Comprehensive economic, environmental and social benefit assessment for refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment combined with the social cost of carbon

Fubin Chen, Zhao Yang, Yiping Wang, Hongxia He, Yong Zhang and Yanfeng Zhao

Energy, 2025, vol. 326, issue C

Abstract: The comprehensive evaluation of the economic, environmental and social benefits of products is still an area of great concern. In the field of refrigeration and air conditioning, with the increase in environmental awareness and the rising costs brought about by technological updates, the contradictions are becoming increasingly serious. Therefore, it is urgent to develop a suitable evaluation method to effectively balance these conflicting factors. Based on life cycle cost and life cycle assessment, this paper introduces the social cost of carbon into the evaluation of refrigeration and air conditioning products and proposes a life cycle socio-economic cost framework. Unlike traditional life cycle cost, life cycle socio-economic cost takes into account the social value and environmental value of the product. In addition, based on this method, this study calculated and evaluated a 12kw R410A and its alternative refrigerant multi-connected air-conditioning (heat pump) units as a case. These systems have been properly optimized, taking into account safety measures and the miscibility of lubricants and refrigerants. For this system, using R32 instead of R410A can bring higher socio-economic benefits. The study also pointed out the importance of APF to LCSC. At the same time, based on this study, a series of important conclusions and suggestions including subsidies and equipment elimination were proposed.

Keywords: Life cycle cost; Life cycle assessment; Social cost of carbon; Air conditioning; Sustainable evaluation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:326:y:2025:i:c:s036054422501905x

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.136263

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