New Air Conditioning System Has Potential to Slash Energy Usage by Up to 90 Percent

I saw this and wanted to share. Especially living in TX, where our electric bills are outrageous. This could be the savior of many Texas pocket books. Not to mention, it could be a partial answer for the ever-growing energy demands.

Ah, the cool, refreshing feel of air conditioning on a sweltering summer day.

Ugh, the discomfort when those energy bills in July, August and September come due -- $200, $400, $600 or more.

Feel miserable, or dig deep into your wallet -- not much of a choice for the 250 million Americans who live in climates where heat, humidity or both are a Catch-22 for three to 12 months a year.

A soothing solution may be on its way, thanks to a melding of technologies in filters, coolers and drying agents.

The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory has invented a new air conditioning process with the potential of using 50 percent to 90 percent less energy than today's top-of-the-line units. It uses membranes, evaporative cooling and liquid desiccants in a way that has never been done before in the centuries-old science of removing heat from the air.

"The idea is to revolutionize cooling, while removing millions of metric tons of carbon from the air," NREL mechanical engineer Eric Kozubal, co-inventor of the Desiccant-Enhanced eVaporative air conditioner (DEVap), said.

"We'd been working with membranes, evaporative coolers and desiccants. We saw an opportunity to combine them into a single device for a product with unique capabilities."

Make the jump here to read the article in it's entirety: www.sciencedaily.com...

A swamp cooler with a new and improved name. Throw a desiccant filter in front of it to remove humidity and you have this gizmo.

And how many tax dollars did we spend on this....

Originally posted by hinky
A swamp cooler with a new and improved name. Throw a desiccant filter in front of it to remove humidity and you have this gizmo.

And how many tax dollars did we spend on this....

50-90% less energy required, and all you can do is bring in a negative comment...too bad you didn't think of it first, since it's so simple and all

man, this is good news. I am sick of $400-$500 electric bills in the texas summers. Swamp coolers don't work well here though due to the humidity.So hopefully that is not how it works. But 50-90% less energy is a good thing - especially for those in places where swamp coolers work well.

I read the article and the technology makes sense. Bottom line, if the price is right and it works as expected, good news.

I am sharing this EVERYWHERE...even though I still can't believe where it's coming from. Maybe they're actually doing something worthwhile over there.

Anyway, I'm all over this...for myself and my family, as well as all my friends.

Thank you for sharing. S&F

Swamp coolers have been used for years in areas like Arizona desert where the relative humidity is low. The addition of desiccant membranes might save people living in places like Florida a bundle. Traditional swamp coolers in Florida don't give you much increase in anything except mosquito larvae.

[edit on 22-6-2010 by Bordon81]

Sounds like a great idea.

In dry climates it probably would require the use of distilled water, since you wouldn't want the membranes to "plug up" with calcium carbonate deposits from tap water.

3+ years from production is my guess.

Any one figured out a good way to make one in the garage yet ?

reply to post by Aggie Man


Never said it was simple, did say it has just been renamed with a new coat of paint.

The energy comparison is against "top of the line" units. Since most to no one have these in their domiciles, the energy savings will be less. This is an apple to oranges comparison with no application except to make a headline. Actual savings in real usage will be far less, and when you factor the cost of this unit, there may be no savings over the lifetime of the unit, as opposed to current technology. Notice only energy usage, with perceived savings cost mentioned, not total operating costs. Big difference in these terms.

Carbon offsets are based on total release of current refrigerants in current systems to atmosphere. This is an illegal practice and besides, a competent service person would never allow this as they are licensed for this very practice. Besides, CFC's and HCFC's are being phased out. Again a bogus statement made for headline purposes.

I do hope the gizmo is patented and a ton of money is made, for the US taxpayer.

This "news" is nothing more than a press release for the going green crowd.

Talk about a coincidence... You might check my youtube channel once you're done with this thread. I was after the same concept with building my own a couple of weeks back!


www.youtube.com...

I'm hopeful; thanks for sharing the article.

I've been experimenting with evaporative coolers, since we live in a high humidity area. So far, nothing even close to as satisfying as real a/c, but I'm still trying.

24-volt applications might reduce the cost savings even more, IF they can create a product that is quiet and effective in both low and high humidity.

Originally posted by zzombie
Sounds like a great idea.

In dry climates it probably would require the use of distilled water, since you wouldn't want the membranes to "plug up" with calcium carbonate deposits from tap water.

3+ years from production is my guess.

Any one figured out a good way to make one in the garage yet ?

I've been in the air conditioing industry for over 30 years, this isn't new, a Singaporean company has been making them for years.

Saying that, I've yet to see any non-refrigerated A/C bring a room down to a desired room temperature, say 22deg C

reply to post by Aggie Man


Good find! S & F

New things that help improve our lives and reduce energy
consumption is a good thing.

