| New Wal-Mart Uses Water to Cut Energy Costs by 45% |
| Written by Hank Green | ||
| Tuesday, 18 March 2008 | ||
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Well, they've done it again. At a new store in Las Vegas Wal-Mart has installed advanced, low-energy roof-top fluid coolers. These use the surrounding air to cool water, which is then pumped into pipes below the store's floor. The resulting cooling completely eliminates the need for air conditioning and, in Las Vegas, that's a huge amount of a store's energy cost. One problem though, Las Vegas doesn't really have very much water to spare and, unfortunately, these fluid coolers rely on evaporating away many gallons of hot water to leave the cold water, for cooling, behind. In hot areas with plenty of water, this seems like it would make a lot of sense. But in Las Vegas, where they're pretty certain that there won't be any water left in ten or twenty years, this might not be the best solution. Via the AP
Comments
(4)
Software Engineer
written by Steve , March 19, 2008
Is there a reason why they didn't use ground-source cooling?
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written by Shaun , March 19, 2008
This sounds like a variation on the water chiller approach to HVAC.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiller Also, just because water is evaporating does not necessarily mean it is an open system and that it drifts off in the atmosphere. Of course even if it was, it would fall as rain or condense as dew or fog somewhere. I'm putting a reverse cycle water chiller from UNICO in my new home. When coupled with their high velocity mini-duct system it is supposed to be quite an efficient HVAC system.
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written by Nelson , March 19, 2008
The use of cooling towers (using air to cool water through evaporation) is standard in most any large building.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooling_tower What sounds new is using chilled water to cool the floors. This technology is probably limited to very dry climates since condensation could form on the cooled floor in more humid climates.
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written by wesley bruce , March 19, 2008
They could use grey water or tertiary treated sewage instead of potable water. Salt water works in cooling towers if they are corrosion resistant. Desert cities are just a few miles of plumbing away from saving potable water for drinking only. Maybe someone should sell them a grey water system or does Wal-Mart sell grey water systems already?
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Science, technology gadgets and...baby seals. We're in a bit of an eco-mess, but we've got the brains to lick any problem. And that's why EcoGeek.org publishes up to ten stories daily about innovations that are saving the planet.
And if that sounds interesting to you, then congratulations, you're an EcoGeek.
Creepily enough, Wal-Mart is the largest private user of energy in the world. So they're pretty interested in using less energy, especially when it gets them good publicity at sites like EcoGeek.
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