SDG 7: UNEP Implements District Cooling Phase In 6 Major Indian Cities

United Nations Environment Programme has started promoting district cooling initiatives in 6 major Indian cities. The initiative is currently underway in Amravati, Bhopal, Coimbatore, Pune, Rajkot and Thane. ISHRAE through its pan India presence is creating awareness for this initiative and is partnering with UNEP in this venture.

 

In the past few years, district cooling has become an increasingly popular energy infrastructure globally due to the resulting savings in energy costs, which can be as high as 50 per cent. By aggregating the cooling need of a cluster of buildings, the ISHRAE backed UNEP initiative will make cooling systems efficient by reducing fuel costs. Moreover, District Cooling delivers the comfort of air conditioning while also boosting the productivity and efficiency of the workforce in commercial areas.

By installing the District Cooling system, these pilot cities will be using a modern solution to simultaneously air condition a cluster of buildings while reducing the carbon footprint in their districts by utilising the system’s centralised cooling plants that produce chilled water and channel cool air to customer buildings. Moreover, the reduced use of fossil fuel by the system will decrease carbon emissions, thereby creating a healthy and safe environment.

 

Commenting on the development, Ashwini Mehra, Executive Secretary ISHRAE said, “ISHRAE would extend all necessary support to UNEP in all the activities based on the strategic interest to develop and adopt district energy simulation models & tools, design & deliver training workshops, mobilise new partners and make available proprietary models, methodologies, technical studies and data for the initiative.”

 

ISHRAE, through its pan India presence across 41 chapters, has started engaging with the United Nations Environment Programme to develop and promote the use of district cooling across India. It aims to expand to more cities once the installation of the district cooling system is complete in the 6 chosen ones. Once established, the district cooling systems will aggregate customer buildings’ cooling demands in these cities to reduce the electricity demand and peak load for cooling by 50 per cent. Further, the systems will also minimise the use of harmful refrigerant and lower CO2 emissions. 'Affordable and Clean Energy' has been adopted as the 7th Sustainable Development Goal for the Global Goals 2030.