A Greener Solution to Air Conditioning?

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The newly-created Association for Sorption Cooling—"sorption cooling" being the technical name of the new technology—wants the state to go even further. It is pushing for special grants specifically for absorption and adsorption cooling machines. "We are looking for talks with the Environment Ministry," says Bernd Hebenstreit, sales manager with EAW, a solar panel manufacturer based in Westenfeld in eastern Germany. There is also movement at a European level. The EU directive on renewable energy, which came into force on May 1, looks to promote the technology. The member states are supposed to adopt regulations for the solar heating and cooling of buildings.

Big Players

Official promotion of the chillers would make the technology attractive to large heating technology firms like Vaillant or Viessmann. "Should this come about, companies would be sure to engage more intensively with solar cooling," says Andreas Lücke, chief executive of BDH, an industry association. Up to now the technology has been neglected because it has not been cost effective. Instead the industry has concentrated on other climate technologies such as electric air-conditioning or reverse-cycle heat pumps.

If the big players were to take a greater interest in pursuing solar-powered units, then it would promote the commercialization of the chillers. These companies have the financial means for rapid innovation, big factories and marketing campaigns. They don't have to actually invent the cooling machines themselves. They could cooperate with the innovative smaller companies, which have been developing the technology in recent years. Companies like EAW, SK Sonnenklima or Sortech have either already produced small numbers of cooling machines or else are on the brink of beginning production.

EAW, for example, makes absorption coolers which put out between 15 to 200 kilowatts. Its cooperation with the Bielefeld-based, window and solar technology company Schüco could provide a role model for the rest of the industry. EAW builds the chillers and Schüco combines them with its solar panels and then sells the two as a combined system.

Hebenstreit, the sales manager with EAW, says that demand is modest at the moment due to the high manufacturing costs which make the units expensive. The basic unit costs €1,500 per kilowatt. That is three times as much as the units offered by other producers. However, the company hopes to reduce the cost to €500 per kilowatt within 10 years, something that can be achieved by increasing and optimizing production. "By then we will be able to compete with the traditional producers of cooling systems," says Hebenstreit.

Thermodyna is even further ahead. The company thinks it is already in a position to conquer the market with its Schukey motor. "In the short term we could bring about a revolution," company CEO Bergholter says.

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