Solar air conditioning for commercial buildings offers significant benefits, including reduced energy costs, lower carbon emissions, and increased property value.
Are solar cooling and air-conditioning systems suitable for building applications?
Solar energy has been introduced as a crucial alternative for many applications, including cooling and air-conditioning, which has been proven to be a reliable and excellent energy source. This paper presents and discusses a general overview of solar cooling and air-conditioning systems (SCACSs) used for building applications.
How can solar energy be used to power cooling and air-conditioning systems?
Solar energy can be utilised to power cooling and air-conditioning systems by two methods: electrically and thermally. In the electrical form, photovoltaic (PV) panels convert the sunlight directly into electricity to run conventional cooling systems.
One of the most attractive alternative solutions is the incorporation of solar energy into air conditioning and refrigeration unit, which is known as a 'solar-driven air conditioning' system, such system can promote green cooling technologies and many researchers have worked on in recent years .
Utilising renewable energy sources for cooling systems, predominantly powered by solar energy, has become one of the forefront technologies that attracted engineers and responsible authorities as such systems associated with the shining sun period.
Are solar panels suitable for air-conditioning systems?
There are two different types of processes namely electric process and thermal process . The electric process will power the vapour compression cycle air-conditioning system. However, due to the large area required for the solar panel to generate electricity, it is not suitable for air-conditioning systems.
Can solar-driven air-conditioning systems reduce energy consumption?
This paper has discussed different types of solar-driven air-conditioning systems that can serve as an alternative to reduce the energy consumption of conventional electrical driven air-conditioning systems. There are commercially available systems and systems that are limited to lab scale.