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Adapt, or perish

While the HVAC industry in the country grows steadily, it is important for manufacturers to understand and adapt to changing trends around efficiency and technology, writes Farokh Madan.

 

 


“The onus lies with manufacturers and the government to help shift focus in buying behaviour from initial cost of the product to lifecycle cost of the product.”

  • Farokh Madan, Director – Marketing, Communications and Strategy, Carrier India.

     

     

    The Indian Heating, Ventilation, and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) industry is one of the largest markets in Asia. It saw around $3.00-billion of air-conditioning equipment sales in 2018. This was primarily dominated by the residential air-conditioner segment, which contributed to around 80 per cent of the overall air-conditioning equipment business in India.

    While the growth trend for HVAC sales in the country has been strong in the past decade, going forward, it is estimated to be around 9.0 per cent per annum for the next five years. This growth is supported primarily by a strong economy, in addition to significant potential around air-conditioning penetration, which currently stands at a mere 5.0 per cent for the entire country.

    In addition, with focus shifting around technology and energy efficiency, the HVAC industry is also undergoing a massive and steady transformation. Air-conditioners are electricity guzzling equipments, and contribute to around 40-50 per cent to an average building electricity load. With such a significant contribution of electricity consumption happening from air-conditioners, the government has been taking strict measures to promote reduced consumption and sustainability.

    The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), Ministry of Power, has been enforcing strict regulations on electricity consumption by air-conditioners, by doing upward revisions in the Energy Labelling Programme every two years, in favour of inverter-based systems versus conventional fixed speed systems.

    At Carrier India, we have seen a massive turnaround in the sales of inverter-based air-conditioners in the residential market, wherein their sales have exceeded conventional fixed speed ACs in 2018 by more than 40 per cent. In addition, while this programme was earlier restricted to room air-conditioners only, it is now getting extended to Chillers and other packaged products as well.

    Carrier has been working relentlessly in this regard by constantly introducing high-efficiency products in the India markets. The company has a joint-venture with Toshiba, wherein Carrier is the sole owner for marketing and sales of Toshiba brand air-conditioners globally.

    Very recently, Carrier launched the Toshiba brand range of 5-Star air-conditioners – Prodig.i3 – with an ISEER rating as high as 5.6, which is the highest rated product in the India market in 1.5TR category. In addition, Carrier also launched the Toshiba Daiseikai series, which is a premium high-efficiency 5-Star rated product. It has an inbuilt highly precise self-cleaning air-filter, which does not need replacement in the entire lifetime of the air-conditioner. Also, it boasts of a super silent feature, with a sound level of 19dB(A), even lower than the ticking of a watch.

    Carrier also introduced the NxGInverter Ducted range, for light commercial applications like offices, restaurants and showrooms. It is a very effective preposition when compared with conventional ducted system, with payback going as low as one year.

    In case of retrofit applications, replacing the old ducted units with the new Carrier NxGInverter Ducted system gives a payback in less than two years, and savings of around 40 per cent energy costs each year. These units come with high efficiency inverter compressors, BMS connectivity, high reliability features for harsh Indian conditions, reduced footprint, and intelligent air flow management.

    In the Chiller segment, Carrier has been consistently launching new products, developed on its global platforms and standards, and are highly efficient, sustainable and reliable. With chillers having efficiencies as high as IPLV 11.8, Carrier is constantly challenging the ceiling of efficiency envelopes with its cutting-edge designs and patented technologies.

    The VRF segment is the fastest growing commercial AC segment, with its growth pegged at around 12 per cent each year. This segment has the highest potential for growth in coming years.


  • Carrier has also been highly active in this segment, and has been launching new, energy efficient and competitive VRF ranges timely. The new Toshiba SMMS7 VRF offers superior energy efficiency with ISEER values as high as 9.9. Developed especially for the Indian market, the SMMS7 offers increased capacities, enhanced diversity, reduced footprint and 52oC ambient operation.

  • Carrier also launched the VX VRF series, which has had an efficiency improvement of up to 30 per cent from its erstwhile range, and an ambient operation up to 54oC.

  • While regulations around energy efficiency are getting tightened, there is a significant intervention of technology for driving maximum efficiency out of existing air-conditioning equipment in large buildings, and also for carrying out advanced prognostics to ensure minimized downtime. Customers are slowly being made aware of advanced IoT solutions for remote monitoring of their air-conditioning equipment. These solutions provide real time feed of vital parameters of the systems, and help identify any unforeseen breakdowns, raising flags well before the breakdown has even happened.

    In addition, integrated solutions are getting popular amongst corporate buildings, where management of all electric loads (lights, ACs, fire systems, etc) are available to the customer on a single platform.

    With its AdvanTEC division, Carrier has been working with a lot of corporate clients, trying to educate them on the importance of lifecycle costs and optimized running of systems. By studying energy consumption patterns in large buildings, Carrier AdvanTEC team promises written savings to the customers and helps them achieve paybacks in very short durations.

    This division is gaining quick inroads into prestigious corporates across the country, and is swiftly transforming the way air-conditioning equipment is purchased and managed.

    Carrier is also actively involved in retrofit of existing Chiller systems with IoT-enabled devices. This division of Carrier’s Aftermarket team, referred to as ‘Connected Services’, installs IoT-enabled devices on existing Chiller systems, and captures vital technical data on a real time basis. This data is used for advanced prognostics, and forecasting breakdowns, leading to minimized downtime, and achieve uninterrupted air-conditioning services.

    While the HVAC industry in the country grows steadily, it is important for manufacturers to understand and adapt to changing trends around efficiency and technology. The customer demands are shifting towards being more digital/IoT-centric.

  • In addition, the onus lies with manufacturers and the government to help shift focus in buying behaviour from initial cost of the product to lifecycle cost of the product. This shall help the industry in the long run to take giant steps in its journey towards being a more sustainable country.

     


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