEER = C1 x C2 x C3 x EER where C1, C2, C3 represent the cycling losses, the fouling losses and the variations due to temperature Consumption = Pelec x Equivalent number of hours or = Pelec x (True number of hours) / /C1/C2/C3 Practically a user can directly multiply the electric input in nominal conditions T1 by a number of hours which integrates the true number of operating hours and the effects called here C1, C2 and C3. This method was applied to several technical improvements of the RAC: - increase of heat exchange surfaces; - variable speed (inverters); - improvements of compressors. and lead to the conclusion that appliances 25% better than the present average were optimal from the customer point of view. This figure becomes +50% if one takes into account Global Warming.