Air Conditioning Mapping Report: An Overview of the Russian Market

Room air conditioners (RACs) represent a major share of energy use in most countries and often contribute significantly to electrical grid peak loads. Energy efficiency of room air conditioners could be improved further through cross-country comparisons and the adoption of more stringent energy efficiency standards. However, such comparisons are hampered by the limited availability of information about RAC markets, as well as variations in test procedures across economies.
In 2011, CLASP completed the Cooling Benchmarking Study, the first in a series of analyses that:
Map market characteristics of a potential product in select economies, including sales and stock volume, type of technology use in the market, product performance, as well as existing S&L policies; and
Benchmark stringencies of different MEPS and labeling schemes across economies;
which enables international comparison of energy efficiency performance and policy measures for products  in both residential and commercial sectors. 
Russia’s AC market has been growing and expanding rapidly. Within a decade, annual sales of ACs in Russia have grown more than tenfold – from 145,000 units in 2000 to 1.8 million in 2010. In 2011 alone, Russian AC units are estimated to have used 12 TWh of electricity – enough power to keep New York City’s 1.6 billion passenger subway system running for six years.
In collaboration with Stricker Associates, CLASP extended the analyses in the Cooling Benchmarking Study to Russia.
This mapping report, as the first component in a full benchmarking study, provides an overview of historic and current RAC market characteristics, as well as an estimated impact of RAC energy consumption in Russia. The report concludes that:
Without more efficient ACs, growth trends in the Russian AC market could significantly affect summer peak loads and overall electricity consumption. Russian AC units contributed over 14% of the peak demand on the power system in the summer of 2011;
To fully assess the savings potential of S&L policies for RACs, more detailed market and energy use information is needed; and
With increased residential purchases, a consumer outreach campaign supporting S&L programs has the potential to affect a large segment of users.