Cool ideas A new, green air-conditioning system manages without nasty gases
I N A WARMING world it helps to stay cool. But doing so also threatens the planet. Most air conditioners use refrigerant gases called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). Though these do not deplete Earth’s ozone layer in the way the chlorofluorocarbons they replaced back in the mid-1990s did, they are hundreds of times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide is. Less-potent greenhouse gases are now being phased in as refrigerants, but these are not without problems of their own. They can be expensive, and some are inflammable.
Researchers have long sought ways to produce cooling systems that do without these troublesome gases, but none has come close to being a direct replacement. A small Irish company, however, now claims to have come up with an answer. Exergyn, based in Dublin, has developed a new type of air conditioning which not only avoids HFCs, but also has the benefit of having few moving parts at its core.
Exergyn has been working secretly on the project for two years, in collaboration with a multinational company which it is not at liberty to name (though its partner is understood to be Carrier, a giant American manufacturer of heating and cooling equipment). The two firms are currently testing a 60kW version, which would have the capacity to cool 15-20 apartments. Exergyn has also begun talks with carmakers and aerospace companies about setting up similar joint-development projects. With cars, and some small aircraft, going electric, it is not just cooling the cabin that manufacturers are having to think about, but also cooling the batteries.
