Life Cycle Cost Assessment of Efficient Air Conditioners in Urban Residential Buildings in China

This paper calculates and analyzes the life cycle costs of air conditioners in urban residential buildings in main cities of China, trying to explain why the residents do not like to buy efficient air conditioners. The research results show that it cannot save money for majority of residents to use efficient air conditioners though it can save a lot of the operating energy of air conditioners, because the average level of cooling energy consumption in urban residential buildings is low and the prices of high-efficiency air conditioners are significantly higher than that of low-efficiency air conditioners at present time. This is the most important reason why residents do not like to buy efficient air conditioners. So some policies should be laid down to encourage residents to use efficient air conditioners.