Solar powered air conditioning as a solution to reduce environmental pollution in Tunisia

In Tunisia, during the summer, the demand for electricity greatly increases because of the extensive use of air-conditioning systems. This is a source of major problems in the country's electricity supply and contributes to an increase Of CO2 emissions causing the environmental pollution and global warming. On the other hand, vapor compression air conditioning systems have impacts on stratospheric ozone depletion because of the chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) and the hydrofluorocarbon (HCFC) refrigerants. The use of solar energy to drive cooling cycles is attractive since the cooling load is roughly in phase with solar energy availability. To cool with solar thermal energy, one solution is to use an absorption chillier using water and lithium bromide solution. In this study we present a project aims at assessing the feasibility of solar powered absorption cooling technology under Tunisian conditions. A simulation with the TRNSYS program is carried out in order to select and size the different components of the solar machine to be installed (collectors, storage tank, heat exchangers...).