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Free Resources | Energy | Currents Newsletter | Jul/Aug 2004

Alternatives to Compressor Cooling

The California Energy Commission and Davis Energy Group announce the publication of a final report on research to develop alternatives to vapor compression cooling for residential and small commercial buildings in dry climates!

The report, written for the Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) Buildings program, summarizes five years of research, development and demonstration of an integrated ventilation cooling technology for the new production home market. The PIER program's Alternatives to Compressor Cooling (ACC) research was motivated by the fact that compressor-based cooling of residences has become a standard feature in California, even in mild coastal climates. Air conditioning is an important component of California's energy use, comprising 30 percent of all electric use during hot summer afternoons.

This demand on the electric grid continues as housing developments expand from older population centers along the California coast to hotter inland climate zones. PIER's ACC research built on work begun in 1994 with funding by the California Institute for Energy and Environment.

This final project report describes work by contractor Davis Energy Group and its subcontractors to:

develop an energy-efficient mechanical night ventilation cooling system (dubbed "NightBreeze"),
extend the ACC house designs to hot inland climates,
demonstrate the mechanical technology and house designs in two California climate zones, and
estimate ACC system performance in all sixteen of California's climate zones.

Project subcontractors included Loisos+Ubbelohde Associates, Loren Lutzenhizer, Bruce Wilcox, Joe Huang, Bruce Hackett, Bob McBride, PG&E, CR Communications, RCS-ZTECH, and EnviroMaster International.

The research has been successful in developing an automatic ventilation technology integrated into two different production house designs that utilize increased thermal mass in the structure, yet do not impact the house appearance. A single interactive thermostat controls both the NightBreeze ventilation system and standard air conditioner, if needed. The performance of the hot inland climate zone demonstration house was particularly encouraging - the house went through a five-day heat storm (100+ degrees F) without the need for the standard air conditioner to operate! Analysis suggests that ACC design strategies and ventilation cooling can either eliminate or greatly reduce the need for compressor air conditioning along most of California's coastline, and can yield annual energy savings greater than 60% in some climate zones. Ten more NightBreeze units have been built for Habitat for Humanity housing demonstrations in Southern California and two additional demonstrations in Northern California. Specific project accomplishments and analysis are included in the report's executive summary.

The complete report, titled "Alternatives to Compressor Cooling: Phase V - Integrated Ventilation Cooling," plus related appendices and attachments can be downloaded from the Energy Commission's PIER Buildings final reports webpage at http://www.energy.ca.gov/pier/buildings/reports.html.

Advanced Energy Products Corporation of Davis, CA will be producing and marketing the "hydronic" NightBreeze ventilation cooling systems described in the PIER final report. Purchase orders for systems are currently being taken — please contact Jerry Best at (530) 753-1100 or jbest@davisenergy.com.

More information on the NightBreeze system can be found at http://www.davisenergy.com/nb_page.htm.

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