1 November 2013

Solar Powered Air Conditioning - Get (almost) free cooling this Summer

| AlexanderWatson
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solar powered air conditioningHow does an air conditioner that uses less energy than a light bulb sound?

Run by solar panels during the day, the Alexander Watson’s solar powered air conditioner consumes only 30 watts. Compare this with the 550 watt consumption of a traditional system and you find yourself with a 94% saving off your cooling bill.

Check out the Alexander Watson website or read on to find out how it works…

The SolarAir is just like any other 3.5kw split system air conditioner, it can heat and cool, turns on and off by remote control, has a head unit that mounts on the wall inside and a refrigeration unit that sits outside. The only difference is that the SolarAir has been specially designed to connect to four solar panels that sit on your roof to power the air conditioner while the Sun is shining.

The 1KW solar array provides power directly to the air conditioner so it doesn’t have to pull power from the grid while the panels are producing energy. When the Sun goes down, the SolarAir simply uses a grid connection like any other split system. The beauty of the SolarAir though is that the during the day in Summer when it is hottest outside and your air conditioning load greatest, the solar panels are producing energy to power what would normally be very expensive cooling. You can watch the demonstration video of the

SolarAir consumption when connected to a power monitor with and without solar panels to see just how big the savings really are.

As an added bonus, when the solar panels are installed by an accredited installer, the SolarAir also attracts a $600 STC solar credit rebate.

The solar air conditioner can service an area approximately the size of a double garage (a bit over 30m2) so it’s perfect to put in a home office, kitchen/dining area or a lounge room.

Feel free to post any questions about the air conditioner that you might have in the comments below and to view pricing and full specifications on the SolarAir solar powered air conditioner, visit the Alexander Watson website today.

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AlexanderWatson12:11 pm 04 Nov 13

Thanks for the support Howeph et al… much appreciated.

AlexanderWatson12:02 pm 04 Nov 13

Panhead said :

Any info on the unit? Scroll inverter?

There’s a spec sheet available for download here http://alexanderwatson.com.au/Storage/Solar-Air.pdf

Typically you’d only find scroll compressors on larger ducted systems, this one is just a standard inverter system.

AlexanderWatson12:00 pm 04 Nov 13

gooterz said :

So if you don’t use the aircon most of the time your wasting the solar panels… if you use the aircon more than you should then its likely a cloudy will have the unit using mostly grid power.

In winter there is no solar rays to power it at night, and usually its cold at night.

Doesn’t seem practice, you could spend $4000 on insulation and do a better job.

Totally agree, insulation and draught proofing are always the priority before adding in additional air conditioning. However, if you are going to go the the expense of putting in a split system you might as well put one in that can power itself when its most needed in Summer.

As for cloudy days in Summer, you probably won’t really be needing the AC on these days because the temperature is usually much more pleasant than a 30+ degree sun filled day. In Winter though you are bang on, at night time when you would normally use the AC there isn’t any solar gain. What you can do though in a well insulated home is actually run the heater during the day using the solar panels so the house is warm and (depending on how well insulated) retains its heat for the night.

breda said :

Alexander Watson, don’t treat me like an idiot.

I have compared my summer electricity bills before and after installing the aircon, over a few years. A good quality unit like mine results in negligible differences in the bills. Trust me, I pay them, and get no funds from Big Aircon.

What you are offering is that first people pay for aircon, and then they pay for your solar units. And please, don’t wish away the $600 subsidy. It is paid for by consumers and taxpayers, not fairies and unicorns. And it directly benefits your business.

http://www.healthchemist.co.nz/mm5/graphics/00000001/large_756059.jpg

54-11 said :

breda said :

Alexander Watson, don’t treat me like an idiot.

I have compared my summer electricity bills before and after installing the aircon, over a few years. A good quality unit like mine results in negligible differences in the bills. Trust me, I pay them, and get no funds from Big Aircon.

What you are offering is that first people pay for aircon, and then they pay for your solar units. And please, don’t wish away the $600 subsidy. It is paid for by consumers and taxpayers, not fairies and unicorns. And it directly benefits your business.

Wow, so much anger. Why?

Too much Bolt.

breda said :

Alexander Watson, don’t treat me like an idiot.

I have compared my summer electricity bills before and after installing the aircon, over a few years. A good quality unit like mine results in negligible differences in the bills. Trust me, I pay them, and get no funds from Big Aircon.

Alexander, you must know you’re doing something right when the cranks start spluttering at you.

breda said :

What you are offering is that first people pay for aircon, and then they pay for your solar units. And please, don’t wish away the $600 subsidy. It is paid for by consumers and taxpayers, not fairies and unicorns. And it directly benefits your business.

Gosh, benefiting a small business? WHat an outrage!

