Renewable cooling, a new challenge for Europe

I – Major increase in cooling needs

Global warming is an increasingly present subject in everyone’s lives and is becoming a critical issue for territories around the world. Many consequences of this climate change are being felt,  with the rise in temperatures being one of the most significant and obvious. Indeed, as the global temperature rise reaches the threshold of 1.5°C of warming by 2040; and the days of high temperatures continue to increase, the need for cooling will then become one of the priorities of Europe and the world.

Between 2015 and 2050, a study funded by the European Union predicts a very sharp increase in cooling needs, which are expected to double by 2050 (Heat Roadmap).

As these needs are constantly increasing, they also pose a strong threat to the environment. Indeed, current cooling technologies are mainly powered by hydrofluorocarbons, a family of important greenhouse gases with a relatively short lifespan compared to other GHGs, but whose global warming potential (GWP) can be up to 14,000 times greater than that of CO2 carbon, making these gases a monumental danger to the climate.

According to the Kigali Agreement and the F-gas regulation, the rate of use of these high-GWP fluorinated fluids must imperatively reach 0% by 2030, representing a new challenge for the various territories.   

But then, how can we ensure the cooling of the various sectors by reducing greenhouse gas emissions that are toxic to the environment and by complying with the regulations related to fluorinated fluids?

II – Renewable cooling solutions

In Europe, renewable cooling solutions are only tiny. However, even if these are not very widespread, there are some. Here are some of them:

•  Free Cooling is a cooling technique based on the use of outdoor air, or even sea or river water, to cool buildings. This solution avoids the use of refrigerants and minimizes the electricity consumption of HVAC (air conditioning-ventilation-heating) systems. While this solution has real potential, it also has limitations; For its proper functioning, it requires the use of thermal sources that are generally lower than the ambient temperature. However, this creates challenges related to the irregularity of the solution, as well as an architectural issue during the construction of the building.

•  Direct Adiabatic Cooling is an air conditioning technique that relies on the evaporation of water. The thermal energy required for evaporation is taken directly from the outside air, so that no artificial heat source is required for the operation of the technology. This solution also has its limitations, in the same way as Free Cooling, it depends mainly on the air temperature. In addition, systems using water spraying are dangerous to health and can affect the respiratory system of humans.

•  Absorption Heat Pumps are systems based on the same operation as a traditional heat pump. However, unlike a traditional heat pump, mechanical compression is replaced by chemical compression. Although this solution can be identified as renewable since it is very often based on the absorption of industrial or solar waste heat, it nevertheless uses refrigerants that are generally highly flammable and toxic to humans.

Although these solutions exist, their ability to generate cold is still too insufficient to meet the needs of consumers of significant thermal energy, and they are only a small part of current cooling methods.

In Europe, the vast majority (90%) of refrigeration solutions come from systems based on the use of refrigerants and electricity. In France, for example, refrigeration requires more than 30 TWh of electricity, which represents about 6% of the country’s total electricity consumption! This is why it is becoming imperative for European territories, but also those around the world, to develop renewable and sustainable refrigeration production solutions.

III – Water Horizon and renewable cooling

WH technology is based on the use of non-flammable, non-explosive and non-gaseous fluids  that therefore do not pose a threat to humans and the environment. These fluids used in our processes do not generate any CO2 or other greenhouse gas emissions.

The operation of the Water Horizon technology is based on the principle of thermochemistry and industrial waste heat absorption, and allows the storage of this thermal energy generated by our process. WH has been able to develop its technology by doing without hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) such as: R32, R134A R410A, or fluoromethane, and is able to exploit the stored thermal energy by transforming it into heat, but also and above all, into renewable cooling.

Our system aims to exceed the performance of current cooling systems with an Electrical Coefficient of Performance (COP) of 3. The power consumption of the WH project is minimal, with a COP of 20, which is almost 7 times less than conventional systems. Thus, for each renewable heating and cooling distribution project, Water Horizon avoids nearly 1300 tCO2eq/year for a single 1MW unit.

Our goal is to enable large users of refrigeration to replace energy-intensive mechanical compression systems with electricity, using fluorinated gases that are harmful to the environment, with its renewable solution.

Water Horizon radically transforms the use of waste heat, converting it into a sustainable source of cooling. By implementing a circular economy for thermal energy, WH is triggering a real industrial revolution in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.