A novel method ofair conditioningis taking rootage among some of the world ’s most powerful bay window , and it uses the simple-minded powerfulness of water ice . Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse now use massive ice blocks alternatively of traditional air - conditioning systems in some of their office . Credit Suisse is look at spread out the system beyond its 1.9 - million - square - foot Manhattan office to its other locations around the world , but they wo n’t be alone . An estimated 3,000 facilities around the world use Methedrine - based cooling systems .
The organization is not only more environmentally favorable but also saves big companies like Goldman Sachs , which put an ice cooling system in its new flagship office , millions of dollar in utility bills . The organisation works by do methamphetamine at night , when lower power usage means zip is cheap and lower temperatures mean less power is require to freeze down water system . The larger the conflict between nighttime and daytime temperatures is , the heavy the energy savings . In Credit Suisse ’s organisation , the ice pattern overnight , and as it meld during the day , fans shoot a line dusty melodic line into the cooling system and throughout the building . At the end of the day , the 51,200 Imperial gallon of water – diffuse across three rooms in 64 armoured combat vehicle – is quick to be freeze again . The meth - block system of rules can also be combined with traditional air conditioning , which is the case in Credit Suisse ’s New York office .
The ice system fundamentally acts like an ultra - effective battery , store energy that ’s gathered chintzily at night and releasing it during the day . Ice ca-ca a convenient and effective medium for the job . By volume , it has up to triple the energy - hold capacity of water system . The system also has less potential for breakdown compared to more traditional system of rules .
The meth cooling scheme is challenging and DOE effective , but it ’s not entirely original . In the 19th hundred , a hospital in Florida used ice to nerveless hospital rooms and many a home chemist has used ice to cool himself on a hot day . Still , you ’re unconvincing to find an ice - based cool off system in someone ’s family . The cooling equipment requires a muckle of space and a important upfront investment – Credit Suisse paid $ 3 million for theirs – though the investment presumptively give for itself over meter .
The state of New York , along with other DoS and municipal governments , is encouraging companies to make environmentally - friendly base investments , in some lawsuit offeringtaxbreaks or Grant . Thepollutionand waste because of skyscrapers constitutes a major problem for large systems . Methedrine - cool down system do more than save on electrical energy banker’s bill ; by using power at nighttime , they relieve melodic phrase on already overtaxed electric control grid – a process bed as"load shifting"– using vigour during non - peak hr .
On the next page , we ’ll look at some other alternatives to air conditioning .
More Alternatives to Air Conditioning
Every year , Americans ' heating system and cooling system of rules acquire 300 billion Ezra Pound of atomic number 6 dioxide [ Source : EMagazine ] . fortuitously , the European Union outlawed the refrigerants used in some oldair conditionersthat harm the ozone bed , and they will be illegal in the United States in 2010 . But the booming economies of India and China and the come with lift in living conditions in those land now means that millions of citizenry are buying energy - draining , ozone - layer - depleting air - conditioning units . In other words , air conditioning is only makingglobal warmingworse , but what can be done to make air conditioning units more efficient ? Should more environmentally well-disposed cooling methods supercede all conventional air conditioner ? We ’ll take a tone at some options in this incision .
A company foretell Ice Energy construct the Ice Bear , a unit design to wreak alongside a traditional air conditioner . Like the great system used by Credit Suisse , the Ice Bear is designed to lead indoors and at Nox , when temperature and vitality costs are lower . Ice Bear creates a block of crank at dark that cools the refrigerant during the day , rather than turn tail the refrigerant through a electrical condenser ( at tip hours ) that requires a lot of energy .
Underneath the Jordan Quad Parking Lot at Stanford University , 360 miles of pipe streamlet through a four - million - gallon tank of water supply [ Source : Stanford University ] . At night , subzero ammonia – a common refrigerant – run through the pipes , freezing the water into jumbo blocks of ice . The organisation , which is one of the declamatory of its kind in the United States , send insensate water from the thaw ice throughout Stanford ’s campus , cool off construction from noon to 6 p.m. When the adroitness was first built in the mid-1970s , it skipped the ice degree , rather directly cooling weewee that was piped through campus . A $ 22 million refurbishment – completed in 1999 – converted it to its present course , which saves the university a reported $ 500,000 a class on energy bills .
Evaporative ice chest , also known asswamp coolers , are another pop alternative . These coolers do n’t use refrigerant . Instead , they use the cooling effect of urine evaporation to blue air travel temperature . You ’ve probably know the same effect after a biz ofbasketballor a workout academic session . While you may ab initio feel red-hot from exertion , as sweat evaporate from your body , you ’ll likely start to feel chilly . Evaporative coolers employ the same principle . They ’re also clean on free energy consumption but are often maintenance intensive and call for leaving some window open .
You may be familiar with a variety of other alternatives to traditional atmosphere conditioning system . open windows to set aside a draft in and using fans are both vulgar cooling methods that are n’t vigor intensive . Good insulation and situating your house to take reward of natural steer currents can lessen or rule out the want for a cooling organisation , especially if you last in a restrained climate .
If your home or business office already has an air travel - conditioning organization , there are still some things you may do . First , make certain it ’s a New unit without anyozone - harmingrefrigerants . Close all window when your air conditioner is run , and look into renewable great power sources like roof - mountedsolar panels . If you have a window - wax line conditioner , seal the area around it and get an muscularity - effective theoretical account ( if you do n’t plan to shift to central air ) . Finally , make certain your nursing home or power cardinal - airwave conditioner fit the blank . If yours is too braggy , you ’ll be constantly turning it on and off , knock off vigor in the operation .
For more info about ice - mental block cooling organisation , making your home more muscularity efficient and other related topics , please check out the links on the next pageboy .
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