TECH 10/02/2011 @ 6:24AM
Heating and cooling buildings consumes a huge part of our available global energy. According to The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), buildings account for more than 50% of the world’s energy consumption, with the resulting carbon emissions substantially more than those in the transportation sector. And, a new study on energy efficiency in buildings (EEB) indicates the global building sector needs to cut energy consumption in buildings 60 percent by 2050 to help meet global climate change targets.
ClimateWell, a Swedish company now headquartered in the UK, is tackling these numbers through their innovative solar-powered air-conditioning systems that can provide both heating and cooling to single family homes, housing projects, commercial buildings and industrial applications. More accurately, ClimateWell enables efficient and integrated energy storage through solar cooling. Solar Cooling uses solar thermal technology to capture solar energy and then creates cooling without using electricity.
What makes the ClimateWell technology so unique outside of the fact that it has no pumps or moving parts, is its ability to store energy and convert hot water for both cooling and heating, without environmentally damaging refrigerants. With the ClimateWell innovation, you can air condition a house or building and heat the swimming pool at the same time. They can also store the thermal energy created from the system for use later. In short, the systems can continuously receive thermal energy, and, at the same time, deliver both heating and cooling.
The company estimates 85% of the total annual energy consumption for heating and cooling in buildings can be met with the free solar energy from one of these systems.
And here is the good news. You can already go out and buy this system through a series ofdistributors around the world in sixteen countries including United States, Canada, France, Italy, Turkey, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain and Morocco to name a few. If you ever find yourself in Madrid, Spain, go see the ClimateWell Demo House and see first-hand how the system works.
