Ford, LG and Tesla’s new Australian lithium mine will be powered by giant off-grid solar, wind and battery projects
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Ford, LG and Tesla’s new Australian lithium mine will be powered by giant off-grid solar, wind and battery projects
Sworn-in President William Ruto confirms Kenya’s commitment to 100% clean energy by 2030.
Sworn-in President William Ruto confirms Kenya’s commitment to 100% clean energy by 2030.
Ford, LG and Tesla’s new Australian lithium mine will be powered by giant off-grid solar, wind and battery projects
Stryten Energy welcomes investment in energy security and US producers by lowering inflation
The transition of the world to renewable energy sources will cost 62 trillion dollars, but will pay off in just 6 years
The Biden-Harris administration has approved 35 major state plans to build electric vehicle charging infrastructure along 53,000 miles of highway.
As we speak, advances in air conditioning are happening as people look for ways to stay cool without wasting a lot of electricity.
As the world warms, the demand for air conditioners will skyrocket. According to a report from the International Energy Agency, demand for air conditioners will triple by 2050. By 2018, the amount of electricity needed to run air conditioners will be equal to the combined electrical capacity of the United States, the European Union and Japan. By 2050, the fleet of air conditioners in buildings around the world will increase from 1.6 billion today to 5.6 billion, which means that over the next 30 years, 10 new air conditioners will be sold every second.
The use of air conditioners and electric fans for cooling already accounts for about one-fifth of the world’s electricity consumption in buildings, which is equivalent to 10% of the world’s total electricity consumption today. But with rising incomes and living standards in many developing countries, the demand for air conditioners in hotter regions will skyrocket. According to the International Energy Agency, by 2050, the use of alternating current is projected to become the second largest source of growth in global electricity demand after the industrial sector.
During a heat wave, millions of people go home and turn on their air conditioners (or two) between 4pm and 9pm. When this happens, air conditioners can supply 60 to 70 percent of electricity needs, according to The Washington Post.
There are two main considerations here. One of them is energy efficiency. Another reason is the use of refrigerants that are harmful to the environment. Efficiency is one of the key reasons for driving an electric car. The typical efficiency of a gasoline engine is between 20% and 25%. This means that only a quarter of the gas you pay at the gas station is used to get you going. The rest is wasted as friction, heat or noise.
Electric motors, by contrast, are 85 to 90 percent efficient, meaning that the vast majority of the electricity you use to charge your electric car is converted into power rather than wasted. Many drivers complain about high gas prices, but they never stop thinking that they are being scammed of most of the energy they pay at the gas station.
Traditional air conditioners operate using a special liquid that turns into a gas when heated, such as in a room heated by the sun. This heat causes the refrigerant to evaporate, cooling the air. The compressor then turns the refrigerant into a liquid and the process repeats.
But the energy efficiency of the standard process is not very high, and as the outdoor temperature rises, the energy efficiency also decreases. During hot weather, traditional air conditioners have to work harder, which requires them to consume more electricity.
Some new air conditioners use a different refrigerant, such as R-32. It has less greenhouse gas effect and uses less energy for compression, which reduces the amount of electricity required. Others use variable speed compressors, which run faster in the hottest weather but slower when the outside temperature is cooler. This allows the device to operate in various modes. Using less electricity to cool homes can save people utility bills and reduce grid load.
Good news is just around the corner, according to the Washington Post. RMI, formerly the Rocky Mountain Institute, recently launched the Global Cooling Prize to create affordable air conditioner prototypes with at least five times the climate impact of existing models. The award was shared by two companies, Gree Electric and Daikin Industries. Both use traditional gas compression technology but with improved refrigerants and designs that can change settings based on outside temperature.
Previously, air conditioners used chlorofluorocarbons or freons. They work very well, but they have one serious side effect – they create a hole in the Earth’s ozone layer. CFCs have been phased out under the 1987 Montreal Protocol, an international treaty to combat ozone depletion, and replaced by hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs.
