Home > Residential HVAC > 2015 Guide to High-Efficiency Air Conditioning 2015 Guide to High-Efficiency Air Conditioning We present this easy-to-use annual guide to give HVAC contractors a look at the year's newest models from the leading brands. OUR ANNUAL AIR CONDITIONING GUIDE IS HERE. We offer this guide each year to give HVAC contractors an easy-to-use comparison of the newest models by the leading brands. This year, we've grouped mini-splits together, for an easy look at this growing category. 2015 GUIDE TO HIGH-EFFICIENCY AC Central and individual air-conditioning systems — A comparison of environmental impacts and resource consumption in a life cycle perspective Shabbir H. Gheewala & Per H. Nielsen SUMMARY This paper compares individual (split) and central systems of air-conditioning in a life cycle perspective, taking into account the environmental impacts and resource consumption during resource extraction, material production, production of the air-conditioning units, their use, disposal and recycling.

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is used in conducting this comparison. Central systems have a longer lifetime than individual systems, lower electricity consumption and maintenance requirements during the use phase, and a higher recycling potential during the disposal phase. However, to transfer cool air, central systems use a large quantity of water pipes or air ducts, the production of which contributes significantly to resource use. The LCA study reveals that, on the whole, the central systems generally use less resources than split systems and result in lower environmental impacts. The paper suggests a need for producers of air-conditioners to consider a change from being suppliers of air-conditioning hardware to being suppliers of cool air in order to overcome the initial cost constraints of central systems and realize their environmental and economic improvement potential to the benefit of the environment, and the industry as well as customers. Key words: Environmental impactlife cycle assessmentair-conditioningglobal warmingresource use