Hilton hotels and the Waldorf Astoria in Los Angeles have installed an IceBrick system that stores energy by freezing water, cutting cooling costs in half and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by thousands of tons over the life of the system
During increasingly frequent fierce heat, many of us find salvation in air conditioners and fans, which is why we consume large amounts of electricity. As this puts a growing strain on national power grids, the problem has inspired inventors around the world to invent new cooling technologies that can store energy. Klima 101 portal.
Among them is the company Nostromo Energy. She is behind one such innovation that simultaneously serves as both a battery (water-based) and a cooling system.
It is a modular solution for energy storage IceBrick, which, conditionally speaking, consists of ice cubes and a huge ice container.
But in order to understand how it actually works, we first need to understand how buildings are cooled, according to the company's official website.
Large commercial facilities rely on refrigeration equipment. With the help of cooling agents, they cool the water, which, as needed, is distributed throughout the rooms where it cools the air before returning, heated, to the cooling devices. There, the water cooling process starts all over again.
However, the re-transformation of water from hot to cold is extremely energy-intensive and represents a huge pressure for the supply of electricity. And on top of that, consumers face more expensive bills.
Unnecessary cooling devices
On the other hand, the water in the capsules as part of the IceBrick system is frozen during peak production hours when electricity is cheap and comes from renewable sources. Thus the equivalent of a battery is created. The insulation keeps the capsules frozen until it's time to use them to cool the building. The "stored" energy is then released at a steady rate, and cooling devices are unnecessary since the circulating water is already cold.
In this way, consumption is avoided at times when it is the highest and most expensive, but also reduces carbon dioxide emissions. On top of that, according to Nostromo Energy, the same water can be frozen, thawed and refrozen for centuries, and the entire system is made of materials that can be completely recycled.
As MIT Technology Review writes, the IceBrick system can contain thousands of capsules that freeze approximately two liters of water. Their number is adjusted to the energy needs of the building itself, and it is possible to place them on the roof, in the basement, on the walls, and even as an architectural element.
The spectrum of application is wide: from hospitals to hotels and shopping centers to schools and universities, and IceBrick can be upgraded to existing cooling systems.
Two luxury, American hotels in Los Angeles County have already decided to install "ice cubes". The 1,4 megawatt-hour system, made up of 40 frozen capsules, went into operation last year at the Hilton in Beverly Hills, and will also serve the neighboring Waldorf Astoria.
According to estimates, costs for energy for cooling will be more than halved, and during the life of the system, the release of more than five thousand tons of carbon dioxide would be avoided.
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