In the context of global warming, solar energy, as an outstanding representative of new energy sources, is highly favored by countries worldwide. Under the trend of low-carbon and energy-saving, solar energy, primarily based on solar thermal technology, has been applied to various industries, continuously improving the energy structure. With government policy support for the solar energy industry, various manufacturing and application fields utilizing solar energy technology are experiencing booming business opportunities, and a series of solar energy products are gradually entering people's lives. Now, major manufacturers are launching solar air conditioners, making this new type of air conditioning unit, widely considered to have broad prospects but difficult to commercialize in the short term, once again attract industry attention.
In the sweltering summer, air conditioning consumes almost one-third of the total electricity consumption of the power system, which is one of the reasons why the power system is overwhelmed in summer. Therefore, solar air conditioning has been very attractive from the beginning. The principle of solar cooling is the same as that of general electric cooling, only the energy used is different, thus bringing about some structural changes. There are various methods of solar cooling, such as compression refrigeration, steam jet refrigeration, and absorption refrigeration.
Typical solar thermal utilization projects, such as heating and hot water, do not entirely align their demand with the supply of solar energy: when the weather is colder and people need warmth more, the supply of solar energy is often insufficient. From this perspective, the application of solar air conditioning is the most reasonable: when solar radiation is stronger and the weather is hotter, the load on air conditioning needs is also greater. This is the most favorable objective factor for the application of solar air conditioning.
Currently, there are various solar air conditioning technologies, mainly absorption refrigeration and photovoltaic-to-electricity refrigeration. A relatively mature technology is lithium bromide-water absorption refrigeration, which has already been applied in some demonstration projects with ideal results. Due to the wide variety of solar air conditioning technologies and their varying levels of maturity, its industrialization process is slow. However, it is undeniable that with energy policies favoring clean energy, the prospects for the widespread adoption of solar air conditioning are incredibly bright. Investing in solar air conditioning projects and capturing the early market will be a strategic decision for industry expansion.