But HFCs also have their own problems. They are still greenhouse gases, thousands of times more powerful than carbon dioxide. The amendment to the Montreal Protocol calls for a near phase-out of HFCs by 2045, but at the same time they still contribute to global warming. Abandoned air conditioners end up releasing most of the refrigerant into the atmosphere, with predictable environmental consequences.
Other researchers are exploring whether they can completely abandon gas compression technology. Blue Frontier uses a liquid to extract moisture from the air and store it in a temperature control tank. According to the company, this approach can save up to 60 percent of the electricity needed to run AC equipment year-round. Blue Frontier also received the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Pioneer Award and received a $20 million investment from Breakthrough Energy Ventures.
Harvard researchers have developed a prototype air conditioner called coldSNAP (SNAP stands for “Superhydrophobic Nanostructure Process”). Instead of a refrigerant, the prototype uses a special coating on a ceramic frame that evaporates water to cool the interior without adding moisture to the air, according to Fast Company. “Because we don’t have a vapor compression system and the energy needed to release and compress the refrigerant, the power consumption of these systems is much lower,” said Jonathan Greenham, one of the project’s researchers.
Heat pumps are more energy efficient than traditional window air conditioners, although they still use refrigerants that can be climate unfriendly. See if the equipment you are considering uses HFC gas or R-32. New heat pumps can now provide heat even when outside temperatures drop to -20ºF. In general, heat pumps consume about half the electricity compared to conventional air conditioners.
The Inflation Reduction Act provides significant discounts and other incentives for the purchase and installation of heat pumps. It can even help consumers pay for electrical panel upgrades in their homes if a heat pump or other high-efficiency equipment needs to be added.
Ankit Kalanki, manager of Third Derivative, a climate technology accelerator co-founded by energy think tank RMI, told The Washington Post that most consumers simply buy air conditioners based on price, without considering future energy costs. It needs to be used for many years. He advises buyers to consider not only the price, but also the type of refrigerant used, the efficiency rating (the higher the better), and the availability of variable speed compressors.
“There are technologies that are two to three times more efficient than the most common air conditioners on the market today,” he said. The same problem with electric vehicles. Electric vehicles tend to cost more than conventional cars but have lower running costs. Educated consumers should ignore the lure of low prices, see the beauty of lower life cycle costs, and appreciate new technologies.
Kalanki believes the government needs to set stricter performance standards for air conditioners to ensure that all devices on the market, not just high-end ones, are efficient and safe for the planet. “There are rules to install an air conditioning floor, but the floor is too low,” he said.
Electric cars won’t break the grid, but old-fashioned, inefficient air conditioners can. Only about two people don’t realize that the Earth is getting hotter – even hotter in some cases – and that the need for cooling will skyrocket in the coming years. This is a much bigger threat to the grid than electric vehicles. Electric vehicles can be recharged at any time, but the greatest demand for air conditioning occurs in the afternoon, when the electricity supply is at its limit.
Often, the best parts of a story printed by the mainstream media can be found in the comments. The Washington Post article was responded to by people using the online names Dignity and Truth. Written worth sharing with our CleanTechnica readers.
“After insulating my mid-60s ranch house with MassSave, my energy consumption was reduced by two-thirds. Mostly heat energy in the winter, which is measurable. However, we radiate much less heat from the attic to the ceiling in the summer. . Amazing difference.
“Of course, we need new technology to improve the required cooling. There are also many non-technological opportunities. In our case, MassSave funded 80% of the cost of insulating and sealing ventilation, which was completed in one day by licensed contractors. Massachusetts is the energy leader in this and other projects for promotion of clean renewable energy.
“We have also replaced old appliances, old water heaters and old stoves. MassSave provides discounts on most replacements. They also provide loans at 0% to fund all work – about $15,000 in our case. Funding for the program comes from a small surcharge on all energy .accounts.
“We absolutely need more new high tech solutions. We also need something low tech to drastically improve our game, which is an easily achievable goal.”
Steve writes about the interface between technology and sustainability from his home in Florida or wherever the Singularity might take him. You can follow him on Twitter, but not on any social network run by an evil overlord like Facebook.
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