Utilities an Ally in Touting Cheaper Alternative to Electric Models : Gas Air-Conditioner Makers Fire Up Their Sales Pitch
When it is summertime, air conditioning may make the living easy but it also makes it expensive for consumers who pay the bills and electric utilities trying to cope with a huge surge in demand.
One slowly emerging solution may be gas-powered air conditioners, which can be 30% to 60% cheaper to run than electric-powered models, although the initial purchase price is usually 15% to 20% higher.
While the market for gas models is so small now as to be almost unmeasurable, improvements in technology and a growing interest from electric utilities could boost sales to 15% of the total market for air conditioners in the next five to 10 years, according to some members of the industry.
But U.S. manufacturers of gas air conditioners acknowledge that they must overcome a lack of awareness on the part of consumers and battle a well-capitalized electric air-conditioner industry with an extensive dealer network before their product can become commonplace.
“It’s been very tough,” said Brian Pardo, president of 3-year-old ASK Co., formerly American Solar King, in Waco, Tex. “The industry’s been slow to build because there is a general unawareness that there is an alternative” to electric air conditioners, he said.
Outside Help
Most gas air-conditioner makers do not have the money to mount a campaign that would make their products a household word, but they are getting support from two industries that do have the funds, natural gas and electric utilities.
For example Tenneco Inc., a leading natural gas supplier, and Consolidated Edison Co., New York City’s electric utility, are touting the benefits of a gas air conditioner based on the latest technology from Tecogen Inc.
ASK has similar marketing arrangements with several utilities and natural gas companies in the West.
And the Chicago-based Gas Research Institute, a research organization funded by natural gas companies, has poured millions of dollars into the improvement of the technology.
“It’s still a guarded kind of a market, although we think the interest and willingness to learn about it (gas-powered air conditioners) is there,” said Richard Arcadi, director of gas and steam energy services for Con Ed.
The utility plans to mount a major campaign to promote the Tecogen air conditioners, on the hope that their adoption will reduce the huge demand for electricity that Con Ed is faced with for only three or four months of the year.
Demand in Summer
On a Wednesday afternoon during the recent heat wave scorching parts of the country, Con Ed output hit a record peak of 9,800 megawatts. “Now you know that has got to all be air conditioners when we hit a peak at 3 in the afternoon,” Arcadi said.
If the utility can reduce demand, it may be able to avoid spending several million dollars on new capacity to meet a demand that occurs only in the summer, he said.
Gas-fueled air conditioners are run by an engine, a much smaller version of the one found in a car, rather than an electric motor. The advantage there, said Tecogen President Ravinder Sakhuja, is that engines can be speeded up or down whereas motors run at a continuous rate.
“If you have a 100-degree (Fahrenheit) system and the temperature hits 125 degrees once, you can always overspeed an engine for a short period,” he said. A motor however, would have to be built large enough to handle the extra demand, or not be able to meet it.
The Tecogen system, one of the newest on the market, uses a type of technology known as vapor compression. Designed for large office or apartment buildings, its Tecochill conditioner uses a modified marine engine to drive a compressor that removes the heat, in the form of moisture, from the air.
Tecogen, 72% owned by Thermo Electron Corp., has installed 15 systems to date and has orders for 52 more from 10 gas and electric utilities.
The company ASK’s Energymaster system was originally designed as a solar-powered system, but when tax credits for solar power were eliminated, the company modified it to house a gas boiler in place of solar heating coils.
Environmental Issue
Because the system uses only slowly turning wheels--no compressor, condenser or refrigerant--it runs extremely quietly, the company says.
Pardo said the system also is an effective weapon against indoor air pollution because it continuously introduces fresh air into the house or building.
Gas air conditioners also have an environmental advantage over electric air conditioners, which use a form of chlorofluoro carbons for cooling, a chemical that many scientists believe is destroying the ozone layer. Last year an international treaty was signed in Montreal ordering countries to dramatically reduce CFC use, and gas-powered air conditioners either do not use the chemical or use one of the least harmful forms.
“I think that issue is going to be a very strong marketing tool for us eventually,” Sakhuja said.
