So much sun, so many people, so much heat...

So, wouldn't you think that surely someone should have come up with a solar air conditioner by now?



Well, someone has.

GreenCore Air has come up with the solar-panel powered AC that can cool a 600 square foot room and is powered by a single 170 watt solar panel.

It already runs on DC power, so there's no need for users to put an AC inverter between the solar panel and the air conditioner, sparing any power loss while converting AC to DC.

The only AC power is to recharge the batteries at night when the sun goes down. But the more solar panels and/or batteries added to the system, the less AC power required for battery charging.

The solar panels charge the batteries and the air conditioner runs off the power stored in the batteries. Depending on outdoor temperature, thermostat setting, global position and season, the system will run for four to eight hours before automatically switching to allow the batteries to charge from standard AC grid power. When the sun is not out the unit runs on the battery bank which is integrated within the unit.

The power required to charge the batteries is far less than the power required to run a conventional air conditioner. A full charge is complete in about three hours, and it keeps working during the charging process.

Prices start at $5,700, depending upon the model. The mobile unit comes standard with a solar panel top lid of the box, but you can add more. The US Navy has picked up some for their more offgrid locations in faraway places.

GreenCore Air says you could run this off a wind turbine too, but I expect that if you have enough wind, you probably don't have the problem that this invention solves.

Photo by Flikr user yezi9713

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Convert Your Car To Flex-Fuel

Like many of us, I've long suspected that converting a car to flex-fuel is probably not too dificult. Otherwise why else was all of Detroit jumping on flex-fuel to meet legislative requirements, rather than retooling to swap out the 100 year old internal combustion engine entirely for a nice clean simple electric motor.

So, cynic that I am, I was not surprised to see Domestic Fuel has an interesting piece about a device that will allow any fuel-injected vehicle to run on ethanol or gasoline without pushing a button or flipping a switch.

The system is very simple for the average user. It’s a simple plug and play device which you attach to your fuel injector connectors and ground to your battery and start using ethanol - anywhere from E100 to regular gasoline. The technology was developed in Brazil where there is a big need for ethanol capable vehicles with all that sugar ethanol they've made since way back.

Fuel Flex International - typical car-guys eyebulger website alert - constructs various options - lucky that you can ask their tech guys about which does what - in the US and retails them from around $300 - $450.

The demand for flex-fuel conversion kits will grow as higher ethanol blends become more available nationwide, because even if car makers start selling only flex-fuel vehicles in the US there will continue to be a large segment of used vehicles for sale that are not flex-fuel capable.

There is also the issue of EPA certification, which currently has only been granted to another company, the curiously named yet unrelated Flex Fuel US but they are working on getting that approval. Our current EPA is not falling over itself to grant such boons as I noted yesterday. Hopefully a new and improved EPA that will give a damn about such matters as gas prices and climate change will result from our electing a more responsible administration.

From Domestic Fuel

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