The market for small, portable, air-conditioners is booming in many European countries. As we know, the European Union is currently discussing minimum energy efficiency requirements for air conditioning equipment.
Offers on portable air coolers in Germany
With these developments in mind, one of Coolproducts' national partners, Germany's environmental organisation BUND, has carried out a very interesting survey of German retailers. In cooperation with consumer groups, they sent people out to survey shops that are offering small air-conditioners, to figure out what advice consumers get when they buy these products. As a result, it became clear that buyers of these products are hardly ever receiving proper advice on how to use them and how to chose one that makes sense from an economic and environmental perspective. This means that consumers are spending more than they should to run them, and are inadvertently creating more problems for the environment than they realise.
Immediately available, requiring no installation, cheap to buy and easy to use, they promise people comfort during hot summer days. They are a typical so-called "impulse-purchase" that people will make on a hot summer day (perhaps during a heat wave), but which they may also end up using on not so hot days.
But do these products deliver what manufacturers promise? In many cases, BUND says, they are not more effective then simple measures like keeping rooms in the shade during the hottest hours, and they certainly are very inefficient and expensive to run if not used in the right way. In particular, despite the fact they are only used for a few days a year, they consume more electricity then a fridge consumes over a whole year - costing up to 300 Euro a year to run for a household. The smallest units can also be very noisy and have a very small cooling effect.
These are all the things German buyers are normally not told in the shops. Virtually no shops in the survey provided advice about more efficient air-conditioning solutions. Well, this is perhaps to be expected, given that they have an interest in selling a product. But what is more surprising is that many shops did not follow the EU energy labelling rules - the mandatory A-G energy efficiency label was just not there. Even a committed and responsible consumer who intends to use the products only during genuinely hot days, and with all precautions that would make the products more efficient, would then fail to make a climate-effective and cost effective choice.
Full results of the survey can be found here (in German).
BUND is now campaigning to ban small and portable air-conditioners altogether given they are inefficient as a cooling method, and given their impact on the environment and climate change.
Staying cool is possible without air conditioning [photos: Simone Peter/pixelio.de]
BUND would like this to happen under EU and national legislation. They argue that the root of the problem has to be tackled first, via better ventilation and day light management, improved insulation and windows, and professional advice on the best cooling solution. In some cases, an optimal solution might include air-conditioners. However professionally installed equipment is much more effective then the small, take away products that are being sold in the millions.