I investigated this topic in depth for a major utility 25 years ago during the last energy crisis and I doubt that the conclusions have changed much- solar air conditioning is the least beneficial and most capital intensive use of solar energy conversion. If you have nearly cloud-free skies over 90% of the time and a large area for a solar collector field then you may be able to utilize a solar air conditioner utilizing the absorption cycle. On the other hand solar water heating is relatively easy to cost justify. Check these links for more info:
Hi Folks,
I am an Electrical Engineer living in Thailand and I am interested in manufacturing Domestic Solar Air conditioning units. Annual daily temperatures vary betwen 27 and 33C.
Primarily I am interested in units with a primary refrigerant in the solar collector(not photovoltaic) and I would like to store somehow excess heat gained during the day for nightime airconditioning. The control system would have to decide how much energy to divert or obtain from the storage system as well as deciding supplying aircondition needs. My partner has previous experience in the machanical aspect of this type of system in Central Europe, hence this is obviously where we will focus our efforts initialy. My job is to calculate sizing and control requirements and marketing which I hope will be lots of fun. I found this forum through a search in Google for Solar airconditioning.
Should we start a "forum" on Solar Airconditioning?