New Solar Powered Air Conditioning System Cools Beverage Trucks

Have you ever thought about solar air conditioning? Well its a concept that wasn’t thought about until a couple of years ago. It sounds like a oxymoron but its a very simple idea, solar air conditioning is an air conditioning system that runs on electricity harvested from solar energy. Companies like Coca-Cola have been introducing this new type of technology into their new fleets of trucks, which benefits them at a large scale. Hong Kong Polytechnic University are looking into developing this new type of technology and improving it. The team has been working on a solar powered air conditioning system that would significantly reduce or eliminate beverage delivery truck emissions related to cooling. How the new technology works is by rooftop system that collects solar energy and stores it in a battery, so the use of alternative energy can continue during inclement weather. The battery storage system is also almost a necessity for using solar energy in high density urban delivery driving, when you consider that a delivery truck may frequent roads that are shaded by tall buildings, to say nothing of getting stuck in traffic, especially in a tunnel. When you step back and look at it in a whole, you’ll see the the amount of carbon dioxide will be saved that would other wise be put back into the environment.

The author Tina Casey gives a good insight on how solar air conditioning works but I feel that she would have expanded on the topic to give the reader a deeper understanding on the topic. One of the things that I believe would of made her article better is if she would of given some facts such as, how many trucks are on the road today, how much carbon dioxide are put out by these trucks and how much would be saved if major companies start using this technology. Overall the use of this new technology will be beneficial in a lot of aspects from the producer, consumer, and of course the environment.