Saving electricity, reducing carbon footprints with natural refrigerants
A recently released public campaign by the Thailand Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action (RAC NAMA) project on Thairath Online highlights the various benefits of green cooling technologies that use natural refrigerants, namely higher energy efficiency, lower power consumption and less harm to the environment.
The goal of this campaign is to inform the Thai audience of what natural refrigerant is along with tips and tricks when buying cooling equipment for homes.
Nowadays, the use of refrigeration and air-conditioning (RAC) technologies account for approximately 50% of the electricity consumed in Thailand, with the RAC sector among one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters. Therefore, improving technology is an important factor in reducing global warming and helping Thailand to achieve the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions that it has expressed on the global agenda.
The special feature of the online platform is a ‘scrolly-telling’ concept which uses a mixture of data, design and story and allows the audience to enjoy exploring once technical content that has been made digestible. The audience can also interact with the content, namely by calculating their monthly electricity bills to see how much they can save and the reduced impact it has on the environment if they switch to using natural refrigerant based technology.
To see this campaign, click here.
The Thailand Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning NAMA (RAC NAMA) project supports and accelerates the shift away from climate-damaging (high-GWP refrigerants) towards radically lower carbon technologies and promotes the development of the nascent market for green cooling appliances. Since ozone depleting substances are high global warming gases, phasing out of ozone depleting substances also benefits climate protection, with significant emission reduction.
Since April 2016, the project has partnered with the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP), the Department of Alternative Energy Department and Efficiency (DEDE) and the Electricity Generating Authoring of Thailand (EGAT) as well as Thai industries to transfer technology and know-how on ozone and climate-friendly technology and financial support to the private sector, as well as provide policy and technical advice to relevant government agencies. The RAC NAMA Fund, a financial facility under the management of EGAT, has initiated a transformation in the Thai refrigeration and air-conditioning (RAC) sector towards the use of climate-friendly and energy-efficient cooling technologies with natural refrigerants. Over the past two years, a number of financial instruments have been holistically defined for the whole demand and supply chain, as well as the service sector. Through this close partnership with government and private sector, emissions are expected to reduce by 0.94 MtCO2eq annually.
1: Source: https://natref.carel.com/what-are-natural-refrigerants
Natural refrigerants are substances that exist naturally in the environment. Unlike their widely used synthetic counterparts, natural refrigerants do not harm the ozone layer, do not trap the sunlight – known as the greenhouse effect – and can be more energy-efficient. With zero ozone depletion potential (ODP) and very low or zero global warming potential (GWP), they are considered the definitive solution to environmental damage. [1]
Mr. Philipp Pischke
Email: Philipp.Pischke(at)giz.de