An innovative "ice battery" system is being used to cool buildings and lower energy costs

[usonian]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/innovative-ice-battery-system-cool-buildings-lower-energy-costs/

New York — In the heart of Manhattan, four stories below ground, the iconic Eleven Madison skyscraper is being air-conditioned using ice.

"There's about 500,000 pounds of ice created every night," said Holly Paeper, president of Trane Technologies Commercial HVAC Americas business, the company responsible for installing the system it calls an ice battery. "And to put that into context, think about three city buses full of ice cubes."

The ice battery system freezes water at night when the cost of electricity is low. Then, during the day, when the price is high, the building is cooled with the previous night's ice instead of using expensive electricity. Trane says that this system can lower cooling costs by up to 40%.

"So, when everyone else is using their electricity in the middle of July to cool their building or to cool their homes, it's a big draw on the grid," Paeper said. "This building won't draw from that because it made its ice last night."

COOL!

"What's in your basement?"

[tulipsandroses]

1. That is a lot of ice! sounds similar to the As seen on tv Arctic Air evaporative cooler.

I did't have much faith it would work, but it is one of the best things I have purchased in recent years. Although you don't have to put ice in it, the instructions say for best results, it should be frozen. Or you can just fill it with ice water. There are some others that you can put cubes of ice in. This one, either freeze the inner thingy at night to use the next day, or pour cold water into it. I haven't tried freezing it yet. I was so skeptical when I bought it, I bought a regular fan as well, in case this did not work. The regular fan is going back to the store. It's portable so I can take it anywhere in the house instead of turning on the AC when it gets really hot.

[VMA131Marine]

2. This is not a new thing. Chicago has been doing it for decades

A large part of downtown Chicago is on a district cooling loop with a giant ice storage system.

https://wgntv.com/news/chicago-news/the-ice-machine-that-chills-chicagos-skyscrapers-inside-downtowns-district-cooling-systems/amp/

[markodochartaigh]

3. I'm sure that this seems like a great scientific advance.

However, Texas has the New York system beat hands down. Simply running water through a steel pipe coiled around the heart of a Texas Republican can lower the temperature of the water far below 0°K. The only difficulty is that since the hearts of Texas Republicans are so tiny scientists must use electron microscopes to work with them.

[usonian]

4. Nyuk Nyuk.