for Cold Climate Housing and much more

Last Updated: , Created: Sunday, January 25th, 2004

Finally, a revolution in air conditioning!

Ecologix Heating Technologies Inc
221 Holiday Inn Drive #2
Cambridge, Ontario N3C 3T2
Tel: 519-658-4330

I know I'm always lecturing you about heating for a cold climate, but air conditioning is very important in Canada and especially in the US. In fact, the peak electrical load in Ontario is in August. So what's so new in air conditioning? There are two aspects to cooling air: humidity and temperature. Almost all air conditioners concentrate on temperature, reducing humidity a bit as they operate. In the first photo, I have two equal sized sponges in my hands, one soaking wet and the other dry. It is obvious it will be easier to heat or cool the dry sponge than the heavy wet one. If we can dry out the air, it is easier to cool, and even feels comfortable at a higher, dryer temperature -- meaning you may not even try to go down to a cooler temperature if you are comfortable.

E-co-logix from Cambridge, Ontario, decided to concentrate on the humidity and find out what would happen. It turns out they can get the room far more comfortable, far faster, and for less energy cost. It's just one of those things, like: who would ever want a car with front wheel drive?

Most air conditioners have a single speed fan, or perhaps two, maximum three settings, for fan speed but no humidity control. We size the air conditioner according to the size of the house. Whereas, it really should be sized according to both the volume of the house and the general humidity level in your city, such as hot and balmy Fort Lauderdale, Florida or near a lake in Ontario.

The E-co-logix air conditioner is first sized to your house. A temperature control turns the unit on and off, but a humidity sensor coupled to a little computer chip runs the fan speed according to the humidity levels in the household air, continuously reorienting the unit to today's humidity conditions. It slows the fan way down if the air is wet. This causes the air to flow over the cold coils much slower, staying in contact longer and dropping far more water than a unit that has the air whipping by. This de-humidification process cools the air a little, but primarily reduces the humidity quickly. As the humidity drops, the fan speed picks up, cooling the air faster and faster. First they squeeze the water out, then they cool the air down -- and by reversing these priorities from the traditional approach, this little Canadian company is stealing the Florida air conditioning market. Anyplace the summer air is humid, this is the air conditioner for you!

Keywords: Alternative, Invention, Air Conditioning, Ecology, Air Quality, Environmental, Innovations, Cooling

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