MEPS for air conditioners in Brazil: Regulatory developments and future perspectives

Autor(es)

de Melo, Conrado Augustus ; Cunha, Kamyla Borges ; Santiago Suarez, Gabriela Piovesan

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: RENEWABLE & SUSTAINABLE ENERGY REVIEWS; v. 163, p. 8-pg., 2022-04-29.

Resumo

In 2007 was settled the first minimum energy performance standards for air conditioners in Brazil. After more than 14 years since the first regulations and looking upon future perspectives, this paper presents a review of regulatory developments in the country and an assessment based on scenario simulation to verify potential impacts of new minimum energy performance standards for air conditioners. The methodology employed is a bottom-up approach designed to estimate the energy consumption of air conditioners. A spreadsheet-based computational tool was developed to perform sensitivity analysis of key parameters such as ownership rate, average temperature and cooling degree days. The results show a significant energy savings potential that could be captured through a minimum energy performance standards revision. For the scenarios simulated these savings potential would reach up to 417 TWh, with respective greenhouse gases emissions reduction that would be 249 million tons, over the period from 2023 to 2040. An economic analysis of minimum energy performance standards impact is also provided and indicate that even in conditions that involve higher costs and discount rates, new more restrictive minimum energy performance standards allow capturing significant benefits for the society as a whole and for consumers individually. Reviewing the minimum energy performance standards is a critical and urgent issue for Brazil and the methodology presented in this paper can be useful in the process of decision-making related to new regulatory developments. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 18/22074-0 - Eficiência energética de condicionadores de ar: avaliação da Lei 10.295, cenários de consumo energético e geração subsídios técnicos para apoio a tomada de decisões
• Beneficiário: Conrado Augustus de Melo
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa de Pesquisa sobre Mudanças Climáticas Globais - Regular