ASHRAE Journal - June 2020 - 6

INDUSTRY NEWS

Global Air-Conditioning Market Set
For Growth and Technology Changes

ASHRAE JOURNAL

ashrae.org

J U N E 2020

GLOBAL HVAC AND BUILDING AUTOMATION CONTROL SYSTEMS (BACS) MARKET, 2019, $US BILLION

51.4

62.4

Commercial AC
Renewable Heating

44.4

Residential AC
BACS

8.7

18.9

Traditional Heating

SOURCE: BSRIA

sents the biggest segment of the global HVAC market,
and with rising global average temperatures, the need
for cooling will keep growing, according to a BSRIA
market report published in March.
However, as the world's focus will remain on the efforts
to limit global warming, the air-conditioning market
will keep shifting toward more efficient products, the
use of refrigerants with lower global warming potential
and toward connectivity that will allow for remote monitoring of units and systems bringing vital energy and
operational efficiencies.
In 2019 the global sales of air-conditioning units
increased by 2.3% year-on-year in volume and by 2.5% in
terms of USD value.
In the United States, the AC market recorded overall
growth in 2019, despite being a mature market, driven
by a heathy economic growth, accessible and affordable credit and robust although weakening construction
activity. Growth was common to both the packaged and
central plant markets, although the percentage rates differed by product category.
On the technology side, improvements to efficiency
and a combination of approaches in the same system or
project (e.g., ducted and ductless) have been noted as
the main trend. For refrigerants, suppliers are planning
to introduce new, lower GWP gases disregarding the
progress of the regulation.
On the value side, with few exceptions, the average
selling prices increased or remained stable. This reflects
the impact of trade tariffs, the increase in production
costs and the shift of the market toward higher efficiency products.
In the medium-term, 2023 will be an important year
for the U.S. market. Efficiency standards for ducted
splits and rooftop units are set to be enhanced, and new
refrigerants may be required at least in some regions of
the country such as California.
Latin America's market analysis is a new addition
to the BSRIA AC report offering. The air-conditioning
market in the region reached close to $5 billion in 2019,
a year-on-year market growth of 6%, exceeding that of
North America. Brazil, Mexico and Argentina are the top

DX SPLITS VS CHILLERS, BY VOLUME (COMPOUND ANNUAL GROWTH RATE, 2018-2024)

14%
12%
10%
8%
6%
4%
2%
0%

Global

Europe
Mini-VRF

Maxi-VRF

MEIA
Multi-Splits

ASIA Pacific

Americas

Total Chillers

three markets. Despite political and economic fluctuations, the market offers strong commercial opportunities, and in 2019 several companies increased their sales
in the region.
China, by far the biggest AC world market, has seen a
decrease in sales in 2019. In 2020 the market is expected
to see a shift toward more efficient AC units. Due to new
regulations on energy-efficiency levels starting in 2020,
non-inverter and inverter splits with low efficiency will
be rapidly phased down in China.
Hot weather boosted sales in the residential air-conditioning market in Europe in 2019. The key southern
European markets are going through replacement of old
systems, and predominantly commercial markets like
France and Germany are increasingly becoming more
residential markets. Brands from Asia lead the residential sector. Across the European Union the HFC phasedown regulation is having a strong impact on products
and prices with major countries progressing quickly
with the change.
The African air-conditioning market represents
strong potential but is still in an emerging phase.
Currently, strong demand for split air-conditioning
units is observed there. Chinese brands increased
their presence through active promotion in the
region.

SOURCE: BSRIA

BRACKNELL, BERKSHIRE, U.K.-Air conditioning already repre-

https://www.ashrae.org/

ASHRAE Journal - June 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ASHRAE Journal - June 2020