Solar Powered Air Conditioning Can Reduce Fuel Costs by up to 20 per cent

Recently, it was leaked to the press that an environmentally friendly car manufacturer would be releasing one of their new vehicles with solar-powered air conditioning panels on the roof. It’s one of those ideas that makes you think, “Of course! That makes so much sense, why didn’t we think about that before?” When do we need air conditioning? When it’s hot. What make things hot? The sun. Ergo, using the sun to produce air conditioning for our vehicles is an absolutely brilliant idea.

The solar powered panels will be placed on the roof of the car and will provide 2 to 5 kilowatts of electricity. This will help people save money on their fuel expenses, and if enough people insist on having this as an option on their cars, it could make a real difference on the strain cars have on our natural resources.

The reason that air conditioning uses more fuel is that it requires more horsepower from your engine. More B.T.U.s of energy are needed to run all the necessary fans and compressors for the air conditioning which drains the fuel faster. On an extremely hot day, using the air conditioner can cost you up to 20 per cent more fuel! ( A moderate day will increase your gas consumption from three to ten per cent.)

The bad news is that rolling down your windows and using nature’s air conditioning (i.e. wind), isn’t a viable solution either. Driving fast, or doing any highway driving with the windows rolled down, increases the drag on the vehicle which then also increases fuel consumption. Clearly, the only way to keep cool and save money against the soaring costs of fuel is to come up with a better alternative.

Using solar powered panels as a viable alternative for producing our energy has real potential. In the past, it has been said that using solar power is not an effective use of resources as it doesn’t produce enough energy to justify the costs involved. But, if we were to all use solar powered panels in small ways, a difference on our power grid would definitely be felt. Maybe everyone has a solar powered skylight built into their roofs, or maybe the panels could be used to help power a gasoline motorboat. Or, we could use the technology for our lawn mowers. The possibilities are endless, and the benefits are staggering. Can you think of any small ways that solar power could be used on a mass scale?

7 Responses to “Solar Powered Air Conditioning Can Reduce Fuel Costs by up to 20 per cent”

1. Bret Says:
   July 15th, 2008 at 11:57 am

   Finally, a sensible implementation of solar cells on a car with an immediate payoff. Of course, the critics will want to calculate the ROI before praising this innovation. I argue, however, that too much emphasis on ROI stifles the adoption of worthwhile technology. Don’t get me wrong, ROI calculations are valuable but often are nothing more than an argument for maintaining the “status quo” for energy creation and consumption. At some point we have to realize that we’ll all have to give a little to gain a lot in the long run.

2. Paul B Says:
   July 15th, 2008 at 2:10 pm

   First, wouldn’t the roof mounted solar panels create drag? Probably more drag than rolling the windows down.
   Second, the air conditioning compressor is a mechanical device. How is this electrical device going to turn the compressor?
   Third (and last), how efficiently will it cool the car? I live in Phoenix, Arizona and it’s 109 today. Last week it was up to 113 (and it’s only July!) We have lots of sun, which is great for solar panels, but we also have lots of heat. I guess anything mounted to the roof would shade the car thereby making it cooler (and keeping the bird crap off the paint).

3. Reduce Fuel Costs Says:
   July 15th, 2008 at 5:22 pm

   Interesting use of solar panels. I would think that 2 to 5 kilowatts would require rather large panels.

   They would have to be either curved to fit the way most roofs are shaped or the roof would have to be flat, which would sacrifice some of the aerodynamics.

4. Mike King Says:
   July 16th, 2008 at 6:03 am

   Here’s the article talking specifically about this car everyone:
   http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-9985501-1.html?hhTest=1&tag=cnetfd.mt

5. Stoney deGeyter Says:
   July 16th, 2008 at 10:17 am

   It’s an interesting idea, but what’s the cost (monetarily and in energy to produce the solar panels). Could be a case of spending an extra $1000 to save $500 worth of gas.

6. Supernetuser Says:
   July 16th, 2008 at 12:31 pm

   If more people started using solar panels, then more people would pretty much be off the PG&E grid, leaving people self-sufficient but no, big gov’t doesn’t want that one. This isn’t cost effective.

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