Air Conditioning and ventilation are essential for maintaining thermal comfort in indoor environments. While the penetration of air conditioning systems in the residential and small tertiary sectors have reached, in southern EU countries, shares ranging from 30 to 50% of the dwellings, the demand for ventilation is still low. In the near future the demand for ventilation will achieve a dominant percentage of the energy requirements for residential and non-residential buildings due to the high thermal insulation standards: in low energy and passive houses at least 50% of the thermal heat is caused by the ventilation.
The global HVAC market is expected to reach $173.16 Billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 5.9% between 2016 and 2022. The factors which are driving the growth of market include government incentives through tax credit programs, increasing construction activities, government regulations and policies for energy saving, and growing trend of smart homes. In particular, within the HVAC market, the major CAGR growth is expected for the ventilation segment. According to the EU association of ventilation (EVIA), the EU market of Heat Recovery Ventilation (HRV) units reached 660k units in 2015 and it is projected to reach 850k units in 2020, with relevant increases in medium climate countries (Germany, UK, and France).
Even if the major growth is expected by the HRV systems, the AC segment is yet leading the market. In the next 15 years, according to the EU prevision, the energy used to cool buildings across Europe is likely to increase by 72%, and a research carried out by ECN foresees that by 2060, the amount of energy used worldwide in cooling will overtake that used in heating.
Thus, it is mandatory, if the path towards the achievement of the 2°C target is to remain open, to progress towards decarbonization of the energy generation and the progressive increase of the share of covering cooling and heating demands by more efficient and renewable based systems than those currently available.
Although electrically driven air-conditioning units have reached a relatively high standard, their energy consumption is still relatively high as most refrigeration based systems use electricity to power a compressor. In order to reduce HVAC systems impacts any future-oriented HVAC solution requires a sustainable energy supply from a renewable energy source. An obvious counter to this trend is to use the same energy for generation of cooling that contributes to creating the cooling demand: solar energy.
Freescoo (Free Solar Cooling) is an innovative and patented HVAC system fed by low grade solar thermal energy, designed to provide cooling, dehumidification, heating and ventilation in a single compact unit. Freescoo is based on DEC (Desiccant Evaporative Cooling) technology with many innovative aspects that have permitted to realize the simplest solar cooling device in the market. Only using low enthalpy heat, 45-60°C, and water evaporation Freescoo treats directly external hot and wet air, to obtain a conditioned stream typically at 20°C and 50% of relative humidity like a typical HVAC system, reducing drastically electrical demand. Being driven by low enthalpy heat (easily produced by flat plate or evacuated tube), the system can be integrated with existing residential heating distribution systems, working at the same temperature.
