ASHRAE Journal - July 2023 - 6

INDUSTRY NEWS For more Industry News, see page 64.
ASHRAE Developing Economies
Conference Targets Healthcare,
Residential, District Energy
The Third ASHRAE Developing Economies Conference,
held May 10-11, 2023, in Mumbai, India,
held deliberations on challenges that global
south countries face meeting the climate change
commitments while focusing on their growth.
Conference Chair and Society Vice President
Ashish Rakheja's opening remarks described the
focus of the conference. " With 10 billion homes
to be built in just India alone and the need for a
resilient healthcare infrastructure highlighted by
recent COVID-19 experience, it is important that
both developing and developed countries share
their experiences to learn from each other while
keeping an eye on the larger threat of climate
change, which concerns all. "
New technologies and decarbonization were at the
heart of discussions at the conference, and they were
echoed in the keynote address by Anirban Ghosh, Mahindra
University. " New technologies will make equipment
planet-friendly and, not just more efficient, but
with IoT we can see improvements of 70%. " He said a
large number of existing systems need to be replaced
with efficient equipment, which should provide a payback
in 2.5 years to suit business needs. He referenced
their experience during development of a net-zero residential
building in India and how lessons learned will
In the Indian tradition, an auspicious start is provided to the event by invoking the gods of wisdom.
This is done either by lighting an oil lamp or chanting. At the start of the event, plants were watered
in respect for mother earth. In line with the sustainability theme for the conference, the event served
as a message to attendees to preserve nature in these times of climate change.
be a trigger to achieve a commercial scale in the country.
" There is no extra cost to build green anymore. "
Bringing new technologies to market in developing
economy countries was addressed in sessions on investment
opportunities and pilot programs organized by
the International Finance Corporation, a subsidiary of
the World Bank Group. IFC helps development of new
technologies, especially cooling, and incubates them to
attract private sector investment. Currently in India,
there are 20 pilot programs for emerging technology
companies that are supported by 13 partners. " Climate
change overlaps everything we do, " said David Matthews,
IFC. If developing economy countries do not
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come on board we will not meet goals for reducing GHG
emissions, he said. " It has been shown that you can grow
an economy in a sustainable way and still cut emissions. "
The emerging technology of district cooling systems
and barriers to its implementation was debated in a
panel session. The panelists talked about the India
Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) and the government focus
on supporting implementation of district cooling.
Some barriers identified were the expensive real estate
requirement for installing the plant, investment money
and the need to determine the factors for right sizing of
the plant given the cultural practices where households
prefer restricted use of air conditioners, said Rakheja.
A leading expert opined that district cooling is best
implemented when both commercial and residential
buildings can be coupled as shown in recent experiences
of their implementation in India at educational and
healthcare campuses.
In conclusion, the panelists unanimously felt that
thermal comfort must be the main criterion in developing
economies rather than blindly following cooling
as a requirement if the climate change goals are to be
achieved, which will require a change in the mindset.
The conference was attended by over 580 delegates.

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ASHRAE Journal - July 2023

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