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Advances in Building Energy Research

Advances in Building Energy Research 2 (2008) 123–157

Solar Air Conditioning: A Review of Technological and Market Perspectives

S Oxizidis and A M Papadopoulos

The close relation between maximum insolation, and a building’s cooling loads and peak electricity demand indicates that solar-assisted cooling (SAC) is an interesting method of successfully handling this issue. Furthermore, from an environmental viewpoint, SAC arises as a promising alternative to conventional, electrically driven air conditioning since it results in decreased carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and does not use of ozonedepleting or greenhouse gas (GHG) refrigerants. The utilization of solar energy in air conditioning may in this sense be the challenge for the next major growth of the solar thermal market. Nevertheless, there is a long way to go, and SAC technologies must prove that they are competitive. This chapter discusses the principles and the state of the art of SAC. Technical and non-technical advantages and barriers are also presented, as well as the possibility of using active SAC technologies, and technical issues raised by the use of electrically driven conventional air-conditioning systems are identified. Finally, by utilizing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats (SWOT) analysis, conclusions are drawn with respect to measures and strategies for enhancing SAC technologies.

Keywords: cooling; solar systems; urban environment; SWOT analysis

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