Cool Down a New, Cool Way
Ok, back to solar power. There must be something more interesting going on than cockroaches? Well here’s what I think is a really great idea. It’s summer. The sun is shining HOT. You’re hot. Your apartment is hot. What to do? Of course, turn on the air conditioner. Too expensive to run you say? Not if it’s powered by the hot sun which is making all the trouble in the first place. That’s right, someone has finally begun to really take this solar powered stuff to the place we need it most, to stay comfie cool in the summer. Cleverly named Coolerado, this device is even smarter than its name.
Of course it’s been in development for years. A 2007 version was able to produce 5 tons of cooling using 1200 watts of power. Today’s version can create 5 tons of cooling using only 600 watts, quite a big leap forward, making it closer to within the reach of some ordinary folk and small businesses. Have patience and remember that Orville’s first flight only lasted 12 seconds.
So how does this wonder appliance work? A fan draws into the air conditioner the outside air. Then a filtering system cleans the air. A new, patented technology called “Heat and Mass Exchange” or HMX treats the air. Half the air is saturated with water and is returned to the atmosphere. The other half of the air is now “conditioned” or cooled, with no added moisture. The cooled, conditioned air is then returned into the structure via a duct system.
Because the solar panels, interestingly, work less efficiently when they get too hot, like on the very hottest days of the year, the device could actually work less well the more it is needed. Luckily for us the designers use the cooled but highly humid air discarded from the device to cool down the solar panels, helping keep the Coolerado functioning at its best and keeping us cool and comfortable more efficiently.