This air conditioner is no longer afraid of electricity spikes and jumps! You can use electricity last night and blow it at noon today; reserve the “cooling power” in advance, and release the coolness when needed.
Bill Gates’ venture capital fund makes another move! Breakthrough Energy Ventureslead investmentUS$20 million (approximately NT$600 million) is invested in Blue Frontier, a new American air conditioner startup, because it can not only solve the electricity problem of air conditioners, but also help slow down global warming.
The salt solution replaces the refrigerant, and the cooling force can be stored in advance
Blue Frontier’s new air conditioner replaces the refrigerant with a “concentrated salt solution”, unlike traditional air conditioners that can only be cooled as they are turned on; the new air conditioner can be cooled “in advance”, and the “cooling power” can be stored during low-peak electricity consumption.
The principle of traditional air conditioner is to use electricity to heat the refrigerant, absorb indoor heat, and transfer the heat from indoor to outdoor; Blue Frontier’s new air conditioner uses concentrated salt solution to absorb water vapor, thereby achieving the effect of cooling air.
The concentrated salt solution of the new air conditioner is not only low-cost, but just like a battery stores electricity, the concentrated salt solution can store the “cooling power” for several months.
Since it can store cold first, it can be turned on during low power consumption, and even a specific power source can be selected. Daniel Betts, chief executive of Blue Frontier, pointed out that in the low-peak electricity consumption of green electricity such as solar energy, using electricity to store cold first can reduce the opportunity to use fossil fuel electricity.
The demand for electricity from new air conditioners is more flexible, attracting investors’ attention.
“Blue Frontier’s technology changes the game rules of air conditioner carbon reduction and grid efficiency, and creates new opportunities by combining cooling and energy storage technologies,” said VoLo Earth Ventures, another venture capital that also invested, “It can reduce the need to turn on air conditioners in the afternoon. Peak demand for electricity, saving consumers and the public sector money.”
Reduce the amount of refrigerant and reduce carbon emissions by 85% compared to traditional air conditioners
In addition, Blue Frontier also has more advantages than traditional air conditioners in reducing carbon.
Although air-conditioning is already a necessity under global warming, it will also exacerbate the warming problem and make the earth hotter and hotter. Financial media CNBC pointed out that more and more developing countries such as India and Indonesia are installing air conditioners, and the problem will only worsen.
Traditional air-conditioning accounts for 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Even if the old refrigerants such as chlorofluorocarbons that destroy the ozone layer have been gradually phased out, other refrigerants will still generate large amounts of greenhouse gases when they cool the air, dehumidify and leak.
In contrast, although Blue Frontier’s new air conditioners also use refrigerants, the consumption is at most only one-third of that of traditional air conditioners. It is mainly used to supply hot mercury for heating solutions, and it is estimated that greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced by at least 85%. , the electricity consumption has also been reduced by more than 60%.
The new air conditioners in the trials are expected to be installed in some buildings next year, while commercial air conditioners are planned for 2025.
Still, Bates has the potential to reinvent the necessities on which humanity is increasingly reliant, and the process isn’t as smooth as one might imagine.
In fact, he has long seen the energy storage potential of air-conditioning. He has previously established another new venture to make air-conditioning act as a powerful energy storage facility at the same time. However, doubling the hope brings double the risk and financial pressure, and ultimately fails.
And this time, he concentrated on making air conditioners, and energy storage is only the bright spot, which can help solve the pain points of builders, and thus won the favor of big investors.
(Author: Zhang Fangyu; this article is published by “Business weekly“Reprinted with permission; source of the first picture:Created by freepik）
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