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Welcome to the Cool-Tech Blog
In our blog, we will have regular updates on all Cool-Tech Ltd news, projects and services we’ve been working on throughout the year
LED lighting terms explained
Want to light up your business? Maybe you want to illuminate a sports field or a warehouse, road works or a workshop, a garage or a factory? The brilliantly bright LED Floodlight T300A delivers bright, energy efficient, flexible lighting in so many situations. Let’s dive into the spec. Exploring the LED Floodlight T300A model Choose from a floodlight with a wattage of either 75, 150, 240, 300 0r 480W, each driven with a top quality driver made by Meanwell, a respected manufacturer with an excellent reputation. The light source is also top quality, provided by Lumileds, a world leader in LED lighting technology and products. ‘Luminous flux’ – also called luminous power – measures the perceived power of light. It’s different from radiant flux, which the measures the total power of electromagnetic radiation. Luminous flux can be adjusted to cater for the sensitivity of the human eye to different wavelengths of light, which varies. It basically measures the total quantity of light energy emitted per unit time. In this case, the luminous flux is 140LM/W plus or minus 5. The CRI – Colour Rendering Index - measures how natural colours appear under artificial white light compared to sunlight. In this case it’s Ra>70/80, where the value given to natural sunlight is 100. A CRI of 70/80, typical of white LEDs, means the colours you see under the light are lifelike and accurate. The CCT – Correlated Colour Temperature, measures how yellow or blue the light appears, in other words its visual warmth or coolness. In this case it’s 2700 - 6500 Kelvin. 2700K is a warm, incandescent colour and 5000K or higher gives you a bright, white daylight colour. The rated voltage is AC 100-240V~, 50/60 Hz. This reveals the maximum voltage at which the device can safely be operated without damage or failure. And the Power Factor is >0.95, the ratio between true power and apparent power – you can read more about it here. There’s a choice of beam angle, which means you can point the light in the exact direction you want it: 45, 75 or 120 degrees. The IP Grade is IP65, which means it has complete protection from accidental contact, protection against dust (dust tight), and protection against jets of water from any direction. Read more about IP codes here. An aluminium cooling fin acts as the heat sink, and you can use the light in temperatures as cool as minus 40 C and as hot as approximately 60C. LED Floodlight T300A testing protocols This kind of kit needs to be tested thoroughly by experts to make sure it does that it says on the tin. In this case the light has gone through a Salt Spray Test proving it has good corrosion resistance. UV Ageing tests revealed it works normally without discolouration, yellowing of the lens, or rusting of the bracket over an impressive 1440 hours of testing. The Waterproof Test is carried out at least 2 hours before shipment and the High-Low Temperature Test proves it works perfectly at the temperatures we’ve mentioned above, a really wide range. Vibration Testing reveals the LED Floodlight T300A handles different sorts of vibrations well, from transport to installation and accrual use. And the Withstand Voltage Test proves it will handle unexpected surges through short circuits, operator errors, faults, breakdowns and accidents safely. Check out the whole LED Floodlight T300A spec Click here to read the fine details behind the different models , see diagrams of the light distribution curve, see results of the Integrating Sphere test report including Spectrum Parameters, and see the results of the Temperature Rising Report. At the end you’ll find the model numbers and details about the packaging, weight, and quantities per carton. Any questions about LED floodlighting? Want to light up your life? We’re always happy to help. We have the engineering expertise you need to get answers to all your LED floodlight questions.
