A breakthrough Australian airconditioning system promises to cut a building’s energy use by almost half and could lead to smaller power bills for many households.
Melbourne-based start-up company Conry Tech says its new BullAnt technology is about 70 per cent more efficient than conventional systems, offering cheaper cooling without sacrificing comfort.
“Sixty per cent of a whole building’s power goes to airconditioning, so it ends up being almost half the building’s total power that we can eliminate,” the company’s CEO and co-founder Sam Ringwaldt told www.20304050.best on Wednesday at Tech23 conference in Sydney.
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How energy is saved
Ringwaldt said the name BullAnt reflects the system’s design — “small but powerful” — with multiple compact units replacing the single, massive airconditioning unit that usually powers an entire building.
They are tucked into ceilings or cupboards and linked by water pipes, allowing precise room-by-room control.
Even in the same room, people in different areas can set different temperatures for the maximum level of comfort.
“I’m sure everyone’s experienced sitting in an office with their jumper on because it’s way too cold, or having a fan on their desk because it’s too hot when the sun’s shining on the window,” Ringwaldt said.
“What we’re trying to do is break up a building — rather than one homogeneous whole — into many, many discrete zones on every floor, on every level and we treat them all independently.
“And yet we are still sharing energy between them. I can take the heat out of that room and I can put it into a different room and save a lot of energy on having to cool this one and heat that one.”
‘Surprisingly not’ more costly
Even though the BullAnt system uses more units across a building, Ringwaldt said the cost is “surprisingly not” higher.
By manufacturing both the compressors and controllers in-house, Conry Tech says it can keep prices down.
“We’re actually trying to bring it to market at the same price as some of the lowest-cost systems so people have a very clear choice,” Ringwaldt said.
He added retrofitting an existing building could be more expensive upfront, but the energy savings would cover the cost within one to two years.
For now, Conry Tech is targeting commercial buildings, with units expected to be available in about two years.
Larger residential homes, such as three- or four-bedroom houses, would follow, with technology for smaller homes likely to be available in four to five years.
Manufacturing outlook
With global airconditioning demand set to explode — an estimate of 860,000 units installed daily, or 10 every second, until 2050 — Conry Tech sees itself as one of the few true innovators.
But the company says manufacturing in Australia needs support.
“While there’s a lot of talk about making manufacturing happen in Australia, again, there’s very little action that’s actually happening at the coalface that’s going to enable that, and the industry is almost dead,” Ringwaldt said, citing a lack of government backing, a declining manufacturing base, suppliers shutting down, and a brain drain of talent overseas.
“With our previous ventures, we’ve had foreign governments give us money to move overseas … and we are being foolishly patriotic, we’ve come back here to do it in Australia.
“If we reach a point where we can no longer succeed in Australia, then we will once again be forced to move away again.”
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