Solar Cooling Systems

Abstract

Due to a large amount of greenhouse gas emissions caused by burning traditional fossil energy resources, the environmental temperature has increased year by year, which has led to the yearly increase in the demand for air-conditioning. However, the conventional air-conditionings driven by grid power are the main products in the global market. Besides, using electric air-conditioning increases electrical pressure in peak times. In order to alleviate the contradiction between power demand and supply, more thermal power stations have been built, and more fossil fuels have been burnt in the past decades. In this context, more greenhouse gas has been discharged, and a vicious cycle has emerged between power generation and greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, the refrigeration driven by solar energy has become one of the promising approaches to reduce or partially replace conventional refrigeration systems under the pressure of environmental protection. Solar thermal refrigeration and solar photovoltaic refrigeration are two main refrigeration modes in the field of solar refrigeration.