Air Conditioning Systems

Chris Huhne
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the estimated average (a) energy use, (b) direct greenhouse gas emissions and (c) indirect greenhouse gas emissions were for air conditioning systems to cool domestic homes in the last year for which figures are available.

Ian Pearson
I have been asked to reply.

No detailed information is available about the number of air conditioning units in domestic homes or their associated energy consumption.

However, the Government's market transformation programme (MTP) has collected estimates of the amount of energy consumed by air conditioning units in the UK that are subject to the Energy Information (Household Air Conditioners) No. 2 Regulations 2005 (that is, units which consume less than 12 kilowatts). The 2005 regulatory impact assessment for those regulations indicate that these appliances, which are used in both domestic and commercial premises, consume about 5.6 terawatt hours of electricity per year. This is equivalent to approximately 672,000 tonnes of carbon. The report is available on the DEFRA website:

http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/energvlabeHing-regsaircon/index.htm

No information is collected for indirect greenhouse gas emissions from these appliances.