Developments in Energy-Efficient Air Conditioning

Air conditioning is becoming increasingly common across the globe. In fact, air conditioning will be one of the most significant uses of energy in the future. It’s already commonplace in many parts of the world, but there are warmer countries that are beginning to expand their air conditioning usage. Unfortunately, air conditioning isn’t the best for the environment. Fortunately, there have been new developments in energy-efficient air conditioning that can help solve this problem.

Available Energy-Efficient Air Conditioning

The United States Department of Energy is currently in the process of developing several new energy-efficient cooling options in conjunction with other organizations. These include:

• Optimized Thermal Systems’ advanced thermal exchanger – reduces refrigerant leakage with minimized joints
• University of Florida’s water heater/dehumidifier/air cooling combination – transfers heat more efficiently with all three features in one device
• Dais Analytics and Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s membrane-based air conditioner – uses water instead of chemicals
• United Technologies Research Center’s solid-state heat pump – reduces heat without chemical refrigerants
• Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Georgia Tech, and IntelliChoice Energy’s energy storage system – converts waste heat into energy

These organizations are developing technologies that can make keeping us cool much more efficient, reducing energy consumption while at the same time reducing carbon emissions. This will be increasingly important in the future as more and more people across the world start to use air conditioning.

The Benefits of Energy-Efficient Air Conditioning

The IEA, or the International Energy Agency, released a report that describes the several ways that energy-efficient air conditioning can not only help home and business owners but also the environment:

• Reduce CO2 emissions
• Reduce local air pollution
• Reduce costs
• Reduce the need for additional power plants

Encouraging Energy-Efficient Usage

There are already many air conditioning units that are more energy-efficient available for purchase. However, many homeowners aren’t purchasing them. In addition to developing more energy-efficient air conditioning technologies, a challenge moving into the future will be to ensure that homeowners and business owners who are purchasing air conditioning units invest in energy-efficient options.