A company called GreenCore Air has released an air conditioner than can be powered by a single 170 watt solar panel. The GreenCore air conditioning unit can heat and cool a 600 square foot room. It runs on DC power, so there is no need to put an AC inverter between the solar panel and the air conditioner. This eliminates the power losses associated with converting AC to DC.
When the sun is not out the unit runs on the battery bank which is integrated within the unit.
There two version of the air conditioner: a fixed one, and a mobile one that is mounted on wheels.
Solar AC: GreenCore Fixed AC Unit
GreenCore units are being tested by a McDonald’s restaurant and the U.S. Navy.
Link: GreenCore Air
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{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
Now THAT is cool… using the sun to cool off your home. That’s progressive.
LOL A*Sue beat me to the punch. Exactly what I wanted to post. This article is some freaking good news.
Hello My daughter live in Woodlands, Texas near Houston her ac broken down and they need to be repair so I wondering if will this solar ac work for this area if so please contact me asp or call my daughter to arrange someone to come and give us estimate for new ac or replacement
510-326-5034. as soon possible thanks, Jeannie
WOW!!! I hope to be the first person to sell these in Hawaii!
Message from India
This should be commercially exploited. It has
to be explored place like India. I am from Mumbai, India. Closer to Mumbai and allover India due to heavy load shedding power cuts occur 6-8 hrs in a day. In some places it is 12-14 hrs. This concept is commercially viable considered to correct power scenerio.
Need your feed back on options
this could be huge in the rural areas where I have my vacation home/property in New Mexico. The 12 volt aspect is a big deal, I think people underestimate how much power they loose to inverters.
http://thealternativeenergyinvestor.blogspot.com
A Real useful product..especially in South India where the climate is extremely humid.
I wonder if there is
1.Common device that can for the entire apartment building.
2.Unlike solar water heater..is there any solar water cooler?
I am of a company which market solar energy solutions in Nigeria where conventional electricty power is grossly inadeuate. The yearning number one for the elites of the society is solar energy system for their airconditioners. This is going to be the biggest news of the century for them. When do we have the product in the market? Please contact me +234.80.51598664 as from Nov.7, 2008.
Please let me know when these become available for individuals to purchase.
when will it be in the market? and how much will it cost ?
Hi I am looking for a solar airconditioning system for india. I have so many office buildings through out india. can you send me a quote stating how much will it cost right now to install for 1 ton of refrigeration, also include running and maintenance costs if any.
pl send your requirement on the above email. We can offer the solution
thanks
dhunta
This is nothing new, it’s just an air conditioner that runs off DC power to avoid the power loss from the inverter. It’s still a freon, compressor based mechanical air conditioner and a photovoltaic solar panel.
What is interesting are the solar air conditioners based on absorption chillers where it’s solar thermal panels that heat water and it is this hot water that drives the absorption cycle. Solar thermal collectors are one tenth the cost of photovoltaic although photovoltaics are coming down in price rapidly. Photovoltaics currently only uses one frequency of light energy whereas thermal solar collectors would use all of the sunlight. The payback period for a solar thermal system is two to five years while the payback period for photovoltaic is twenty five to thirty years.
The downside of a thermal system are the potential for leaks (it is hot water) and the fact that there are very few small absorption chiller air conditioners available, most are intended for use on large campuses and provide hundreds of tons of cooling. I only know of two makes that are ten tons or less (there are some small RV solutions that use propane as the heat source). Another downside is that with a solar thermal system, there’s no selling back of energy to the utilities but since the majority of a home’s energy needs is for heating water, residential heating and air conditioning, it would make sense to meet most of the home’s energy needs with solar thermal and then only have a small photovoltaic array. Note that absorption chillers are designed to use natural gas burners as the heat source so you can have natural gas as the backup to solar.
Your link to Green Core Air is no longer good. It goes to an ad page that is barely pertinent – it is not a company website.
This is marvellous, cant wait to buy some units at the earliest.
Thanks for the reminder, i will be really glad to hear from you when the product is in market for us. i am desperate to have it.
Yes, yes ,cheaper ,cheaper ,smaller ,smaller, Arkansas his hot of the grid too.
We are having 20yrs experience and keen to sale this product in Indian market.
Kindly contact us on top prioirty.
Solar Air conditioner are now being sold in India by Reliance industries at very reasonable prices.
It is a DC and Solar panel based AC system.
Please see the links below:
http://www.relsolar.com/images/Solar-AC-Solutions.jpg
expecting cost to be higher than the normal one