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How To Save Money and Help the Environment with Natural Gas Cooling
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Business New Haven
11/11/2002
By: Mitchell Young
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You know that old expression when things are going along well we're "coolin with gas."
Okay maybe we're pushing it – but back in the day we did say "cookin' with gas" to explain when things were really rolling along.
Indeed it wasn't so long ago that the blue flame of natural gas was seen as a high-tech fuel. As families replaced oil, coal and wood burning stoves, homes got cleaner and safer and costs of the highly regarded fuel were well contained through extensive regulation.
While natural gas made home and cities remarkably cleaner, its ubiquity in urban homes and factories worked against its advancement. Price controls and the resulting poor distribution kept natural gas supplies and use down.
That has changed as a deregulated marketplace has opened up new supplies and pipelines, including abundant fields in North and Central America.
With this new supply and its clean and efficient reputation, the image of natural gas is burning blue again, especially in Connecticut. Clean burning natural gas has become the fuel of choice for new electric plant generators trying to squeeze generation plants into crowded urban areas.
New energy options are being considered by Connecticut building owners, industrial managers and lawmakers to solve another major energy problem in the state, a shortage of transmission capability in some areas.
Electricity usage in summer is greatest due to air conditioning and other cooling needs. Natural gas has typically been in abundant supply in the summer because much gas capacity is used for heating.
Connecticut's challenge in meeting summer electricity usage especially in transmission challenged Fairfield County is re-igniting a new love with the old flame.
Natural gas air conditioning is itself not at all new. Natural gas cooling was the dominant technology through the 1930s and 1940s, but was replaced by electric cooling because of lower capital costs, high efficiency electric units, abundant electric generation and low electric rates.
By the 1970s electric air conditioning was growing and gas cooling declined and according to industry sources only five percent of cooling needs were fueled by natural gas by 1990. During the 1980s, the Japanese government backed efforts to develop more efficient natural gas cooling and by 1991 more than 30 percent of Japanese cooling was powered by natural gas.
Today there are a wide variety of units available that can cool a residential home or a major building or facility.
The gas industry claims significantly lower overall operating costs (fuel and maintenance) for comparable electric air conditioning, with models saving up to 25 percent to 50 percent in annual cooling costs, depending on climate.
The tight summer energy market, deregulation of electric rates and new gas technology suggests that building managers, food retailers, manufacturers and others look at natural gas cooling as a potential alternative.
Air conditioning, refrigeration and dehumidification are the basic commercial market applications for natural gas cooling.
According to industry sources natural gas has achieved about eight percent of the market share for space cooling, representing around 1.6 million installed tons, or about 200 billion cubic feet of gas annually.
There are several different types of natural gas-powered cooling equipment:
Absorption: Water is the refrigerant in a gas absorption system, rather than chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) or hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs). Absorption systems also differ from electric units in that the refrigerant is restored or regenerated by heating rather than by mechanical compression.
Engine-driven: In natural gas engine chillers, vapor compression refrigeration is driven by natural gas engines and combined with an advanced control system.
Desiccant dehumidification: Desiccant dehumidification systems remove humidity and toxins from the air and can help users save energy and improve indoor air quality and comfort. These systems are generally used with a chiller and/or heater and have a variety of commercial applications.
Natural gas supplies are stable and long-term prices can be negotiated with marketers. The state's gas utility industry has itself come up to speed on this technology and a wide variety of gas cooling facilities have been implemented in Connecticut. Users should contact their natural gas company for more detailed information on options and for help in choosing the most appropriate applications.
Solving Connecticut's air quality and energy needs requires a multi-faceted approach, in that environment natural gas cooling may have just become the "hot choice."
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