CRISTOPIA NEWS

The Newsletter of Cristopia Energy Systems

Number : 7

May 1998

 

Cristopia Environmental Benefits

 

     Today our environment needs protection against excessive use of energy by the human race. The increasing use of energy is damaging our environment in terms of air pollution, thermal pollution, noise pollution and the depletion of the ozone layer. To reduce the level of local pollution air conditioning is the best solution. Unfortunately the use of air conditioning does not improve our environment. The paradox here is that air conditioning improves our local environment but damages our global environment.        Ozone depleting substances :
  • by substantially reducing the chiller size, the charge of HCFCs or HFCs is reduced. The direct effects, measured by the Global Warming Potentials (GWP) of refrigerant leakage is also reduced (see Table 1),
  • reducing CO2, SO2 and N2O emissions. This is the indirect effect of the reduced energy consumption by the chillers. It will depend upon the COP of the plant and the generation mix of electricity supply.
     Amongst the usual factors which influence the designer to select a thermal energy storage system : first cost, operating costs, efficiency, reliability, ..., the environmental impact of these systems is becoming more and more important.
  Refrigerant GWP*
CFCs R 11 3 400
  R 12 7 100
HCFCs R 123 90
  R 22 1 600
HFCs R 134a 1 200
  R 407c 1 624
  R 410a 2 025
HCs  R 290 (Propane) 3
  R 600a (Isobutane) 3
  R 717 (Ammonia) 0
Table 1 : Global Warming Potential of various refrigerants (Source : CIBSE Research Report RR6, 1998). *CO2=1 and considered over 100 years.
     The use of Cristopia Thermal Energy Storage Systems has the potential of avoiding or reducing the environmental impact of buildings or industrial plants in a number of ways :      Noise pollution :
  • by reducing the size of chillers and cooling towers, the noise level generated can be reduced up to 60%.
     Energy saving :
  • by avoiding the use of chillers at partial load and thus increasing the cooling efficiency of the plant,
  • by transferring electrical kWh from day to night when the power plants have the highest efficiency. Typical primary energy consumption required to produce electricity at power plant :
    • 2300 kcal/kWhelect night
    • 2500-3000 kcal/kWhelect day
    • 3500-4000 kcal/kWhelect peak hours
      Thermal & humidity pollution :
  • rejecting heat (and plume of water vapour) at night reduces the heat pollution of the close environment. In some countries cooling towers are banned due to the risk of bacteria and virus developments.

 

Cristopia Energy Systems : 78, chemin du Moulin de la Clue - Quartier Cayrègues - 06140 Vence - France
Tel : 33 (0) 4 93 58 4000 - Fax : 33 (0) 4 93 24 29 38