NIGHTCOOL: Deployment of FREECOOL+ for night cooling strategies in Africa

气候变化在肯尼亚等国造成的令人震惊的影响，突出表明了在非洲制定和加速提供净零解决方案的首要地位。除了气温上升外，洪水、干旱和风暴的增加给城市和农村地区造成了严重的社会经济后果。虽然非洲对全球变暖的4%贡献与其他国家相比，非洲的碳排放量（14.5亿吨）较低，现有的温暖气候意味着它不适合科普气候变化的后果，已经经历了对环境有害的碳排放的严重后果。为了通过支持非洲向净零解决方案过渡来缓解气候变化的影响，创新的无源技术的发展是必要的。该项目针对传统上以空调使用为主的制冷行业，约占肯尼亚温室气体排放量的四分之一。肯尼亚政府计划到2030年将碳排放量减少32%。在国家行动计划和国家冷却计划中，重点是开发和推广被动式空气冷却技术，该技术可以完全取代或大大减少对能源密集型空调的需求（应对温度升高）。FREECOOL+基于专利技术，首先在能源催化剂赠款下开发，并在肯尼亚西北部试用。该系统专门设计为母产品的低成本替代品（FREECOOL），以满足非洲市场的需求，需要一个屋顶安装风塔，热管和冷水槽，以不断冷却进入空气，提供新鲜空气供应和凉爽的环境高达15 °C。FREECOOL+的测试和演示，以加速采用和广泛推广，特别是集中在夜间冷却。该系统将在城市和农村地区的各种现实环境（包括住宿区/办公室/医疗设施）中进行试验。BRE的独立验证表明，FREECOOL+有能力在夜间实现足够的空气冷却，而无需任何机械通风的支持。此外，FREECOOL+与空调机组协同工作，可以大幅减少电力需求，降低碳排放，减轻过度紧张的电网压力。这是一项影响力大的颠覆性技术提案，为削减/降低肯尼亚的碳排放提供了可行的渠道;吸引非洲市场作为一个低成本，有效的解决方案。项目领导人将自由运行的建筑，一家在被动通风技术方面拥有丰富经验和专业知识的中小型企业，与肯尼亚的谢菲尔德大学和Enso Ventures合作。

The primacy of developing and accelerating the delivery of Net Zero solutions in Africa is underscored by the alarming impact of climate change in countries such as Kenya. In addition to temperature rises, increased floods, droughts and storms have dealt harsh socio-economic consequences in both urban and rural areas. Whilst Africa's 4% contribution to global warming(1.45 billion tonnes) is low in comparison to other nations, the existing warm-climate means that it is poorly suited to cope with the consequences of climate change, already experiencing intense fallouts of environmentally damaging carbon emissions.To temper the effects of climate change by supporting Africa to transition to Net Zero solutions, the development of innovative passive technology is necessitated. This project targets the cooling industry, traditionally dominated by AC usage, responsible for approximately a quarter of Kenya's GHG emissions. In alignment with the Kenyan Government's plans to cut carbon emissions by 32% by 2030\. and the National Action Cooling Plan, focus is on the development and expansion of a passive air-cooling technology that can entirely replace, or significantly reduce, the rising demand (in response to temperature increases) for energy-intensive air-conditioning. FREECOOL+ is based on patented technology, first developed under an Energy Catalyst Grant and trialled in north-west Kenya. The system, which has been specifically designed as a lower-cost alternative to the parent product (FREECOOL), to meet the needs of the African market, entails a roof mounted wind tower, heat pipes and a cold sink to continually cool the incoming air, providing fresh air supply and cool environments by up to 15 °C.This project will further the development, testing and demonstration of FREECOOL+ to accelerate uptake and widespread roll-out, particularly focussed on night-time cooling. The system will be trialled in a variety of real-world settings (including accommodation blocks/offices/healthcare facilities) in both urban and rural areas. Independent verification from the BRE indicated that FREECOOL+ has capability to achieve sufficient air-cooling at night-time, without support from any mechanical ventilation. Furthermore, working in tandem with AC units, FREECOOL+ can dramatically reduce power-demands, lowering carbon emissions and mitigating pressure on over-stretched power-grids.This is a high-impact, disruptive technology proposal, that presents a viable conduit to cut/lowering Kenya's carbon emissions; appealing to African markets as a low-cost, effective solution.Project leaders will be Free Running Buildings, an SME with extensive experience and expertise in passive ventilation technology, in partnership with the University of Sheffield and Enso Ventures in Kenya.