❄️ Air conditioning

Here we estimate the footprint of air conditioning. Its footprint is fourfold:

• electricity consumption (included in housing consumption)
• the footprint of equipment construction
• the footprint of heat transfer fluid leaks
  • annual
  • end-of-life

There is a certain difference with the ADEME study, as the assumptions are different from those of the Base Empreinte, whereas the latter claims to be based on this study.

The main differences stem from

• the annual leakage rate considered: 1% in the ADEME study (tab p38), whereas our model averages the annual leakage rates for the residential sector given in the Base Empreinte (i.e. 4.2%)
• the fact that the ADEME study does not seem to take into account the end-of-life leakage rate (even if depreciated), which is enormous in the Base Empreinte (average of 66.4%)
• the fact that, in our first estimate, we consider R410a refrigerant, whereas the study considers R134a