Technology Tuesdays: Alternatives for Rooftop Air Conditioners

Hello Partners!

Here is some food for thought: your HVAC system accounts for around 30% of your building’s total energy usage. This can be a significant number if you live in certain parts of California. Specifically, the central valley where 100-degree weather is commonplace during the summer months. This fact is one of the reasons the market is looking for more efficient alternatives for rooftop air conditioners.

So, where is all this going? Well, there are a few promising new technologies out there that are more efficient than what is currently on the market. Additionally, they are less harmful to the environment.

One example of this is the advanced vapor compression system. This technology is special because it lowers refrigerant global warming potential (GWP) and energy consumption for vapor compression A/C systems. They are able to achieve this while keeping up with current cost effectiveness standards. These systems use natural refrigerants and synthetic olefins.

Next, we have non-vapor-compression (NVC) systems. These systems do not rely on refrigerant-based vapor-compression. Examples of this include thermoelectric and magnetocaloric systems which are both examples of solid-state systems. They can also be evaporative or thermoelastic which are examples of electro-mechanical systems. Finally, absorption systems which are thermally driven.

Finally, there are A/C units that incorporate their process to provide waste energy to other systems. For example, they can share their excess heat for water heating or dehumidification. Using the waste energy to fuel other systems within a facility has great potential for energy savings.

These technologies and others are making breakthroughs in HVAC technology. The demand for HVAC is ever-increasing due to the increased volatility in weather patterns. One way we can ensure this demand does not become unmanageable is to continue to innovate.

The savings never stop!

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Sources:
https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2016/09/f33/ORNL%20High%20Ambient%20RTU%20Testing%20Report.pdf
https://www.energy.gov/eere/buildings/downloads/future-air-conditioning-buildings-report
https://www.energy.gov/eere/buildings/hvac-water-heating-and-appliances