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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."

22 of 445 comments (clear)

  1. Well... by Errol+backfiring · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's cheaper than using trained hydrophobes. Or are they used to create the membrane?

    --
    Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
    1. Re:Well... by elrous0 · · Score: 4, Funny

      I'm just worried that some of that sodium chloride will end up polluting our oceans and in our food.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    2. Re:Well... by elrous0 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Seems like everything you eat these days is just *loaded* with these kinds of chemicals. That just can't be healthy.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  2. Re:Good for server farms? by somersault · · Score: 5, Funny

    And how are they going to pipe down solar gas into your server room anyway?

    --
    which is totally what she said
  3. Re:OK, so when can we buy one? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I know my wife is going to be asking for an AC in the house this summer

    Really? Another one? I've been visiting her for months.

  4. Re:lithium chloride or sodium chloride? by rve · · Score: 5, Funny

    I lost interest at this point. Wake me up when biochemists and medical doctors get a chance to run test case groups about the adverse effects of lithium in their localized atmosphere, typically inhaled into the lungs and later causing one's sense of reality to become skewed.

    In order to get lithium chloride vapor in the atmosphere, one would have to raise the temperature to about 1600 Kelvin at normal atmospheric pressure. Under those conditions, I propose blind panic as a suitable coping strategy.

  5. Re:lithium chloride or sodium chloride? by antifoidulus · · Score: 4, Funny

    I don't think the researchers anticipated tha eventuality that somone would open up one of thier units and drink the liquid inside.

    So if they don't do stuff like that, then whats the point of having grad students?

  6. Re:Good for server farms? by daem0n1x · · Score: 4, Funny

    Oh, those fucking nanny-state latte-drinking faggie euro-trash tree-hugging abortionist lesbian pot-smoking liberals! That be a strike against liberty!

    God gave me the right of freezing to death without having that nanny-state surplus heat fed into my heating system. If I want heat, I'll buy my own oil and heat myself, thank you!

    First, you accept their surplus heat, then you go to the hospital for free, when you least expect it you're all dressed in red, singing "The International".

  7. Re:Is this a closed system? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Not only that, they are using wierd chemicals like sodium chloride which contains toxic sodium!

  8. Re:Is it better than this? by Geheimagent · · Score: 2, Funny

    Sheesh, RTFA, already. They mention the coolerado and explain exactly why this new idea has the potential to do better.

    Cause Coolerado uses Flash and TFA HTML5?

  9. Re:lithium chloride or sodium chloride? by Hognoxious · · Score: 5, Funny

    A desert is an ocean with its life undergound, and a perfect disguise above.

    Or is it the other way round?

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  10. Re:OK, so when can we buy one? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Vaporware...

    (My apologies if these people actually have a viable consumer product with at least a 50% improvement in efficiency. Big numbers like that usually mean that something is decades away from consumer applications.)

  11. Re:lithium chloride or sodium chloride? by edumacator · · Score: 1, Funny

    Who pissed in your cornflakes this morning?

  12. Sex by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 2, Funny

    Remember, separate your grad student: Females under the desk, males on the dissection table.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  13. Re:OK, so when can we buy one? by Hognoxious · · Score: 3, Funny

    Oh and insulate your home, replace your windows with triple pane and low-e glass, and get rid of all air leaks.

    Indeed. I would highly recommend that you seal your house 100% hermetically.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  14. Re:lithium chloride or sodium chloride? by plover · · Score: 2, Funny

    I lost interest at this point. Wake me up when biochemists and medical doctors get a chance to run test case groups about the adverse effects of lithium in their localized atmosphere, typically inhaled into the lungs and later causing one's sense of reality to become skewed.

    Isn't this where the reavers came from? Lithium chloride in the atmosphere to calm the population, caused 99% of the people to give up and die, and sent 0.1% into a psychotic rage?

    Oh, right. That was a science fiction movie. I always get those confused with reality.

    --
    John
  15. Interesting article, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    not for sale yet. It is . . . vaporware.

  16. Re:Good for server farms? by operagost · · Score: 2, Funny

    Then when you're no longer of use to the state, they can put you into their eco-friendly crematorium!

    --

    Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
  17. Re:Good for server farms? by jamesh · · Score: 5, Funny

    heatsinks are NOT noisy

    They never make a sound when _you_ are in the room, but just wait until your back is turned. They're bitchy little things.

  18. Re:OK, so when can we buy one? by camperdave · · Score: 2, Funny

    get a 20 SEER rating AC unit and you will have the most efficient you can get today

    I don't think I could even find 20 seers, let alone get them to agree on which AC I should buy.

    --
    When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  19. Re:OK, so when can we buy one? by elrous0 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Funny you should mention that. I had mine finished just today. I'm so excited about it that I'm feeling a bit light-headed. Better go lie down.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  20. Re:OK, so when can we buy one? by h4rr4r · · Score: 2, Funny

    If it's that warm in the winter, summer must really suck.