Solar cooling is one of the most promising solutions to meet the growing cooling demand. The selection of solar cooling systems depends heavily on building specifications, climatic conditions, technical features, and other characteristics. Their technological maturity, economic feasibility, overall performance, environmental impact, compactness, and applicability are reviewed and evaluated. The parameters of the selected solar cooling systems are first optimized by applying various energy criteria, mainly the solar cooling fraction. To demonstrate their feasibility and the potential of using renewable energy sources to satisfy the cooling loads, the comparison of the most favorable system configurations is carried out. Regarding the solar cooling fraction, systems with lower cooling loads are more desirable. However, based on levelized cost of cooling, solar cooling systems that cover higher cooling loads seem to be more favorable. Compared to solar electric cooling systems, solar thermal systems have on average 18 % higher solar cooling fraction and 23 % higher carbon dioxide emission savings. Nevertheless, the former have proven to be the more economically viable option. Considering the full potential of solar cooling technologies, the assessment of both the additional electricity and heat is essential for any comparison.
|
