Air conditioning system is one of the major consumers of electrical energy in many parts of the world today. It represents between 40 and 70% of the energy consumption in commercial buildings. The demand of energy for air conditioning systems is expected to increase further in the next decades due to the population growth, the new economic boom, and the urbanization development. The rapid growth of air conditioning and electricity consumption will contribute further to climate change if fossil and nonrenewable resources are used. More energy-efficient and renewable energy-based air conditioning systems to accomplish space cooling are needed. This book intends to provide the reader with a comprehensive overview of the current state of the art in sustainable air conditioning technologies and focus on the most recent research and development on green air conditioning systems including energy-efficient and renewable energy-based air conditioning systems.

This book provides readers with essential knowledge enabling the successful design of today's new energy efficient HVAC systems. The author introduces important concepts such as Knowledge Categorization, Performance Based Design Standards, and Quantification of Uncertainty in Energy Modeling for Buildings. Pivotal topics that all HVAC and architectural engineers must master in order to navigate the green building renaissance are given focused attention, including the role of renewables, air quality, automatic controls, and thermal comfort. Relevant ASHRAE standards, as well as sustainability scoring systems such as BREEAM, HQE, LEED and CASBEE are explained in depth. Armed with the material contained in this practical reference, students and practitioners alike will become more effective and prepared for engineering success.

This book highlights key recent developments in air conditioning technologies for cooling and dehumidification with the specific objectives to improve energy efficiency and to minimize environmental impact. Today, air conditioning, comprising cooling and dehumidification, is a necessity in commercial and residential buildings and even in many industrial processes. This book provides key update on recent developments in air conditioning systems, cooling cycles and innovative cooling/dehumidification technologies. Key technologies related to cooling include heat-driven absorption and adsorption cooling and water-based dew point evaporative cooling. Technologies connected with dehumidification involve new generations of adsorbent–desiccant dehumidifiers, liquid-based desiccants and membranes that sieve out water vapor from air. Losses in cooling cycles and thermo-economic analysis for a sustainable economy are also judiciously documented.

This “ambitious [and] delightful” (The New York Times) work of literary nonfiction interweaves the science and history of the powerful refrigerant (and dangerous greenhouse gas) Freon with a haunting meditation on how to live meaningfully and morally in a rapidly heating world. In After Cooling, Eric Dean Wilson braids together air-conditioning history, climate science, road trips, and philosophy to tell the story of the birth, life, and afterlife of Freon, the refrigerant that ripped a hole larger than the continental United States in the ozone layer. As he traces the refrigerant’s life span from its invention in the 1920s—when it was hailed as a miracle of scientific progress—to efforts in the 1980s to ban the chemical (and the resulting political backlash), Wilson finds himself on a journey through the American heartland, trailing a man who buys up old tanks of Freon stockpiled in attics and basements to destroy what remains of the chemical before it can do further harm. Wilson is at heart an essayist, looking far and wide to tease out what particular forces in American culture—in capitalism, in systemic racism, in our values—combined to lead us into the Freon crisis and then out. “Meticulously researched and engagingly written” (Amitav Ghosh), this “knockout debut” (New York Journal of Books) offers a rare glimpse of environmental hope, suggesting that maybe the vast and terrifying problem of global warming is not beyond our grasp to face.

This book presents the necessary fundamental knowledge in the research, development, design, selection, and application of desiccant heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning systems. It covers the established installations in different climatic conditions and building types. In addition, advanced performance evaluation techniques are presented, covering thermodynamic, economic, and environmental aspects. Hence, the book is an important resource for undergraduate and graduate students, design and installation engineers, researchers and scientists, building owners and occupants, and energy and environmental policy makers.

