Climate & Nature...

Ready for a new idea in air conditioning? A company called Coolerado says it sells the world's most efficient air conditioners. The governor of Colorado recently presented the company with the state's Governor’s Excellence in Renewable Energy Award for 2008.

I'll let Coolerado CEO Mike Luby tell the story:

Our units work on an amazingly small amount of power…about 600 watts, which is about a third of the power of a hair dryer. That’s as green as it gets these days in the A/C world and better than anything else on the market. And one of the reasons we got the award is we showed our systems can take air conditioning completely off the grid using a small amount of solar energy, about 4 standard solar panels worth.
 It was a great project. We put a Coolerado C60 A/C unit on a trailer (a C60 will cool a 3000 sq. ft. building), connected 4 solar panels over the top, and showed this system at trade shows, street fairs, and music concerts…we even went to the Democratic National Convention. What surprised people the most was not only the solar powered cool air they enjoyed right on the street, but that the hotter it got, the better it worked!

You can't purchase a Coolerado air conditioner directly from the company or any retailer, only approved installers, which are currently working in 10 US states, England and Singapore. Let's hope to see them expand quickly, though, so we can put their new technology to the test around the country!