, , , , , , , , Wall Split Air Conditioner Industrial Equipment & Components Window Mounted Air Conditioners Floor Standing Air Conditioners China Energy Efficiency Standard Copper Pipe & Tube Air Conditioner, Purifier & Humidifier Offers Of Air Conditioner Air Conditioner Importers & Exporters will match suppliers for you! Subscribe to product keyword to stay updated to what's new and popular on the market.For anyone that lives in a country with a warm climate, air conditioning is an essential piece of technology making the most stuffy home or office comfortable to work in. Unfortunately powering such units often causes large energy bills for consumers and companies and generates a sizable carbon footprint. Luckily, China, who is rapidly becoming the world’s leader in renewable energy development and knows all about warmer summers and freezing winters, has just unveiled the world’s first air conditioned unit powered by solar energy.

Developed by a company called Shandong Vicot Air Conditioning Co., Ltd, the solar powered air-con unit could save companies and homeowners not only masses of money but also reduce their carbon emissions, something that is essential in China which is still a heavily-industrialized country. Showcased at the World Solar-Powered Air Conditioning Development Forum, the solar-powered air conditioning unit boasts an optimal 85% thermal cooling conversion efficiency, with an ability to utilize to 27 times the amount of solar power than the average water heating unit uses. The Shandong Vicot Air Conditioning unit also allows for 24-hour continuous cooling, heating, and supply of hot water, while natural gas can be used as a supplemental energy supply, so during periods of poor sunshine, heating and cooling can still be provided. This should be quite rare however as in terms of solar power, China’s supply is abundant. Sunlight hits two thirds of the nation’s surface area and annual solar irradiance exceeds 2,200 hours – optimal conditions for any national solar endeavor.

Furthermore, relevant statistics show that consumption of energy by buildings and other structures in China is 27.45% of the country’s overall energy consumption, so the incorporation of energy-saving measures in these structures is imminent. Heating units in particular use a lot of energy with their energy consumption accounting for 65% of usage, compared to water heating units (15%) and electricity needs (14%). “This solar-powered air conditioning unit is the result of three years of hard work and the pioneering research efforts of Chinese and American scientists and engineers. The product is a fine example of globally cutting-edge technology. Solar-powered air conditioning units can be widely used in low-carbon buildings, and its cost is relatively low, so in 3.5 years, the unit’s initial investment can be recouped, and in 6.7, the entire investment can be recovered,” remarked Shandong Vicot Air Conditioning Co., Ltd.’s president Li Wen. + Shandong Vicot Air Conditioning

Lead image from PR News WireAmericans have grown accustomed to hearing about rapid changes in China, but here is one you might not have thought about before: air conditioning. As I traveled through several of China’s major cities last week—Beijing, Nanjing, Suzhou, and Shanghai—I saw window air-conditioning units everywhere I looked.hvac air conditioner not cooling This is a recent development. how much are outside ac unitsAn article in the new OnEarth Magazine says that 20 years ago, less than 1 urban family in 100 had air-conditioning. heat pump unit pricesBy 2007, 95 air conditioners were sold for every 100 households. It turns out, though that an AC is not just an AC.  Not only does technology make a difference in how much energy an AC consumes but so does the way people use it: do you want it to be cold enough to wear a sweater and do you want it to get cold instantly, or do you simply want to be comfortably cool when the weather outside is hot?

As I made my way through these Chinese cities, I was told that most of the older houses and apartments had neither air conditioning nor heating until the last few years. In this region, people were accustomed to apartments that were “hot in summer; Their drafty homes—built with leaky window and no insulation—pretty much reflected the temperature outside. But lately, almost all the residents of these older buildings have installed window units that provide both heating and cooling. I asked my Chinese colleagues if they were less efficient than central AC or heat.  In terms of mechanics, of course, these smaller units are less efficient.  But people pay for the electricity they consume themselves and control them individually, so generally these buildings use less electricity than newer ones with central heating and cooling. Just as we have found in the United States, individual price signals make a huge difference in electricity consumption. But unlike in America, the temperature on Chinese air conditioners tends to be set much higher.

In the United States, the AC in hotels, offices, and stores is usually set so low that I’m glad to have a jacket on.  In most places in China, it seems the AC is set at about 77 – 80 degrees F, enough to take the edge off the heat but not enough to give an unpleasant chill. Fortunately the attire reflects that: most men were in shirt sleeves and only a very few wore suits or jackets.  (Unfortunately, I was often one of those few, not wanting to be underdressed in meetings with our partners in NRDC’s clean energy projects.) Accepting more informal attire makes the warmer buildings quite comfortable.  I had never thought before of fashion as an important energy efficiency measure. Air conditioning is becoming the primary driver of electricity use in China’s warmer cities. In Beijing, for instance, air conditioning takes more than 32 percent of the peak electricity load in the summer, while in Jiangsu, it is about 40 percent of peak summer load. And developers are exploring more efficient ways to keep buildings cool.

The use of ground-source heating and cooling, for instance, is growing in China. This process relies on liquid that is chilled as it passes through underground pipes, taking advantage of the Earth’s constantly cool temperature. Most of the demonstration buildings we visited in China used this form of geothermal energy along with solar panels, and we were told that it is very cost effective.  It is not as powerful, however, so the building temperature cannot be changed so quickly.  One must be a little more patient with the system than Americans are probably used to. I have this kind of ground-source cooling in my house, and while it was hard to find a contractor who could competently install it, once it was in, it has provided air conditioning at almost no cost. Likewise, it provides heat using very little electricity. Of course, the underlying technology of the AC is also critically important.   The basic mechanics of American air conditioning have changed very little since the first AC units were invented more than a century ago, the OnEarth article explains.