Currently

China’s inverter air conditioner efficiency standard (GB 21455—2013) adopts the annual performance factor (APF) to evaluate heat-pump inverter air conditioner. Specifically

APF of air conditioner is calculated by a single set of running time curves (cooling and heating) nationwide. However

China includes diverse regions and climates. Therefore

in the study

two types of running time curves covering all five architectural thermo-technical design zones were initially obtained by using meteorological statistics and investigation data

respectively. Furthermore

the APFs of nine variable speed air-conditioners were analyzed by the standard method based on running time curves. The results indicate that the regional difference of APF of the variable speed air-conditioner is significant

and the APF difference between southern China and central China ranges to 1.86 based on the investigation data. Finally

regional evaluation of energy efficiency standards was proposed and verified by an example. The results indicate that the seasonal energy efficiency ratio (SEER) and heating seasonal performance factor (HSPF) values of different regions should be considered in addition to the APF value.