Cool towers and ultra low energy evaporative cooling

Cooling energy can often be the largest electrical energy load of a building. Anyone who is building a new structure or modifying an existing one, and is concerned about energy issues, needs to be aware of the recent technological advances made in ultra low energy cooling. Cool towers and a new type of evaporative cooler, called the SOLAR CHILL, can reduce the cooling energy requirement from 70 to 90%.

Cool towers use gravity to move cool air without any fans, although fans may be used to reduce the size of the towers. In a nutshell, they do this by having a wet pad medium in the top of the tower. Since cool air is heavier than warm air, it will fall, creating its own airflow. Wind is not required, but will improve the airflow in a cool tower.

Generally cool towers without fans are from 20 to 30 feet tall and between 5 and 10 feet square (5'x 5', to 10' x 10'). Typically cool towers of this size will require from 10 to 150 watts, and will cool 1,000 to 2,500 square feet. Airflow for these cool towers will range from 2,500 to 8,000 CFM (cubic ft. per minute).

A new type of evaporative cooler, called the SOLAR CHILL, will also reduce the cooling energy by similar percentages. It is possible to have cooling bills as low as $5-10 per month and wattage's from 25 to 150. Both cool towers and the SOLAR CHILL units perform better without duct work, since they do not use lots of horsepower, nor develop much pressure required in ducted systems. These systems work best with a "direct discharge" design.

The floor plan can become a critical element in the design of the building and will require special attention to figure out how the air will reach all of the corners of the building. Both cool towers and SOLAR CHILL evaporative coolers use CelDek, the most efficient type of pad medium available today.