Boomerang Energy: All Solar!

Everything goes solar now!

Greencore's Solar-Powered Air Conditioner (Finally!)
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 08.11.08

Is any Technology more Overdue than Solar-Powered Air Conditioning?
We've been writing for many years about how solar-powered air conditioning is a big "duh!", and should be used more widely. After all, it's when you have lots of sun that you need A/C the most, and anything that helps smooth out peak demand on the electrical grid can help delay the construction of new polluting power plants.

Greencore's Solar A/C System
The Greencore 10200 comes in two models: a fixed one, and a mobile version (which can be had with 2 or 4 batteries). Using a single 170-watt solar panel, it can keep a 600 square-foot room cool. One of the good design decisions was to make it run on DC current, so no AC inverter is needed and conversion losses are avoided.

We're not quite sure what they're doing here, but it looks cool.

The Greencore solar A/C system is actually a hybrid; when the sun isn't shining, it can use power form the grid, during off-peak hours, to charge its batteries. This is the kind of load shifting that can save money and smooth out demand.

You can see some specs here (pdf).
Two high-profile clients of Greencore are McDonald's and the US Navy. Both of them are testing solar air conditioner units.

It can be used for modular classrooms and construction trailers.