New solar-powered residential air conditioning technology being developed at The Australian National University could soon spell relief for the many Australians sweltering this summer.
Dr Mike Dennis from the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science is developing a new solar air-conditioning system that will alleviate the pressure on Australia’s aging electricity infrastructure and reduce the demand for power over summer. Dr Dennis believes that peak period power shortages are just around the corner for Australia, particularly in times of peak use in the hotter months. He said that the refrigerants in traditional air-conditioners units are also an environmental threat.
“The refrigerants circulating in these units are several thousand times more potent greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide,” said Dr Dennis. “For every kilogram of refrigerant you have in your split-system, you’ve got two or three thousand kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent locked up – as much as the average car puts out in a year. There is a big question mark over what becomes of this refrigerant upon disposal of the air conditioner.”
There was clear incentive for Dr Dennis to develop sustainable residential air-conditioning and the obvious solution was solar. “The sun shines when we need to cool and Australia has an excellent solar resource,” he said.
Dr Dennis’ design replaces the electrical compressor in a conventional air-conditioner with a solar powered thermal compressor. Solar power is provided in the form of heat, not electricity, from conventional solar water heater panels. The same system could provide heat in winter and hot water all year round.
“The air-conditioner is very similar to a household split-system with which most people are familiar, except for the power source,” he said.
An extensive two-year commercially driven development program will begin this year, with commercial and manufacturing issues expected to be addressed in 2010. With only one moving part and no potent chemicals, Dr Dennis predicts the cost to manufacture the system will be low.
February 9th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Using a solar-powered attic fan will help to achieve the optimum conditions for your home without increasing the electric bill. It might also lower the electric bill, because keeping a cooler attic temperature reduces the workload on the home’s cooling system. A built-in thermostat is another option for a solar powered attic fan which allows you to set the temperature ranges before the unit will turn on and off accordingly.
June 29th, 2009 at 2:54 am
I’ve spent the past few weeks researching solar powered systems for generating electricty for homes in the UK. At the moment it is very expensive but there are strong sounds that there will be new government legislation in Spring 2010 that will heavily subsidise solar projects. The government will currently put up to £2500 towards domestic solar projects but thats now enough if a system that will generate up to 50% of a homes electricity costs £20 – £30k. Prices are starting to come down for the components like they have done for flat screen TV’s and computers. As more people start to buy these solar systems the prices will drop. There wouldnt be much demand for solar air conditioning systems for homes within the UK as the weather is so terrible but for businesses i think it would be good and also a good way for a UK retail chain to promote themselvesas green if the cooling / heating was solar generated along with maybe the lights. It will be interesting to see how the technology develops over the next few years with the efficiency of the solar panels increasing from a low figure of around 15% at the moment.
August 4th, 2009 at 12:15 am
using solar power when possible is definitely better for the energy conservation and better for our environment. thanks for this info.
February 16th, 2010 at 1:21 pm
I was doing a search for residential solar energy today and came across this post, Solar-powered Air-con to Save Power and Planet | ecoficial. Interesting to say the least.