It’s hot out there! With temperatures reaching nearly triple digits in many parts of the country, air conditioning systems are working extra hard to keep you cool. While air conditioners provide comfort, they also use a lot of power. The Energy Information Administration estimates cooling accounts for about 6 percent of the total energy used in average American… Keep reading →
The world faces a looming “cold crunch”, with demand for air conditioning and refrigeration growing so fast that it threatens to smash pledges and targets for global warming. [The Guardian] Duke Energy said it would buy natural gas distributor Piedmont Natural Gas, its partner in the $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline, for $4.9 billion. [USA Today] Energy… Keep reading →
When we think of the gases that contribute to climate change, carbon dioxide comes to mind first — with good reason. CO2 accounts for about 82 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, and persists for centuries. But other gases contribute to climate change as well, some of which are many times more… Keep reading →
To help you save money by saving energy, DOE launched #AskEnergySaver — an online series that gives you access to some of the Energy Department’s home energy efficiency experts. During 2014, experts from the Department and our National Labs will be answering your energy-saving questions and sharing their advice on ways to improve your home’s comfort.… Keep reading →
America currently uses more air conditioning than the rest of the world combined. That could change. Stephen Lacey: August 13, 2013 America used to be the king of car sales, but China took that crown in 2009. America also used to be the world’s biggest polluter, but China now has that dubious distinction… Keep reading →
National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Eric Kozubal co-invented an air conditioning system that’s energy efficient while incredibly effective at both cooling a building and managing its humidity levels – the first time both of these processes have been fit into a single machine. Kozubal recently talked to us about his invisible technology, its road to commercialization, and the effects it will have on industry. Question: This is a perfect example of ‘invisible technology.’ How would someone walking into a building know the DEVAP was being used?
One of the US electricity sector’s founding pillars was the growth of air-conditioning demand across the country in the years after the Second World War. While electrification had grown to near-universal access in the preceding decades on industrial demand and huge Depression-era government programs, the boom in power plant construction was extended and broadened by the prospect of cooling millions of homes, office buildings and shopping centers and an extended demographic shift in people moving to the sunnier states of the South was boosted.
But air conditioning isn’t without cost, especially during temperatures spikes in the summer when blackout risks loom and prices for power skyrocket in a vise of massive demand and limited total power production. Keep reading →
