LIFE COOLSPACES 4 LIFE
An innovative solar-powered cooling device, based on climate-friendly refrigerant and thermal energy storage.
Start date: 1 September, 2021
End date: 30 August, 2029
Code: LIFE20 CCM/PL/001607 - COOLSPACES 4 LIFE
Project Cordinator: POLITECHNIKA WROCLAW-- WROCLAW UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECNOLOGY.
Beneficiaries:
- HEDERA HELIX INGENIERÍA Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA S.L. (HEDERA).
- PROZON FUNDACJA OCHORNY KLIMATU (PROZON).
- UNIVERSIDAD DE ALMERÍA (UAL).
Ual Contact:
- Antonio Manuel Puertas López (apuertas@ual.es)
Funding: LIFE PROGRAM.
Status: In progress.
ABSTRACT
Space cooling is the fastest-growing energy use in buildings. Final energy use for space cooling in residential and commercial buildings worldwide more than tripled between 1990 and 2016, exceeding 2,000 TWh. More importantly, almost all the energy used for air conditioning (AC) is in the form of electricity. In addition to this growth in energy demand for cooling, this poses a key problem for power grids because most cooling needs are met by fans or AC power supplies.
COOLSPACES will study a solar-powered system that employs a newly designed cooling prototype, using climate friendly refrigerants, a photovoltaic electricity production system, and PCM-based tanks working in tandem. Such an approach has not yet been attempted in construction sector applications and it constitutes a major technological challenge, presumably surpassing the performance of existing solutions, thereby advancing the state of the art. The underlying idea of the presented proposal is to drive the newly designed cooling prototype using solar energy captured in the photovoltaic panels during the cooling season at two selected EU locations (Poland and Spain) - the main aim being to study the applicability of such systems under different climatic conditions.
In particular, we will focus on demonstrating the technical and cost reliability and performance of both pilot systems. COOLSPACES aspires to produce a prototype system that can be implemented in numerous.
European locations and that will form the basis of a highly exploitable product.
Website: Coolspaces