The temperature soars above 49°C in Delhi! Is it an invitation for new businesses?
Everyone is struggling with their own issues. While one part of the globe is struggling through war and trying to survive bombs & shells dropping from the sky. Another part of the globe is facing a severe heat wave that is only going to get worse in the coming times. I am sure that you would have guessed the first part of the statement, Yes it is Ukraine. The second part is about the Asian country “India”. We Indians are facing a heatwave and it is just the start of summer. Half of May is pending and we are afraid of what June will bring.
It is human nature that half of the people who would read the first paragraph would scroll right down to the bottom and type “we feel sorry, May God helps you”, “It is due to global warming and Industrialisation”, “Oh god, please bring rain”, etc. They will simply assume that this article is about the temperature rise and how it is impacting the life of Indians.
In a sense, yes, this article is about the temperature rise and the struggle of Indians but it is also about the opportunities that this has brought to us. Whatever happened has happened and cannot be controlled now. What can be controlled is “how we deal with it?”
If you want to know anything about India, then you should know that Indians survive. They survive the hardest challenges. This is not the first time we are facing temperatures of this range. It is a regular phenomenon and we deal with these temperatures annually in summers. Then, why did I start writing about it?
The answer is “We usually face these extreme temperatures at end of summers and only for a short time.” Then rains follow and everyone forgets how hot the summer was. This year the temperatures soared quite early and everyone is figuring out “how to survive till the rains?”
While normal people are struggling to survive these heatwaves, smart people are looking for opportunities in these adverse situations.
Exploring Opportunities in these times
India has multiple problems and the population is a driver of many of them. We have such a huge population that despite the extreme summers, winters, rains, and other climatic conditions you can find millions of people in any city you visit. These millions of people would do anything to survive. They will use air conditioners, coolers, ice cubes, bunkers, turbans, clothes, etc.
With millions of people come millions of needs and these needs make one very big need of “cooling”. The space of cooling is crowded in India with a lot of local players dominating the market. Only the upper and upper middle class use Air conditioners. The lower middle class and lower class of the population still rely on the fans and evaporative coolers for survival in these extreme temperatures.
To survive in extreme temperatures people need cooling solutions at an affordable price.
While the majority of players are developing energy-efficient air conditioners which come at a premium price. The space of cooling for people who cannot afford these premium products is not researched. The local players dominate it by making fans, and evaporative coolers. There is a need in the society with no strong foothold of any big player. It is the whitespace that can provide non-parallel opportunities. The profit margins in this space are low and thus the bigger players don’t want to get their hands dirty in it. But, is it really low? Or there are other opportunities where they haven’t looked?
Some new players are researching and working on the evaporative cooling domain. Evaporative cooling is a simple technology. A substance evaporates and in turn, uses the heat of the surroundings. This creates a low temperature in the surrounding. The conventional evaporative solutions used in various Indian households look like this:
But evaporative technology is not limited to this. It has evolved a lot. The conventional evaporative cooling systems don’t offer control of humidity and temperature. But there are more advanced versions. These advanced versions are Indirect and multistage evaporative cooling solutions that use multiple cycles and offer control over humidity and temperature.
Thus, though evaporative cooling technology has advanced. But the advancements are currently limited to research papers and patents. The commercial space is still empty and can be a successful journey for many companies/ startups out there.
The most advanced versions of “evaporative cooling” solutions use indirect and multi-stage evaporators with integrated IoT, AI & ML. These when used with existing air conditioning systems can be a game-changer.
What is indirect evaporative cooling?
You know about basic evaporative cooling. If not, please read above where I have explained it.
When the basic evaporator cools the surroundings and these surroundings are used to cool tubes from which the hot air passes. The air cools without getting humidity. It is just like AC, with the only difference that the cooling of coils is done by evaporation.
What is multistage cooling?
Multistage cooling, as the name suggests, is a cooling where the cooling happens in multiple stages.
You cool air via direct/ indirect evaporation. Then use another stage where direct/ indirect evaporation is used to control the humidity. Usually, the first stage is indirect evaporation and the second is controlled direct evaporation.
To read more about multistage & indirect evaporative cooling please use these links — Link 1, Link 2, Link 3, Link 4
Why are the above technologies valuable?
The conventional air conditioners are not environment friendly. The current times are highly suitable for sustainable, AI/ML backed, and personalized solutions. If you want to know why I am saying so? Please read What will drive the next generation of Startups!!!
The advanced evaporative cooling solutions are highly energy efficient. In simple terms, you can save a minimum of 30% energy to a maximum of 60% energy in these solutions.
These solutions are also environment friendly. The product of these solutions can be made and serviced by labor of lesser skillset. Thus they not only save money during making but also during their service life. The energy consumed is very low as compared to the existing air conditioners and thus the running cost of these systems is also low.
Now, to understand where these systems would fit apart from domestic cooling. They are highly suited for cooling big industrial buildings, cloud kitchens, data centers, and open-places which see a lot of movement. The domain of data center cooling is very demanding and is highly profitable. Thus, the scope is not only limited to the people with lower resources but also includes multiple high pocket domains. Having a technology that is environment friendly would also attract big corporations to invest in it with multiple government subsidies in the initial period.
Thus, when you are thinking of a problem. Someone out there is exploring an opportunity.
