GREEN MATTERS
Changing the way we deliver cooling
Bob Long, executive chairman of Organic Heat Exchangers (O-Hx), explains why improvements in product effi ciency alone may not be enough as the demand for cooling increases.
C
ooling off ers many crucial benefi ts: protecting fresh food and medicines; helping people to stay healthy and comfortable in a warming world; maintaining critical facilities such as data centres and energy plants. According to the Green Cooling Initiative, more than four billion pieces of cooling equipment are currently in use around the world, with the fi gure predicted to hit 9.5 billion by 2050. Rising demand comes at a cost, however, because cooling is both energy intensive and environmentally damaging.
Access to cooling is essential for meeting the world’s social and economic goals but the reality is that unmanaged growth represents a signifi cant obstacle to achieving climate targets for CO2
emissions. In addition to making equipment
more effi cient, we need major changes in the way cooling is provided.
It is here that products such as the EnergiVault from
Organic Heat Exchangers can make an important contribution. The Cold Thermal Energy Storage (CTES) solution is designed to optimise energy usage for chillers in industrial and commercial applications, and provide peak building load cover if required. It usually operates alongside an existing chiller but can also provide cooling on its own, off ering the additional benefi t of chiller support when ambient temperatures rise or when the building reaches peak load, in addition to providing back-up for plant failure. We estimate that integration with a chilled water system
can provide approximately a 60% reduction in carbon emissions and in site cooling costs. Product effi ciency is crucial and CTES systems deliver in
that respect. They can also help to further reduce cooling’s environmental impact through Time of Use (ToU) shifting, matching high building loads without the need to consume energy during peak times. In addition, it is able to benefi t from localised renewable energy generation and heat recovery.
Energy storage benefi ts Energy storage for cooling can be one of the most eff ective methods of off setting the eff ects on the environment of high loads during peak energy periods. Incorporating energy storage can potentially reduce indirect emissions, as without storage equipment has to run to meet demand, even when conditions are not optimal. As an alternative to storing electrical energy in
electrochemical batteries, such as the lithium-ion examples in everyday use, thermal energy batteries (or CTES) can be used. They do not degrade over time, losing energy capacity, and make it possible to access energy when at its cheapest and most environmentally friendly, as well as assisting existing chilled water systems in becoming more cost-eff ective, raising overall effi ciencies. The system consists of a charger and thermal battery;
The fi rst installation of EnergiVault at Quotient Sciences, a drug development and manufacturing accelerator, Alnwick
26 July 2023 •
www.acr-news.com
it generally integrates with an existing chiller but can also provide cooling on its own. The charger’s ice crystalliser charges the battery by converting up to 60% of the building’s heat transfer fl uid (HTF), typically a water/glycol mix, into
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