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New Air Conditioner Process Cuts Energy Use 50-90%
necro81 writes "The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory has announced that it has developed a new method for air conditioning that reduces energy use by 50-90%. The DEVap system (Desiccant-Enhanced eVaporative air conditioner) cools air using evaporative cooling, which is not new, but combines the process with a liquid dessicant for pulling the water vapor out of the cooled air stream. The liquid dessicant, a very strong aqueous solution of lithium chloride or sodium chloride, is separated from the air stream by a permeable hydrophobic membrane. Heat is later used to evaporate water vapor back out — heat that can come from a variety of sources such as solar or natural gas. The dessicants are, compared to typical refrigerants like HCFCs, relatively benign on the environment."
People will just run it longer, or leave their windows and doors open all the time, to make up for the energy savings.
are 7000 users aacounts for less irrecoverable
Insightful my ass. R-134a, unless it is heated with a flame, does not degrade.You are a fucking idiot, go back to computers and stop commenting on things you have no idea about. R-134a, will suffocate you to death in a closed environment because it displaces oxygen. If burned, it forms what is a close relative of mustard gas, a really nasty gaseous acid. Otherwise, it is not dangerous to your immediate health, and within a properly operating system, it does not degrade at all. Fucking moron.
When I was young we had no AC, and this was in rural southern Africa, so it was usually very warm during the day.... people in the US are so used to conditioned indoor air. Even at 90F there is little real physical risk to anyone other than the elderly, but I have met plenty of people who simply can't tolerate it mentally.
Great. Now move up to Maine, or northern Michigan. Wait four months. Watch how the silly Americans walk around in shirtsleeves while you bundle up in sweatshirts, sweaters, parkas and overcoats whenever you dash from your car to your house, before cranking the heat up to 99F and burying yourself under a Snuggie.