Solar air conditioning — use the sun’s heat energy to keep your organisation cool

Australians love the outdoors, but when the mercury soars in summer we all like to head indoors to relax in cool, air-conditioned spaces.

Unfortunately, the significant increase in air-conditioning over the last decade has put massive pressure on our electricity networks, resulting in incredibly high peak-load energy requirements.

The end result has been that our network, designed to meet peak-load not average load, now requires billions of dollars of equipment that’s used for less than a week a year.

This has opened the door for research and development into more energy efficient air-conditioning options, including solar air conditioning.

The very latest solar air conditioning technology

Solar cooling (also known as solar air conditioning) is a term that encompasses a range of technologies designed to utilise a solar thermal input (typically very hot water) to delivery cool air into a building. The sun’s heat can be turned into cool air via a number of different thermodynamic reactions, resulting in cooling with minimal electrical input.

To be successful, solar air conditioning systems require a combination of:

• Expert design services
• High-grade solar collectors and thermal storage
• Specialist chiller equipment
• Talented installers

At The Solar Guys, we offer three main types of solar cooling and low energy cooling technologies:

1. ABsorption and ADsorption based chiller systems

These thermal cooling systems utilise well-known thermodynamic processes to deliver chilled water that can be adapted for cooling applications, both large and small. These systems can utilise solar thermal heat, waste heat, supplemental heat, or a combination of all three.

ABsorption and ADsorption chillers are well known for their longevity and low maintenance requirements. And by storing solar heated water in tanks, they can even deliver solar cooling after the sun goes down.

We offer a range of sorption chiller systems, including specialist units that are capable of delivering temperatures below freezing for low-energy refrigeration purposes.

2. Indirect evaporative cooling systems

Evaporative cooling systems have been in Australia for many years. But the impact of moisture in the air — and its associated problems in more humid areas — discouraged the widespread roll out of these systems, except in desert regions.

The next generation of indirect evaporative coolers has now arrived, delivering cool-but-dry air for space cooling. A great advantage of these systems is that higher volumes of fresh air can be introduced into a building without massively increasing energy consumption.

Coolarado air conditioners use a fraction of the electricity of traditional air conditioners, and can be installed in all types of climates. They are one of the most environmentally friendly systems on the market, as they are made from recyclable materials and have low water usage.

The Coolerado evaporative system can either be applied for full cooling, or to enhance the performance of existing DX systems, depending on the demand of the property. This system provides affordable air conditioning and is a change in the way we think about artificial cooling in this country.

3. Desiccant dehumidification systems

Traditional vapour compression air-conditioners reduce the temperature of the incoming air to below the dew point (typically less than 15°C) to reduce the humidity, which condenses out of the air. Unfortunately the air is now too cold to deliver directly into the space, so it is instead heated up first to ensure that it is comfortable once it reaches the space.

The air-conditioner is actually doing two jobs, latent cooling and sensible cooling — but it’s only doing the sensible cooling well. By installing a dehumidification system to dry the air out before it gets cooled by the conventional air-conditioner, huge efficiency gains can be made and air heating can be avoided.

For more information on the many benefits of solar air conditioning — or to chat about installing a system in your organisation — call our friendly team on 1300 75 00 55.