Energy Efficient House to get Solar Powered Air Conditioning (Spain)

[jpak]

http://www.azom.com/details.asp?newsID=9491

ClimateWell and Wolss Sunrain have been chosen by Lansolar Ingenieros for the air conditioning project of an energy-efficient dwelling using solar energy. The installation, designed by Lansolar Ingenieros, has a solar cooling machine from the Hispano-Swedish firm ClimateWell and Wolss Sunrain vacuum tube collectors enabling 100% of the air conditioning needs of the dwelling to be covered.

This experiment, located in the Bizkaian borough of Derio, on the outskirts of Bilbao, has government backing from the Basque Energy Authority, EVE and the Institute for the Diversification of Energy, IDAE, has meant a great advance in the energy sector and in the building of dwellings, given that it is estimated that solar energy provides 100% of the needs of air conditioning (cold), 85% of the hot water supply and 50% of heating.

This is possible thanks to the fact that this dwelling has state-of-the art solar energy solutions, the central element of the installation being the Hispano-Swedish ClimateWell CW 10 machine, the most advanced solution in solar cooling. This machine acts like a solar heat pump producing cold air or heat and is capable of storing this energy to subsequently take advantage of the most suitable moment for the user.

In summer, the CW 10 generates cold air from the hot water produced, in this case, using solar energy. The heat extracted from the dwelling can be channelled to a swimming pool, the temperature of its water thereby being much more pleasant. In winter, the CW 10 multiplies by 1.6 the heat from solar energy or from a conventional boiler (on cloudy days).

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[Kolesar]

1. Not much of a technical explanation, though

This is possible thanks to the fact that this dwelling has state-of-the art solar energy solutions, the central element of the installation being the Hispano-Swedish ClimateWell CW 10 machine, the most advanced solution in solar cooling. This machine acts like a solar heat pump producing cold air or heat and is capable of storing this energy to subsequently take advantage of the most suitable moment for the user.

[skids]

2. This is why I cringe...

...when someone asks how many PV panels they would need on their roof to run their air conditioner.

...when solar thermal captures 2-3 times the usable energy for heating/cooling based applications than PV.

[Kolesar]

3. Is "solar thermal" an ammonia-based system like a natural-gas powered refrigerator?

This one described that it can time-shift the cooling. I wonder if it makes ice.

[skids]

4. Can't tell... there are a bunch of technologies...

absorption chillers, adsorption chillers, liquid desiccant systems, coupled thermoacoustics to name a few. Once you have a source of heat, there are lots of ways to turn it into a source of cold without first converting to electricity.