Helioclim: Space Engineers Develop Environment Friendly Air Conditioning System With Zero Carbon Emissions

In a major breakthrough, a team of four space engineers has developed an air conditioning system which they claim is completely environment-friendly and does not give out any carbon emissions.

Air conditioners generally used in homes, offices, and factories are a major contributor to carbon dioxide emissions. The environmentally friendly alternative, called 'Helioclim', which will be run by solar energy, instead of electricity, will help combat climate change by reducing carbon footprint. The newly designed system can also cool refrigerators and heat water.

The experience gained by the team, including Marie Nghiem, Yannick Godillot, Yann Vitupier and Charles Daniel, in the construction of complex telecommunications satellites and Earth observation, helped them create an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional temperature-control systems.

The team members work for Thales Alenia Space in Cannes, France, on sophisticated satellites such as ESA's Goce gravity-mapper and Europe's Jason ocean-monitors. They tried to explore their space skills to develop alternative ways of running power-hungry cooling and heating systems in buildings.

The newly designed system uses curved solar mirror-troughs spread across a building's roof to concentrate solar energy onto tubes to heat water to the temperature of 200 degrees. The pressurized water is next made to enter another unit where it is heated or cooled depending on the needs.  The water that flows out can have any temperature between -60 and +65 degrees, which is then circulated to generate the desired temperatures in different rooms of the building.

The system can work even on cloudy or rainy days, all thanks to stored energy or that coming from other sustainable sources, such as biomass for example. The makers claim that the unique system can reach extreme temperatures, guaranteeing a cooling down to -60 degrees and a heating up to + 200 degrees.

"It's important to understand that we are not generating electricity from the solar panels to power the traditional systems of air conditioning," said Marie.

"Instead, we are using the thermal energy of the sun to heat water within the units and reach the required temperatures. "

"If we can make quiet, reliable and durable heating and cooling systems that don't pollute the atmosphere, then we can feel proud of ourselves," Marie added.

"And if we can make a successful business at the same time, then we can feel doubly pleased."