❄️ Air conditioners

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

• electricity consumption (included in the home's consumption)
• the footprint of the construction of the equipment
• the heat transfer fluid leakage footprint
  • annual
  • at end of life

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

The main differences come from

• the annual leakage rate considered: 1% in the ADEME study (tab p38), whereas our model takes the average of the annual leakage rates for the residential sector given in the Empreinte Base (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 amortised), which is enormous in the Empreinte database (average of 66.4%)
• the fact that our initial estimate is based on R410a refrigerant, whereas the study considers R134a