Just like the thread I started here on ATS about "Proganic" which can replace nearly all of our current plastic useage, which consumes about 10% of our oil useage in the U.S.

Originally posted by hinky
A swamp cooler with a new and improved name. Throw a desiccant filter in front of it to remove humidity and you have this gizmo.

And how many tax dollars did we spend on this....

Don't get me wrong, it is a good idea to combine technologies (i have been trying to get people to look at nanogenerators combined with other technologies to make energy independent homes).

But i have issues with swamp coolers. The molds cause me to be very, very ill. My respiratory problems spiral out of control over a period of days until it begins to cause heart problems.

No thank you. I will keep my condensing unit. It is expensive, and about .5 ton short of what i need in this house....but it keeps my bedroom like a meat locker and that is all i can ask for.

Originally posted by manta78
reply to post by Aggie Man

 

Good find! S & F

New things that help improve our lives and reduce energy
consumption is a good thing.

Just like the thread I started here on ATS about "Proganic" which can replace nearly all of our current plastic useage, which consumes about 10% of our oil useage in the U.S.

Proganic, if not in name at least in concept and testing, has been around for a LOOOONG time. Something has kept its boot on the neck of the technology. On the surface i cannot see a good reason for it to take so long to come to fruition.

Originally posted by hinky


The energy comparison is against "top of the line" units. Since most to no one have these in their domiciles, the energy savings will be less.

I can only speak for my own region, but this is highly untrue for this part of the world. My grandfather was in the AC business for 20 years on his own, and for the DoD in missile silos for a decade before that. My uncle (his brother in law) had his own AC business in this same town. Outside of the ghetto, you would be hard pressed to not find a Lennox, American Standard, or Ruud sitting next to just about every house. I have yet to find a town in Texas that isn't the same way. I am not talking about window units (that is what you find in poorer neighborhoods). I mean central AC, with a consdenser inside and the compressor outside, ductwork, etc.

When you refer to "top of the line", you are referring to these systems (assuming that they are a recent build, with modern EnergyStar ratings, and they are installed properly, as well as maintenanced properly).

I won't go to someone's house during the summer unless they have central AC, and if they keep it up on 80, i won't stay long.

Of course if humans were half intelligent they would be living under the ground instead of on top of it.

The temperature would be controlled year round with very little energy required to heat or cool the dwelling.

The added benefit would be the weather would not be a issue.

No tornadoes to toss all your possessions all over the landscape.

Originally posted by downunderET
I've been in the air conditioing industry for over 30 years, this isn't new, a Singaporean company has been making them for years.

Saying that, I've yet to see any non-refrigerated A/C bring a room down to a desired room temperature, say 22deg C

I think there are limitations to this technology just as you say. Like electric cars offer some advantages over gas only cars, they do have limitations like limited range, but a good hybrid can give you the benefits of both technologies.

Similarly, my guess is that a hybrid application of this evaporative technology along with the traditional compressor based technology may allow the benefit of both technologies. So maybe use the non-refrigerated AC to take the upper part of the temperature range off, and get the room close to the comfort zone, then use the refrigeration part to bring temp the rest of the way down into the comfort zone. This may result in lower energy costs relative to using the refrigeration unit alone, however I hasten to add I do have concerns about maintenance costs. Is using distilled water a requirement? Distilling water isn't free, it takes energy too, so that has to be factored in. And if you don't use distilled water, hard water buildup could be a maintenance nightmare and destroy the system efficiency.

reply to post by Arbitrageur


How about this:

Dehumidifier first, removes moisture from the air leaving dry air and "distilled" water.

Run the dry air through an evaporative air cooler using said collected water. The dry air will make the evaporative air cooler more effective and the water used will be pure(ish) resulting in little buildup.

Take the air from the evaporative air cooler and run it through a conventional compressor type air conditioner. Low power, just enough to take the last few degrees off. Cycle it on and off to collect the water condensed/frozen from the heat exchanger and transfer it back to stage one. The recycled water would have to be topped up of course. Buildup can be chemically flushed one or twice a year (or so).

Dehumidifiers and evaporative air coolers don't draw too much but dehumidifiers seem to warm the room (I have one). Perhaps one could be re-designed/engineered to dissipate the heat energy outside.

A little too complicated and expensive? Probably.

A net reduction in energy consumption yielding results comparable to air con? No idea. Maybe a little.

The cost of electricity is looking like it will increase substantially in the near future. If the savings on power could offset outlay (vs air con) in say 2 years maybe it would be worth it. There is talk here of supply authorities considering charging for apparent power rather than true power. That would be an instant jump of up to 25% (assuming an installation with a PF of 0.8 as is the requirement here).

The problem is, once you get over 100-110 degrees, those swamp coolers don't really make much of a dent. We'll see just how wonderful this 'new' technology is.

You can make your own A/C with a large bucket of water, some copper tubing, and a strong fan.