Living in Peace and Wisdom on our Planet

A while back I wrote about a solar air conditioner called the Greencore Air that was a highly efficient air conditioner powered by photovoltaic (pv) panels. This week a Danish company AC-Sun, announced they are developing a unique solar air conditioner. We're fascinated with solar air conditioners because typically these are the largest and most expensive load on homes and businesses across the world, which can make a very cost effective application of solar energy if a company can release a reliable product.

The most interesting part about AC-Sun's solar air conditioners is that instead of using solar panels to generate electricity to power an AC, it uses solar thermal technology which boils water, creates steam to drive a turbine which can cool a room. It's using the sun's heat to cool a room!

The AC-Sun's system is based off an already known thermal process, which includes a traditional solar thermal panel that provides energy to an expander that ends up operating a compressor. A compressor is a critical unit in air conditioning and is important in the overall process of creating cool air. Unfortunately, you can't buy AC-Sun's solar air conditioner today, they are still developing the product and according to the company the product will be on the market in the middle of 2010.

What do you think about solar air conditioners? This is a very interesting niche of solar energy, has anyone seen other companies dabbling in this space?