Over the last couple of months Danish Energy Management has prepared a detailed comparison of room air conditioners in five Asian countries for the Australian Government.The Australian government commissioned the study as part of its international benchmarking to improve the energy performance of appliances and end-use products manufactured, imported and sold in its country. We assembled a multi-country team that included Danish Energy Management's consultants in Thailand and Malaysia and outside consultants in China, Korea, and Australia. The most important result of our analysis is that on average air conditioners (ACs) sold in Australia are at a par with those sold in China and have significantly lower efficiencies than ACs sold in Korea, Thailand and Malaysia. The graph below shows the key comparison:

From left to right, Danish Energy Management's energy consultants Mr. Peter Du Pont and Mr. Jesper Vauvert

This Danish Energy Management graph was used as a stick against the Australian AC manufacturers

The Danish Energy Management study showed that while Australia imports 95% of its ACs, and that nearly all of these come from the other four study countries (China, Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand), Australia is apparently the victim of “dumping” of low-efficiency products on its market. 

The Danish Energy Management study has had an immediate and tangible impact on the Australian Air conditioner industry this week, at an APEC sponsored conference on AC Performance held this week in Sydney from 7-9 June. 

The Conference Center where the APEC
Symposium on Air Conditioner
Energy Performance was in Sydney

The Australian Greenhouse Office used an advance copy of our study in May to persuade AC manufacturer’s association (AREMA, the Australian Air conditioning and Refrigeration Manufacturers’ Association) to agree to accelerate the implementation of a new, more stringent Minimum Energy Performance Standard (MEPS) for room air conditioners by 18 months -- from October 2007 to April 2006. The new standard will require small air conditioners to be at least 20% more efficient by the April 2006 date; and it is significantly difficult enough to reach that only 13% of models on the market currently meet the higher efficiency level!

The President of AREMA made a public announcement directly before the Danish Energy Management benchmarking presentation, to announce that the AC manufacturers were proposing to move up the effective date of the new efficiency standard by 18 months, to April 2006, in order to be responsible corporate citizens.

On the final day of the conference, a number of high-level Australian politicians and government officials emphasized the importance of the agreement reached and praised both the AGO and the air conditioner industry for their pro-active approach to the prevailing low efficiency of ACs in Australia. 

 
View of Darling Harbour, from the Conference Center. This area was at the center of the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000.