Most businesses are temperature-sensitive, simply because almost every company has people working on the premises and people need to be comfortable to perform well. Some are more affected by the heat and the cold than others thanks to things they do, make and sell. Every building has different applications and uses. If you run a business with special temperature needs and don’t know where to start with planning for a climate change future, this article explores four of the best resources to help you figure out what kind of weather’s coming your way. At the end we suggest some truly impressive energy-saving heating and cooling solutions for the modern world. The Bank of England’s Climate Transition Plan The Bank of England’s new Climate Transition Plan for England is based on the findings of the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment, and aligns with the UK’s 2050 Net Zero aim as well as the organisation’s own mission. The Bank’s Climate Transition Plan marks the first time they’ve set out their Physical Greenhouse Gas Emissions Target: to limit global warming to no more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. It reveals their strategic approach to achieving physical net zero by 2040, a decade earlier than originally planned. They’ve released the plan because ‘transition plans are an important tool for providing stakeholders with the information necessary to assess the strategy, ambition, and credibility of climate commitments’. In other words it’s a useful guide for other businesses wanting to address climate risks and make the most of the opportunities. Bearing in mind climate transition planning is at an early stage, they’ll be continually developing and refining the plan based on the science – so it’ll always be up to date. Well worth keeping an eye on. Insight from Carbon Brief The Carbon Brief website is a UK-based site all about the latest developments in climate science, climate policy and energy policy. Their articles are clear, data-driven and packed with graphics to help everyone, including business owners and risk managers, improve their understanding of climate change. Another useful resource to inform business planning, New Local Authority Climate Service The Met Office’s Local Authority Climate Service has been created for councils but the information is excellent for any business wanting to understand the potential climate change risks in their immediate area. This interactive tool also provides information to help and support you as you adapt to the coming changes, enabling good decision-making and informed climate adaptation planning. The Met Office’s City Packs The UK Met Office website is packed with excellent information including a collection of City Packs giving you high-level, non technical local summaries of various cities’ future climate. This robust climate information helps city decision makers plan for the future, and will also prove useful to businesses in the cities covered. Climate-friendly heating and cooling Evaporative cooling tech is the modern way to stay cool as things heat up, technology that savvy businesses are fitting to help them prepare for the climate changes to come. Today’s smart electric heating is a highly energy-effective way to warm up and stay warm without breaking the bank. Together they save a fortune in energy by heating and cooling your place super-efficiently. Get in touch to talk about finance-friendly, climate-friendly ways to keep your business running at peak efficiency whatever the weather.
A powerful climate-wrecker
Cool poultry means better productivity
An evaporative cooler system is a brilliant way to keep a premises comfortable to work in and systems fully operational, no matter how hot it gets outdoors. Here are some of the questions we’re regularly asked about this unusually powerful and highly cost effective way to cool business premises. How many evaporative coolers do you need for your building? A typical ECP down discharge unit will deliver cooling over a large circular area as large as 15m diameter, but our technical specialists will evaluate your place and let you know exactly what’s required for your particular circumstances. How much will the system cut the temperature? It depends on the ambient conditions but even when it’s hot outside, the maximum temperature indoors won’t exceed a comfortable, pleasant 25C. How much water and electricity does the system use? Water-wise a unit will use up 40L an hour over 24 hours in hot weather, and your electricity usage comes to 1.5kW an hour. Are evaporative cooler system units noisy? They’re so low-key you probably won’t notice the sound at all when in an industrial environment. But if you need things quieter, there are things we can do to subdue any sound. The system uses water – so does the air get soggy and humid? No, because the fresh, cool moving air provides a comfortable feel, not at all humid. And the system’s clever controls purge all the cooled air at the end of each day so humidity can’t build up anyway. This means there’s also no condensation, as long as ventilation is properly balanced. Is Legionnaires’ disease a risk with an evaporative cooler system? No, because the water that circulates never gets warmer than 20C and the system doesn’t let droplets form. There are more than 30 million evaporative cooler installations worldwide without a single case of Legionnaires’ disease. Does the system also clean the air? Each evaporative cooling unit has its own insect screen as standard, but if you also want the air scrubbed clean we have some exciting options for you. Evaporative cooli ng is great for humans – but how about livestock and animals? The short answer is ‘yes’. Evaporative cooling is a genuinely sustainable agricultural solutions, as visitors to the May 2024 Pig and Poultry World exhibition discovered. A working version of an exciting new heat exchanger was showcased at the event, designed to dramatically reduce the amount of gas used while coming in at a much lower capital cost than other solutions. These specialist agricultural cooling units have a small, neat footprint of less than two square metres, are made from tough stainless steel, and feature a clever double epoxy-coated plate heat exchanger to keep the unit safe in corrosive agricultural environments. Ask us a question... any question! Evaporative cooler systems come with so many advantages. A surprisingly low capital cost, impressive performance in a climate change world, super-low running costs plus a genuinely pleasurable, comfortable environment are the name of the game here. It’s easy to fit and retro-fit, very simple, needs very little maintenance, and is clean and completely safe. Would this type of cooling tech suit your premises? Why not explore the potential? There’s no obligation, we’re always happy to answer questions, so feel free to get in touch.
