Solar Air Conditioning

That's right, you can cool your house or building with the heat of the sun!

There is an old cooling process that those in the RV industry use. It is the moving of gasses from one state to another by heating them. It is called adsoption or absorption.

Here is the part of the Wiki article, Solar Cooling, that discusses this process.

Solar Thermal Cooling

Main article: Absorption refrigerator

Active solar cooling wherein solar thermal collectors provide thermal energy to drive thermally-driven chillers (usually ADsorption or ABsorption chillers.)

There are multiple alternatives to compressor-based chillers that can reduce energy consumption by 80%, with less noise and vibration. Solar thermal energy can be used to efficiently cool in the summer, and also heat domestic hot water, and the building in the winter. The Audubon Environmental Center in Los Angeles is one example among many).^[5] Single, double or triple iterative absorption cooling cycles are used in different solar-thermal-cooling system designs. The more cycles, the more efficient they are.

In the late 1800s, the most common phase change refrigerant material for absorption cooling was a solution of ammonia and water. Today, the combination of lithium and bromide is also in common use. One end of the system of expansion / condensation pipes is heated, and the other end gets cold enough to make ice. Originally, natural gas was used as a heat source in the late 1800s. Today, propane is used in recreational vehicle absorption chiller refrigerators. Innovative hot water solar thermal energy collectors can also be used as the modern "free energy" heat source.

Efficient absorption chillers require water of at least 190 degrees F (88 degrees C). Common, inexpensive flat-plate solar thermal collectors only produce about 160 degree F (71 degree C) water, but several successful commercial projects in the US, Asia and Europe have shown that flat plate solar collectors specially developed for temperatures over 200 degrees F (featuring double glazing, increased backside insulation, etc.) can be effective and cost efficient.^[6] Evacuated-tube solar panels can be used as well. Concentrating solar collectors required for absorption chillers are less effective in hot humid, cloudy environments, especially where the overnight low temperature and relative humidity are uncomfortably high. Where water can be heated well above 190 degrees F (88+ degrees C), it can be stored and used when the sun is not shining.

For 150 years, absorption chillers have been used to make ice (before the electric light bulb was invented).^[7] This ice can be stored and used as an "ice battery" for cooling when the sun is not shining, as it was in the 1995 Hotel New Otani in Tokyo Japan.^[8] Mathematical models are available in the public domain for ice-based thermal energy storage performance calculations.^[9]

Coupled with zero energy building design, this could significantly reduce the buildings needs for electricity as all the cooling could be handled by the sun. When the demand load is greatest, during the hottest part of the Florida day, this system is at it's best!