Green solution: Sun rays to beat the heat

VADODARA: This new innovation uses heat to cool air. It's a solar-powered air-conditioner, an eco-friendly brain-wave of solar experts Deepak Gadhia and Dr Vikram Patel.
This 100-ton AC system will soon cool temperatures at a 160-bed hospital of Muni Seva Ashram (MSA) in Goraj, making it the first hospital premise in Gujarat, and perhaps even in the country, to use such green technology.
Interestingly, this innovation sprung up from a casual conversation between Patel, chairman of MSA, and Gadhia, whose company had already put in place a solar steam cooking system in MSA. "The chairman mentioned that our system is using solar energy for cooking, but can we use the same to cool the air. The idea was taken seriously as it made sense. We discovered that such technology existed 50 years ago, when there used to be refrigerators running on kerosene lamps. The heat of these kerosene lamps were used for cooling," said Gadhia.
The duo then submitted the project to Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) at the Centre through Gujarat Energy Development Agency (GEDA) a year ago. The total cost of the project is approximately Rs 1.3 crore, with MNRE agreeing to give subsidy of Rs 50 lakh through GEDA, and rest of the cost borne by MSA.
MSA already has a Vapour Absorption Chillers (VAC) which runs on steam generated in wood-fired boiler. The challenge was to replace wood-fired steam with solar-generated steam. "The hospital was using 1,000 kg of wood to generate steam, costing it about Rs 12 lakh per annum. With solar AC, we are using 100 parabolic dishes that will collect sun rays to boil water and generate 400 kg steam per hour. So, instead of wood, solar energy is utilized to run the existing VAC system," Gadhia added.
Apart from the economical reasons, environment protection was a factor for MSA to go for the solar AC. "We save 1,000 kg of wood per day which when burned emits 3,000 kg of carbon dioxide," explained Gadhia, trustee of MSA. This is the second innovative idea after the duo put in place a solar crematorium at Waghodiya.