“Passive cooling offers a way out of the vicious cycle we are currently stuck in with air conditioning: using a technology to keep cool that actually contributes to heating the world up.” Alisdair McGregor, global leader for mechanical engineering, Arup. Here in the UK we’re only just getting used to the fact that these days, we need to design buildings to keep us cool as well as warm. Sometimes there’s not a lot you can do thanks to the building’s design. Take London’s famous ‘walkie-talkie’ skyscraper, with its one huge concave side. The curved surface acted like a vast magnifying glass, focusing the sun’s rays on a few square metres of pavement outside a hairdressers and a restaurant. Things got so hot that the heat actually melted paint, blistered cars, set a doormat alight and broke tiles. Luckily there are usually things you can do to keep things comfortable indoors. Air conditioning is one of them. On the other hand, conventional air conditioning should be a last resort, not something we rely on. It’s a bold statement but with global warming well underway it’s an important one, something we all need to consider when thinking about how to cool the buildings we work, play, shop and entertain in. It’s good to know aircon isn’t the only cooling method in town. A passive cooling method called evaporative cooling has been used for thousands of years to chill buildings down to comfortable temperatures. Take Italy’s hilltop villages, where summer temperatures often soar. The locals soak the pavements outside their homes and shops with buckets of cold water. As the water evaporates it cools the stone right down. Then the cooled air passing over the pavements into the buildings brings down the temperature inside. Brilliantly simple. A clever Spanish bottle design called the botijo works on the same principle. It’s simply a large pot made from porous clay. When you fill it with cold water a small amount evaporates through the pottery, keeping the water inside cool even when it gets fiercely hot outdoors. The Romans loved evaporative cooling, as did the Ancient Egyptians. In Arabic architecture the mashrabiya is the source of evaporative passive cooling. An ornate wooden lattice carved with complex designs, used both indoors and outdoors, it provides regular shade all year round. In summer people stand porous pots like the Spanish botijo full of water in front of the screen. When the breeze blows through the screen and over the pots, it cools the air. Other simple ways to cool things down indoors The Spanish idea is an excellent one, and surprisingly effective. Simply putting a porous pottery container full of cold water next to a window or in a draught has a surprisingly powerful cooling effect indoors. Create a pond, fountain or flowing water feature inside a building – for example in an atrium or reception area - and it cools things down even more. You could mop the floor of the premises in the morning and leave it to dry naturally. The water will slowly evaporate to cool the space down. You just need to make sure it doesn’t cause a slip hazard! You can also do super-simple things like placing bowls of ice near desk fans to generate cold air. Unlike a fan on its own, which just moves hot air around, the ice actually brings down the temperature of the air circulated by the fan, cooling the entire area. Computers, printers, laptops, photocopiers, office kitchen equipment, ordinary light bulbs and even phone chargers generate heat. Can you switch them off when they’re not being used? Can you replace regular bulbs with cool LEDs? It’s all worth thinking about when you want to keep your cooling bills down. Windows are also handy. We all know, these days, to keep the windows closed when it’s hotter outdoors than in. But upstairs is always hotter than downstairs, heat rises, and rising heat causes a breeze. Leave one downstairs window and one upstairs window open and you’ll help cool things down by forcing the hot air upwards and out of the upstairs window. Explore the potential of passive cooling with an expert Evaporative cooling is a lot more effective than fans, providing a lot more cooling power than any fan could ever manage. Evaporative cooling units don’t need to be vented out of a window like air-conditioning does. The tech reduces electricity bills, swiping 90% off the running cost of ordinary aircon. It’s easy to fit and retrofit. It has a minimal impact on the climate compared to air conditioning. And all this makes passive cooling a no-brainer for future-savvy businesses wanting to maximise their bottom line. Give us a call or send us a message, and by next summer you can be in a much better position to stay cool, keep people comfortable, keep production levels where they should be, and slash your power bills.
