I agree about the 33% efficiency doesn't make any sense from a thermodynamic perspective. The discussion of the peak current for the compressor motor is quite strange. That is a fraction of a second that the system experience the Locked Rotor Amps (LRA). It is also solvable when a system has variable compressors or inrush current limiting.
One bit of reasonable efficiency gains to be had is by switching refrigerants to an R22 analogue. R22 is banned per the Montreal Protocol as of 2020.
However, R22 has thermodynamic properties that make it more efficient than the standard refrigerant of today's residential and small commercial units, R410A. This is particularly as the heat of the atmosphere being rejected into rises with some Coefficient Of Performance (COP) differences in the 10% range.
There are some analogues to R22 without the ozone damaging properties that share or exceed the the thermodynamic performance of R22. R407C is one that comes to mind, but there's a handful that can be retrofitted or purchased new.
However, a trade off is that generally a newer Energy Star unit will be significantly more efficient than an older R22 unit. My point with the R22 is that the industry will slowly move towards some of these other refrigerants because of their better thermodynamics.
One bit of reasonable efficiency gains to be had is by switching refrigerants to an R22 analogue. R22 is banned per the Montreal Protocol as of 2020.
However, R22 has thermodynamic properties that make it more efficient than the standard refrigerant of today's residential and small commercial units, R410A. This is particularly as the heat of the atmosphere being rejected into rises with some Coefficient Of Performance (COP) differences in the 10% range.
https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=86088...
There are some analogues to R22 without the ozone damaging properties that share or exceed the the thermodynamic performance of R22. R407C is one that comes to mind, but there's a handful that can be retrofitted or purchased new.
However, a trade off is that generally a newer Energy Star unit will be significantly more efficient than an older R22 unit. My point with the R22 is that the industry will slowly move towards some of these other refrigerants because of their better thermodynamics.