Growing air conditioning use among India's 1.3 billion people is one of the country's biggest energy challenges. India is currently the world's fastest growing market for air conditioners. By 2050, the International Energy Agency projects it will be the largest. If air conditioning use is not made more efficient, electricity consumption from air conditioning in India is expected to increase by a factor of 30 between 2010 and 2030. To avoid escalating electricity demand, the government is counting on more-efficient air conditioners. Demand is also increasing in other developing countries where climates tend to be hot and incomes and populations are growing. For example, as China's middle class emerged between 1992 and 2007, homes with air conditioning in many urban areas went from approximately zero to nearly 100 percent. Developing countries, which consumed less than half the world's energy in 2000, now account for 58 percent. The International Energy Agency projects that they will account for 67 percent by 2040.

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