San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy Organization

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Technology Tuesdays: What’s New in HVAC?

Hello Partners!

As I am sure you are aware, your HVAC system is one of the biggest energy users in your building. In fact, HVAC is often responsible for 20-30% of the energy usage in a building. This is especially true in the Central Valley.

Because of this, recent years has seen growing innovation to increase the energy efficiency in HVAC systems. Some of those innovations include smart HVAC technology, geothermal HVAC technology, and solar HVAC technology.

Smart HVAC Technology
We are quickly advancing into a world where our devices are talking to us. Seriously! Increasingly, devices, appliances and the like are connected to the internet and communicating with us in ways we could not have imagined just a few short years ago.

HVAC technology is no exception to this movement. New HVAC technology has the ability to communicate with the owner/operator of a building to inform about needed maintenance or repair. A smart HVAC system can even go so far as to schedule the appointment, so you have to do little to nothing to ensure the system is working optimally.

Geothermal HVAC Technology
This type of HVAC system capitalizes on the stability of underground temperatures. Instead of using coolant to cool the air inside of a building, geothermal HVAC systems use underground temperature to heat and cool a building. This is accomplished by passing water through a network of underground pipes. Depending on the time of year, that water is then heated or cooled by the ground’s natural temperature, then passed through the HVAC system to regulate the temperature within the building.

Solar HVAC Technology
A solar HVAC system works in two ways, it uses electricity generated by solar panels to cool a building. However, they also harvest heat to warm a building. This heat is usually absorbed into a medium such as a mixture of water and antifreeze which is then passed through a heat exchanger to generate warm air for your building. A solar HVAC system can be part of new construction or it may be a retrofit. However, a new construction solar HVAC system may opt to have a solar cooling system which utilizes evaporative cooling instead of using refrigerant which is more environmentally friendly.

The savings never stop!

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 Sources:
https://www.cielowigle.com/blog/hvac-technology/
https://www.grainger.com/