Earth Overshoot Day and HVAC/R: what can our industry do for our planet?
Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services in a given year exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year. The exact date is calculated by the Global Footprint Network, an international organisation that calculates the ecological footprint of individual countries and the world.
This year, 151 days remain uncovered: we are about to borrow five months of resources from the next year. Such a huge loan, especially if we consider that we are borrowing resources from the Earth since 1971 and that, every year, the trend is getting worse and worse.
Yet, comparing 2023 with 2022, we have gained five days. Why are we not satisfied with this achievement then? Unfortunately, only one of these days is due to decarbonisation plans and the virtuous political-economic actions of our countries. The remaining 4, on the other hand, depend solely on an update and improvement of the data measurement implemented by the Global Footprint Network.
Therefore, the improvement is very slight and, above all, too slow if we consider the climate crisis that our planet is experiencing.
Steven Tebbe, CEO of the Global Footprint Network, warned the community in an interview. Persistent overshooting leads to unusual heat waves, fires, droughts, floods, and the risk of compromising food production.
Climate change, therefore, is one of the dramatic consequences of this overuse of Earth’s resources, and the environmental disasters that have afflicted northern Italy in recent weeks have fully confirmed this. Violent thunderstorms, heavy hailstorms, and unusual tornadoes: calling it bad weather would be reductive. It is an actual climate crisis that, if underestimated, would only get worse in the future.
In this context, the cooling sector is facing a huge challenge called Cold Crunch. On the one hand, there is a growing worldwide demand for cooling, but on the other hand, the sector must reduce, as much as possible, the impact of this growth on the environment.
Just think of air conditioning systems, whose annual sales since 1990 have more than tripled and which, scientists estimated, will be in around 2/3 of all housing units worldwide by 2050. This trend will triple the global energy demand for air conditioners, requiring an increase in electrical capacity equivalent to that used today by the United States, the European Union and Japan. In such a scenario, system efficiency becomes essential for the sustainability of the industry. OEMs can significantly contribute to this through the design and engineering of innovative energy-efficient systems. However, this is not enough. As of today, in fact, most of the air conditioning systems installed and in use on the market are not of the latest generation, and it is their efficiency that should be our concern. Considering that their replacement is not a sustainable alternative (at least not in most cases), it is necessary to focus on one of the simplest and too often underestimated aspects: maintenance.
Refrigerant gas leaks
First of all, preventing (and not only repairing) refrigerant gas leaks during the entire life cycle of the system is a mandatory step in the maintenance work of technicians, especially considering that among the refrigerants most commonly used in AC/R systems currently in use are fluorinated gases, potent greenhouse gases with the warming potential thousands of times stronger than that of carbon dioxide. HCFCs, HFCs and CFCs, in detail, account for about 10% of climate warming. Proper management of refrigerant gas leaks, thus, according to scenarios calculated by Project Drawdown, would postpone the Earth Overshoot Day by 6 days by 2050. This is such an important responsibility for the HVAC sector and a reasonable goal, as there have been safe additives and solutions on the market for several years for this purpose.
HVAC/R system efficiency
We must highlight that efficiency is also a matter of chemistry, that’s why monitoring the reactions taking place within the systems is crucial. Over time, humidity and acid cause refrigerant leaks, which not only would spread refrigerant gas into the atmosphere, but it would also reduce the system’s efficiency. Another unavoidable phenomenon, which ASHRAE estimated can cause a reduction in system performance of up to 30%, is oil fouling: oil deposits accumulate on the walls of refrigerant lines and decrease heat exchange. Not to mention dust, smog, and debris that, if present on A/C filters, evaporator and condenser coils, cause the system to work harder and thus increase energy consumption. Regular and professional maintenance, therefore, improves system efficiency and reduces CO2 emissions, and this is one of the goals set by the #MoveTheDate project, along with refrigerant management, to move the date of Earth Overshoot Day towards the end of the year. If CO2 emissions could be reduced by 43% globally by 2030, as called for by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), it would postpone Earth Overshoot Day by 19 days a year: an ambitious goal, for sure, to which the HVAC/R sector can largely contribute.
Food cold chain
Too often, we forget the important role that our industry plays in reducing food waste. The food cold chain keeps food at a constant temperature from production to transport, storage, and sale: there are several stages that food goes through, from when it is produced to when it reaches the consumer’s table, which increases the risk of inefficiency.
About 1/3 of the food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted and it is worth approximately $1 trillion each year. Considering that inefficiency in the food cold chain alone contributes to about 526 million tonnes of wasted food each year, there is one thing we are sure about: we could do much better.
In addition, the cold chain is essential not only for food transport and storage but also for basic and primary goods such as medicines and vaccines.
Conclusion
The cooling industry went through a deep transformation in recent years, thanks to new technologies, but also to new market needs and, more generally, due to the climate emergency that the planet is experiencing and that involves all sectors. The importance and ever-increasing ubiquity of cooling have made new visions and sustainable strategies necessary, and the sector, with all its players, must be ready. Earth Overshoot Day must raise widespread awareness: only by being aware of problems is it possible to measure the opportunities for improvement and plan real solutions.