Earth tubes (earthtubes, or earth-air tubes) are underground tubes that use geothermal energy to cool or heat temper the air for your home. It works like cheap air conditioning because you can build it yourself for several hundred dollars and it is FREE to run (no electricity needed). Being completely passive, this is a sustainable technology based on designs that are 3,000 years old and still used today around the world to cool homes. TABLE OF CONTENTS (chapters, sections, page numbers): Introduction 15; Who Invented Air Conditioning? 15; How Earth Tubes Work Like an Air Conditioner 18; The Cost of Earth Tubes vs Air Conditioning 19; Background and History of Earth Tubes 23; How I Learned About Earth Tubes 23; Qanats - 3,000 Year Old "Earth Tubes" 24; Effective Use of Earthtubes 34; How Earthtubes Work 34; Convection Brings Cooler Air Inside the House 36; Evaporation and Condensation 38; Best Material for Earthtubes 41; Interior Thermal Mass Enhances Earthtubes 43; How Many Earthtubes Do I Need? 48; Making the Earthtubes 55; Parts Needed to Make One Earthtube: 57; Tools Needed 57; Earth Tube Checklist 59; Trenches 63; Possible Limitations to Digging Trenches 66; Placement of Trenches 68; Laying the Earthtubes 73; Dealing with Elbows 74; Earthtubes - Outside and Inside 80; OUTSIDE: Protecting Earth Tubes 80; INSIDE: Floor Registers and Side Vents 84; How to Make Earth Tubes Work 93; Ready Your Earth Tubes for Use 93; Treating Earth Tubes Problems with Ozone 94; Summer Use (Air Conditioning) 97; Slow vs Forced Air Flow 103; Weatherizing for Fall/Winter 105; Winter Use (Heat Tempering) 108; A Lesson on Air Quality 114; Adding Earthtubes to an Existing House 121; If you have a Large Front or Backyard 121; Attaching Earth Tubes from Outside 125; Supplemental Uses and Related Ideas 130; Using Earthtubes for a Pantry/Storm Shelter 131; Spiral Earth Tubes for Tight Spaces 133; Spiral Tube Water Catchment 134; Earth Bermed & Earth Sheltered Homes 135; Cave houses & Rock Homes 138; Roofs of Earth, Water, & Air 141; Key Principles on Energy Efficiency 143; Trees and Shrubs 146; Chimneys for Ventilation Draw 147; Solar Chimneys 149; Cooling Tower 153; Earth Lodge & Weathervane Venting 155; Other Designs 161; Bill Traub Witnessed These Earth Tubes 161; Indoor Air Quality 165; Example of Bad Air Quality from Earth Tubes 174; Calculations for Earth Tubes 179; Q&A for the Tubes 180; On the Subject of Earth Tubes 180; Olan Volan's Earth Tube Calculations 181; Tube Diameter 181; Tube Depth 181; Distance Between Tubes 181; Simple Math Calculations 182; Air Transfer 183; Pressure Differences 184; Some Notes on the Calculations of Tubes 184; Earth Tubes Q&A 186;

How climate influenced the design strategies of modernist architects Modern Architecture and Climate explores how leading architects of the twentieth century incorporated climate-mediating strategies into their designs, and shows how regional approaches to climate adaptability were essential to the development of modern architecture. Focusing on the period surrounding World War II—before fossil-fuel powered air-conditioning became widely available—Daniel Barber brings to light a vibrant and dynamic architectural discussion involving design, materials, and shading systems as means of interior climate control. He looks at projects by well-known architects such as Richard Neutra, Le Corbusier, Lúcio Costa, Mies van der Rohe, and Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, and the work of climate-focused architects such as MMM Roberto, Olgyay and Olgyay, and Cliff May. Drawing on the editorial projects of James Marston Fitch, Elizabeth Gordon, and others, he demonstrates how images and diagrams produced by architects helped conceptualize climate knowledge, alongside the work of meteorologists, physicists, engineers, and social scientists. Barber describes how this novel type of environmental media catalyzed new ways of thinking about climate and architectural design. Extensively illustrated with archival material, Modern Architecture and Climate provides global perspectives on modern architecture and its evolving relationship with a changing climate, showcasing designs from Latin America, Europe, the United States, the Middle East, and Africa. This timely and important book reconciles the cultural dynamism of architecture with the material realities of ever-increasing carbon emissions from the mechanical cooling systems of buildings, and offers a historical foundation for today’s zero-carbon design.

The essential guide to environmental control systems in building design For over 25 years Heating, Cooling, Lighting: Sustainable Design Strategies Towards Net Zero Architecture has provided architects and design professionals the knowledge and tools required to design a sustainable built environment at the schematic design stage. This Fifth Edition offers cutting-edge research in the field of sustainable architecture and design and has been completely restructured based on net zero design strategies. Reflecting the latest developments in codes, standards, and rating systems for energy efficiency, Heating, Cooling, Lighting: Sustainable Design Strategies Towards Net Zero Architecture includes three new chapters: Retrofits: Best practices for efficient energy optimization in existing buildings Integrated Design: Strategies for synergizing passive and active design Design Tools: How to utilize the best tools to benchmark a building's sustainability and net zero potential Heating, Cooling, Lighting: Sustainable Design Strategies Towards Net Zero Architecture is a go-to resource for practicing professionals and students in the fields of environmental systems technology or design, environmental design systems, construction technology, and sustainability technology.

Losing Our Cool exposes the surprising ways in which air conditioning changes human experience: giving a boost to global warming that it is designed to help humans endure; enabling an otherwise impossible commuter economy; and altering human migration patterns. Stan Cox argues that by reintroducing traditional cooling methods and putting newer technologies into practice - and by moving beyond industrial definitions of comfort - people can keep themselves comfortable and keep the planet comfortable too.

The Air Conditioning Manual assists entry-level engineers in the design of air-conditioning systems. It is also usable - in conjunction with fundamental HVAC&R resource material - as a senior- or graduate-level text for a university course in HVAC system design. The manual was written to fill the void between theory and practice - to bridge the gap between real-world design practices and the theoretical calculations and analytical procedures or on the design of components. This second edition represents an update and revision of the manual. It now features the use of SI units throughout, updated references and the editing of many illustrations. * Helps engineers quickly come up with a design solution to a required air conditioning system. * Includes issues from comfort to cooling load calculations. * New sections on "Green HVAC" systems deal with hot topic of sustainable buildings.