Air conditioning goes green

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The government is funding a consortium to help develop air-conditioning systems which are more energy efficient, cost effective and environmentally friendly for planes, trains and buildings.

The government is funding a consortium to help develop air-conditioning systems which are more energy efficient, cost effective and environmentally friendly for planes, high-speed and underground trains and buildings.

Adoption of aircraft-style 'air cycle' air-conditioning technologies in buildings would eliminate emissions from conventional hydro fluorocarbon, or greenhouse gases.

Air traffic is forecast to double over the next 15 to 20 years. A reduction of only 10  per cent in the fuel burn for heating and ventilating air for the 25-year lifetime of the current fleet could reduce emissions of CO2 by 14.4 megatonnes, the same energy usage as 2,526,315 homes.

The £800,000 two-year research and technology project, named New Environmental Control System Technology, or NECST, aims to create the technology needed to develop the air-conditioning systems.

The project will develop a suite of interactive computerised design tools, covering environmental systems, power systems, buildings and enclosures, which will assist in the development of the new air-conditioning technology.

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