Meanwhile, here is a list of subsidies that the taxpayer is paying for, to the benefit of Big Fossil-fuel:

– Fuel tax credits = $2billion pa
– Fossil fuel infgrastructure Accelerated Depreciation taxpayer ripoff= $120million pa
– Consumer subsidies for Kerosene, fuel oil, heating oil, aviation fuel = $1billion pa
– Electricity subsidies for Aluminium smelting = $200million pa
– Electricity subsidies to low income households = $200million pa
– Geoscience Australia, DITR & State energy Depts non-recovered costs = $200million pa
– Company tax deductions for petroleum exploration = $200million pa
– “R & D” = $88million pa
– Stuart Shale Oil project grants and royalty exemptions = $38million pa
– TImor sea project subsidies = $8 million pa
– Road transportation subsidy = $1billion pa
…and more

In 2010-2011, all this taxpayer ripoff added up to $12billion.

So if you don’t use the aircon most of the time your wasting the solar panels… if you use the aircon more than you should then its likely a cloudy will have the unit using mostly grid power.

In winter there is no solar rays to power it at night, and usually its cold at night.

Doesn’t seem practice, you could spend $4000 on insulation and do a better job.

breda said :

Alexander Watson, don’t treat me like an idiot.

I have compared my summer electricity bills before and after installing the aircon, over a few years. A good quality unit like mine results in negligible differences in the bills. Trust me, I pay them, and get no funds from Big Aircon.

What you are offering is that first people pay for aircon, and then they pay for your solar units. And please, don’t wish away the $600 subsidy. It is paid for by consumers and taxpayers, not fairies and unicorns. And it directly benefits your business.

Wow, so much anger. Why?

breda said :

What nonsense.

Whose sprouting the nonsense?

breda said :

My state of the art reverse cycle Daikin unit makes almost no difference to my electricity bills in summer.

Heat-pump aircon systems are amazingly efficient, but still in the summer they are going to be one of your bigger electricity energy uses – unless your house has really good passive cooling systems (most don’t).

breda said :

Like diesel powered cars vs electrics, efficiency is not the issue here.

Hang on – then why did you bring efficiency up? No one mentioned efficiency before you did. What are you trying to say?

breda said :

It is all about “saving the planet” at our expense, and your profit.

Oh, I see. You’re a denier. A denier that thinks a small business making a profit is bad (only coal, oil and gas companies are allowed to make a profit – at our expense, and our childrens’, and grandchildrens’, and great grandchildrens’ and great great… ).

Got it.

breda said :

And, the $600 rebate is paid for by whom? It’s just a subsidy/handout for your business paid for by all the other punters.

Only coal, oil and gas companies are allowed to get subsidies too.

Any info on the unit? Scroll inverter?

Alexander Watson, don’t treat me like an idiot.

I have compared my summer electricity bills before and after installing the aircon, over a few years. A good quality unit like mine results in negligible differences in the bills. Trust me, I pay them, and get no funds from Big Aircon.

What you are offering is that first people pay for aircon, and then they pay for your solar units. And please, don’t wish away the $600 subsidy. It is paid for by consumers and taxpayers, not fairies and unicorns. And it directly benefits your business.

AlexanderWatson3:38 pm 01 Nov 13

breda said :

What nonsense. My state of the art reverse cycle Daikin unit makes almost no difference to my electricity bills in summer. Like diesel powered cars vs electrics, efficiency is not the issue here. It is all about “saving the planet” at our expense, and your profit.

And, the $600 rebate is paid for by whom? It’s just a subsidy/handout for your business paid for by all the other punters.

If you don’t notice a difference in your electricity consumption in Summer in Canberra there’s most likely something wrong. Because of the heating load in Winter, bills should always spike in this time of year and drop off in the warmer months. If your bill isn’t changing in Summer it means your reverse cycle AC is churning the same amount of power all year round. Book an assessment with us and let us have a look. Best case we get to save you some coin, worst case you can say I told you so.

BTW the $600 rebate is through the government regulated STC (smallscale technology certificate) program, check out http://ret.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/Certificates/Small-scale-Technology-Certificates/what-is-stc

AlexanderWatson3:32 pm 01 Nov 13

Watson said :

Huh? Why would you power only your aircon with solar panels? $4,400 for 1kW?! I can get 5kW for a bit over $6,000!

You’d power your AC with solar so you don’t have to pay for electricity when the unit has its greatest energy demand – during the day. Because the panels supply the AC with DC power directly it completely eliminates the need for an inverter and significantly reduces the cost of the solar install.

Regardless of how your split system is powered, a 3.5kw inverter cooling cycle will always use almost 1kw of power. You can choose to use the sun to run it almost for free or pull it off the grid and pay market rate.

Also, I’d be pretty careful about the quality of a 5kw system for a bit over $6K… Decent 5kw systems range anything from $8-12K in our experience.

What nonsense. My state of the art reverse cycle Daikin unit makes almost no difference to my electricity bills in summer. Like diesel powered cars vs electrics, efficiency is not the issue here. It is all about “saving the planet” at our expense, and your profit.

And, the $600 rebate is paid for by whom? It’s just a subsidy/handout for your business paid for by all the other punters.

Huh? Why would you power only your aircon with solar panels? $4,400 for 1kW?! I can get 5kW for a bit over $6,000!

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