Californians Could Use Solar Power to Cool Off
Most people who make the forward-thinking choice to use solar power in their homes are using it to power the home in general or to heat the home. However, it may soon be possible to harness the power of the sun to cool off the place where you live. That is because there are innovative companies out there which are trying to create a way for solar power energy to be used to power home air conditioning units. This would be ideal in states like California where there is a lot of sunshine and therefore a lot of need for air conditioning!
Southern California Gas Company is an example of a company that is testing out the idea of using solar power to provide energy for air conditioning. The way that it works is that they install solar mirrors in the roof which capture the light from the sun. This light is then sent through water pipes. The light heats up the water in those pipes to just below 200 degrees and then stores the warm water in a storage tank. This warm water can then be used to power a thermal process in a chiller so it’s turned into the cold water that can then be used to operate the air conditioner. It sounds complicated but it seems to be working well in the tests that have been done by the company so far.
The technology also isn’t as complicated as it sounds like it might be. Although the average person might find it odd to heat up water in order to cool it, this is the process used by most air conditioning units today. However, in today’s units, we’re powering these units primarily with gas. Using solar power would reduce the negative impact of the air conditioner on the earth and reduce costs for users.
Right now the technology is good but the cost of the technology may be prohibitive. Setting up a system like this currently requires an investment of about $200,000. This could be worth it for commercial buildings where the cost of the air conditioning unit itself is probably also this high but it’s prohibitive for residential buyers. The hope is that this price can be slashed in half before this system is made available to individual buyers. If so then it could be worth it since it could significantly reduce the cost of air conditioning bills which can be high in sunny California!
Source: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-solar20-2009aug20,0,996681.story
Publish Date: 2009-08-25 08:46:19
Solar Energy Articles