What is aerothermal energy?
It is considered a clean and very efficient source of energy since it is the energy that gives life to air conditioning and heating devices.
The procedure for aerothermal energy consists of a heat pump that draws air from the environment. 
Some consider this energy to be renewable, but the Basque Institute of Competitiveness maintains that this can only be affirmed when aerothermal reaches the minimum performance of 4.5 in COP (Coefficient of Performance).
This means that for every kilowatt-hour (kW/h) of electricity, consumed with this kind of equipment, you can generate 4 or 5 kW/thermal, which is a remarkable ratio, no doubt.
The cooling and heating process is given as follows:
- When it works for heating, the aerothermal extracts heat from the outside air and injects it into the interior.
- When operating for cooling, the opposite phenomenon occurs, i.e., it extracts heat from the indoor air and releases it to the outside.
Most air conditioners also extract water vapor and expel it to the outside in the form of liquid water.
Advantages and disadvantages of aerothermal energy
What are the advantages of aerothermal energy?
The company Airzone, a specialist in the subject, considers that the advantages of aerothermal energy are the following:
- Obtain most of the energy from the air (around 70%) and only a small fraction of the electricity.
- They have a high level of energy efficiency and performance.
- They have a high level of energy efficiency and performance.
- Furthermore, they are valid for both summer and winter (air conditioning and heating).
- The maintenance costs are very low. No waste or fumes are generated.
- They do not use fossil fuels and are powered by only one type of energy.
- The installation is normally simple.
- The return on investment is.
- The return on investment occurs in a short time in most cases.
What are the disadvantages?
The disadvantages are:
- The initial investment for this type of installation is generally high.
- The installation of aerothermal equipment usually involves increasing the contracted power of electricity.
- It is not advisable in very cold climatic areas, since its performance is lower.
- It requires an outdoor unit, which can be a nuisance in terms of location and aesthetics.
How is aerothermal energy produced?
The technology that uses air energy as the basis for air conditioning spaces is a highly efficient and totally clean source of energy.
So the aerothermal heat pump captures renewable energy from the air, and that energy is used in our homes through the outdoor unit that sends it to an indoor unit.
The indoor unit heats the water and produces heat.
In summer, the reverse phenomenon occurs, as the heat in our home is sent outdoors to produce air conditioning.
In what units is it measured?
It is an instrument that offers the possibility of measuring different magnitudes in the same device.
The most common ones are voltmeter, ammeter and ahmmeter.
The multimeter is frequently used by the technical staff of the entire range of electronics and electricity. 
To measure energy, the same units as the magnitude of work are used.
In the International System of Units (SI) the unit of work and energy is the joule(J), after the English physicist James Prescott Joule (1818-1889).
The Joule effect is the effect relating to the energy dissipated by a material through which electric current flows.
In physics, the Joule-Thomson effect or Joule-Kelvin effect is the process in which the temperature of a system decreases or increases by allowing the system to expand freely, keeping constant the amount of energy the system exchanges with its surroundings.
Energy is measured in watts, kilowatts, and megawatts; one kilowatt equals one thousand watts and one megawatt equals one thousand kilowatts, i.e., one million watts.
How is aerothermal energy transformed?
The key is the use of heat pumps. Even at low temperatures, contains energy that is absorbed by the refrigerant circulating in the circuit between the outdoor unit and the indoor unit.
The outdoor unit performs the function of the evaporator, giving cold to the environment in winter, while the indoor unit performs the function of condenser, giving the heat to the water in the heating and/or domestic hot water circuit.
Aerothermal energy produces more energy than it consumes, but this depends on the quality of the equipment and its energy rating.
How is aerothermal energy stored?
As we have explained, the aerothermal consists of extracting energy from the outside air and using it in the air conditioning of homes.
With this technology, it is possible to offer three main functions, heating, cooling, and domestic hot water (DHW).
For heating, low-temperature radiators, splits or thermodiffusion, and underfloor heating to produce heat. are used.
For cooling, also thermodiffusers or solutions such as cooling walls or ceiling are used.
The sanitary hot water is stored in tanks and can be obtained by double-stage heating, among other solutions.
What do we need to produce aerothermal power?
- A heat pump is needed to extract ambient air.
- The heat pump must be of the air-to-air or air-to-water type.
- The air-to-air type pump indicates the external medium (air) with which the machine exchanges heat.
- The air-to-water pump indicates the internal medium.
- The air-to-water pump indicates the internal medium.
- The entire system is contained within a single device that produces cold air, hot air, and sanitary water.
- The unit consists of an outdoor unit, which is the compressor, and an indoor unit, which communicates by electrical cables and fluid tubes.
Is it an energy-efficient type?
You only pay for the electricity consumption, which can be only 22% of the energy provided for a machine with a 4.5 efficiency.
Aerothermal heating is 25% cheaper than gas heating.
The same equipment can carry air conditioning and sanitary hot water.
Is it a renewable or non-renewable energy
Heat pumps heat aerothermal pumps offer a very high COP (Coefficient of Performance), but the efficiency of the system will depend on the outside temperature, being inversely proportional to the difference in reservoir temperature.
If we want to take advantage of this technology, it is highly recommended to combine it with a radiant floor heat distribution system.
These installations offer excellent performance with low-temperature air conditioning systems such as heat pumps.
The low energy consumption of this technology, compared to conventional heating systems with boilers, categorizes the aerothermal as a renewable system because it reduces CO2 emissions and improves sustainability.
Who invented aerothermal energy and when?
Air conditioning was invented by Willis Haviland Carrier, born November 26, 1876, in Angola New York; he was an electrical engineer and at the age of 25 developed his first air conditioning and heating apparatus. .
At the outbreak of World War I, he decided to create his own company with $32,000 and named it Carrier Engineering Corporation..
His first clients were major ones, including Madison Square Garden and the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.
Carrier installed the first domestic air in 1914 in a house in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 1930, he set up his company Tokyo Carrier in Japan, which is today the largest air conditioning market in the world.
Carrier died in 1950, but in the year 2000, his company had a capital of 8 billion dollars and a staff of 45 thousand workers.
Willis Haviland Carrier is considered the driving force behind the economic boom in the American Southeast, as his invention meant that people could move in areas considered uninhabitable in the American summer.
Me gusta colaborar con esta página porque desde bien joven me ha encantado el funcionamiento de la naturaleza y la biología. Tenía claro que quería estudiar algo relacionado con estos temas y por eso me acabé decidiendo por Biología.
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