If you manage or own a business, eco cooling is a concept you need to know about. Put simply, it's a low-cost alternative to standard air conditioning. It ensures an office or business premises is a cool, pleasant environment in which to work.

You may, of course, question the need for air conditioning. After all, it makes up a small percentage of the UK's total energy use compared to countries such as America. But this is changing. The Chartered Institute of Building Services engineers forecasts a growth of 50% in UK air conditioning systems by 2030.

This growth is not necessarily a response to global warming. Instead, businesses are realising they need to control temperatures in their offices and other premises so staff can feel comfortable and work more efficiently.

You may have had to field complaints from staff about stuffy buildings and unpleasantly hot working conditions. These complaints are common, especially in the summer. Your difficulty, though, is finding the money to buy and run a refrigerant-based air-conditioning system.

On the other hand, you could already have such a system in place. You know what sort of bills you have to pay. On top of this, you might be unlucky enough to have a pre-2004 air-conditioning system reliant on HCFC  (hydrochlorofluorocarbon) refrigerant gas such as R22. From 2015, such gases will be illegal because they damage the ozone. You need to start thinking about a replacement.

Eco cooling is shorthand for an evaporative cooling system. This uses the heat in the air to evaporate water in a cooling unit. By removing the heat from the air, the temperature drops and the environment becomes cooler.

As you can imagine, the evaporation principle is straightforward and requires little energy. Eco cooling therefore has several key benefits over a standard air-conditioning system.

 

Eco cooling benefits

For any business, the most relevant benefit is cost. Depending on where you need your eco cooling system, the installation cost can be half that of an equivalent standard air-conditioning system. Where you really see the difference, though, is with running expenses.

Eco cooling technology gives you 35kW of cooling for just 1.5kW of electricity. To put this in perspective, you need 3kW of energy to boil an electric kettle. With eco cooling, you can cool an area of 200 square metres for 15p an hour. This means an evaporative cooling system uses 90% less energy than a refrigerant-based air-conditioning.

Other benefits of eco cooling include:

  • Low carbon use. When you cut your energy bills by switching to eco cooling, you reduce the carbon emissions of your business.
  • Clean air. Filter pads within an eco cooling system capture pollen grains. This ensures the air in your office or business premises is clean and healthier.
  • Safety. When you use an eco cooling system you have a very low risk of legionnaires' disease compared to standard air-conditioning. Around 30 million evaporative coolers are in use across the globe. The disease is not associated with any of them.
  • Simplicity. Eco cooling units are not complex. They are easy to maintain and do not require refrigerant gases.
  • Use in data centres. Eco cooling is proving to be an effective and cost-cutting way of keeping server temperatures cool in data centres.

 

Cool your business premises

Eco2 Energy's evaporative coolers are ideal for the UK. They allow for climate and water quality, and meet health and safety rules. Discover how to cool your business premises safely and for low cost. Contact Eco2Energy now on 01562 745 265 or enquiries@eco2-energy.co.uk