Scientists from the Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology Empa, the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, the Haute Ecole d’Ingénierie et de Gestion du Canton de Vaud and the Paul Scherrer Institute are teaming up with industrial partners such as the Elektrizitätswerk der Stadt Zürich power plant to work on an interdisciplinary research project. The goal of the so-called THRIVE (Thermally driven adsorption heat pumps for substitution of electricity and fossil fuels) project is to develop a novel adsorption heat pump.
The partners explained in a press release that the new technology requires very little electricity compared to today’s compression heat pumps. Instead, it uses waste heat from computer centres, power stations or renewable sources such as solar power, to air-condition buildings. Computer centres could then practically cool themselves using their own waste heat, the press release explained.
Through extensive use of the adsorption heat pumps, electricity demand for heating and cooling purposes could be reduced by up to 65 per cent by 2040. This would correspond to savings of around 1.8 million tonnes of CO2, explained Bruno Michel, manager of the Advanced Micro Integration group at IBM Research in Rüschlikon. The joint project, which is being supported by the National Research Programme “Energy Turnaround” (NRP 70) of the Swiss National Science Foundation, will thereby contribute to the government’s “Energy Strategy 2050”.