Thousands of buildings across the United States are staying cool with the help of cutting-edge batteries made from one of the world’s simplest materials: ice.
When electricity is cheap, the batteries freeze water. When energy costs go up, building managers turn off their pricey chillers and use the ice to keep things cool.
A typical building uses about a fifth of its electricity for cooling, according to the International Energy Agency. By shifting their energy use to cheaper times of day, the biggest buildings can save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on their power bills. They can also avoid using electricity from the dirtiest fossil fuel plants.
In places where the weather is hot and energy prices swing widely throughout the day — for instance, Texas, Southern California and most of the American Southwest — buildings could cut their power bills and carbon emissions by as much as a third, experts say.
“That’s huge and absolutely worth doing when you consider how many buildings exist that need cooling,” said Neera Jain, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University.
So far, ice batteries have been mostly limited to big commercial buildings with central cooling systems and extra storage space for a giant vat of ice. But new designs could bring the batteries into smaller buildings and even houses.
Source: These buildings use batteries made of ice to stay cool and save money
Robin Edgar
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