by our own National Renewable Energy Laboratory:
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Vehicle air conditioning (A/C) systems represent the major auxiliary load on the engines of light-duty passenger vehicles, sport-utility vehicles (SUV), and heavy-duty vehicles and have a dramatic effect on fuel consumption and exhaust emissions in conventional vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV). Recent studies (paper is from about 2000?- Frank) have shown that, during the SC03 drive cycle, the average impact of the A/C system over a range of light-duty vehicles was to increase 1) fuel consumption by 28%, 2) carbon monoxide emissions by 71%, 3) nitrogen oxide emissions by 81%, and 4) non-methane hydrocarbons by 30%. Recent tests on hybrid electric vehicles (i.e., Toyota Prius / Honda Insight) at NREL [2] have shown that HEV fuel economy decreases by 30%-35% when the A/C operates.
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And:
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About 7 billion gallons of fuel—about 5.5% of total national light-duty vehicle fuel use—are used annually just to cool light-duty vehicles in the United States.
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Probably doesn't include all the time spent idling in parking lots to "keep it cool"
I ripped the compressor and condenser outta the Coupe a few days ago...