Solar cooling: study on the technical-economic feasibility of a plant in a hotel.

Abstract

Solar air conditioning allows more energy savings than air conventional conditioning plants. Just like the thermal solar systems for heat production destined to large consumers, solar air conditioning represents a technology that turns out to be economically more favorable. Its employment for the summer air conditioning of buildings represents today an ulterior and very interesting field of application. This article shows the results of a study on the technical-economic feasibility of a solar cooling plant realized in a hotel in South Italy. Just like the air conditioning load produced by electric power, hot water produced by thermal solar plants has a periodic character which, in both cases, is higher in the summer period. The coincidence on a yearly base of these two factors makes solar cooling particularly interesting both from the environmental and economic point of view, involving a possible future and natural drop of the plant set-up costs. Greater accessibility to the available technical opportunities and, above all, to the incentives for the necessary investments could accelerate the development of this remarkably interesting technology.