Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter

The University of Technology's (UTech) energy unit is to conduct a pilot project in six households in Portmore to determine how solar energy could be used in cooling residential buildings, according to one official.

The Portmore project is among several research studies the unit is conducting. The research has two aspects, solar and bio-based energy.

"The investigation will see how solar energy can be used in refrigeration or in cooling on air conditioning in direct or indirect form," Dr Paul Campbell, a representative of UTech's energy unit, told The Gleaner last week.

Campbell said Portmore, the sprawling dormitory community in St Catherine parish, is to be the pilot location because of the overheating that residents there experience.

He told The Gleaner that the unit would be investigating four different technologies in this pilot and compare them with standard cooling (regular air conditioning).

Campbell said the unit intends to work with about six households in Portmore in similar structures so a reliable comparison on the climatic conditions experienced in those households over a certain period could be assessed.

Comfortable environment

"So what we want to know is if we can get a comfortable environ-ment without using electricity, can we just use solar energy using some novel technology to try and reduce the use of the air-conditioning system, which usually accounts for a lot of electric power consumption," Campbell said.

Meanwhile, the energy unit rep said the Computing and Engineering Extension Centre at UTech investi-gates and implements conservation strategies.

"The centre has a view of linking with industrial players, large consumers of power, and advising them on ways to modify their processes or their operations with a view of reducing their energy usage," he said.

Campbell revealed that the unit is also conducting research on photovoltaics, which involves direct conversion of radiation to electricity.

"We are doing investigations into optimising the efficiency of the photovoltaics conversion process for the Jamaican climate. They are normally used in temperate countries and they are developed with some sort of universal standards which don't necessarily give a true picture of its usefulness in the Jamaican environment, especially with regard to the temperature," he explained.

Campbell added: "So we are investigating how photovoltaics works in the Jamaican environment and how to improve its efficiency through different measures."

He, however, declined to say what stage the unit was as it relates to this research.

Meantime, Campbell said the unit was using biological agents to convert animal (chicken) waste into combustible gases. He noted that the unit has a plant in Linstead, St. Catherine, and was now in the testing process.

"The hope is that this gas would be able to offset some of the power that the farm utilises so they don't have to purchase all their power ... ," said Campbell.

petrina.francis@gleanerjm.com