Airconditioning Using Hot Water?

Cooling your house with hot water? Seems too good to be true. But think about the portable fridge that runs off gas - that uses a similar principle. And if you have solar panels on your roof to provide heating in winter, what better way to deal with all that excess heat than to use it to cool down your house in summer! Read how it works in the Plant Green Air Condition Guide.

This field is new and there are not may products available yet.

As a general rule, the equipment tends to be BIG and BULKY and expensive. Hopefully that is about to change - one of the most exciting new innovations that will hit the market soon was developed right here at the Australian National University in Canberra, a solar air conditioner that avoids the environmentally disastrous refrigerants used in traditional air-conditioners.

Endless Solar recently announced that they have started the process of taking that product to market.

From the ANU website : 23rd February 2009.

New solar-powered residential air conditioning technology being developed at The Australian National University could soon spell relief for the many Australians sweltering in 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.” Evacuated tubes produce hot water that can heat your home in winter, and using technology that is now being commercialised, that same hot water can cool you house in summer.