‘The emissions from both the refrigerants and the energy used in cooling now account for about 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and are expected to triple by 2050 as temperatures continue to rise.’ WeForum.org In the UK we tend to think of emissions in a heating context, not a cooling one. But it’s getting hotter here, more frequently, and cooling is becoming a pressing issue. Traditional air conditioning emits around four times less CO2 than heating, but that’s still too much. Greenhouse gases from cooling systems are set to triple by the year 2050 thanks to increasing demand, and air conditioning already generates around 2.7% of the world’s energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. Research says air conditioning reduced heat wave heat deaths by an estimated 200,000 in 2019 alone. Nobody works well when they’ve uncomfortably hot. Nor do some machines and digital technologies. With global warming underway, it is highly unlikely demand for cooling will fall. Unless something changes we can expect the numbers to rocket. You’re probably already looking into energy-efficient ways to heat your premises, whether it’s an office or a factory. Maybe you’ve nailed it. But have you explored low energy cooling systems? Dramatic increasing demand for cooling There are currently about two billion air conditioning units in the world. This could more than triple by 2050 if the International Energy Agency’s numbers turn out to be right. When the tech becomes cheaper thanks to ever-higher demand, we’ll see the numbers rise even more. Traditional air conditioning and fans account for 7% of global electricity , using up a mind-bending 2100 terawatt-hours worth of energy in 2022 alone, not far short of 20% of total global electricity consumption according to the IEA. The trajectory doesn’t look good either. Things get even more serious when you realise the official cooling estimates don’t include the climate-wrecking greenhouse gases used in refrigeration. The solutions to climate-friendly cooling The big question is, can the world slash emissions from industrial cooling systems by the 68% needed according to 2023’s Cop28 pledge, and do it by 2050? As you can tell it’s a big ask. One part of the solution is simply aircon efficiency. A rise in demand usually drives competition, which inspires innovation. Traditional air conditioning is improving as the planet heats up, more people need to stay cool and demand rises, but emissions-wise it has a very long way to go. And not everyone can afford to replace an old energy-hungry fan or aircon system. As mentioned on the Cop28 website, reducing the power consumption of cooling equipment could slash at least 60% off predicted 2050 emissions. They also say it’ll provide ‘universal access to life-saving cooling’, take the pressure off energy grids and save trillions of dollars by 2050. But however energy-efficient existing aircon tech becomes, there’s a limit to how efficient it can be. The World Economic Forum says 50% of the emissions cuts we need to get to net zero could come from technologies ‘not yet invented’. But there’s also value in looking back to the past, as proved by a seriously efficient, highly effective natural cooling method humanity has known about for millennia. Ultra-simple, low energy evaporative cooling has been used for thousands of years to keep buildings and the people inside them cool. It’s a bargain to buy and fit compared to ordinary aircon, emits almost nothing, and costs 90% less than traditional air conditioning to run. Not only do you do your bit for the climate, you keep your people, equipment, raw materials, production lines and everything else in great working order, at the perfect temperature no matter how hot things get outdoors. Get in touch with us to discuss how evaporative cooling units will help slow climate change as well as save you a fortune on energy. We’ll see you right and set you off on the right track.
It has taken the world’s governments far too long to get their climate change act together. Luckily an increasing number of businesses have seen the light despite delays by those who run things, and they’ve been steadily going greener. As it turns out, taking action on CO2 emissions is having a positive impact on businesses, and consumers are delighted to see it happening. Here’s how our evaporative cooling systems support business success. If you’re fed up with getting hot under the collar at work, sick of shelling out on huge electricity bills and keen to attract more customers, you’ll appreciate this. What does ‘net zero’ mean for businesses? Net zero covers all sorts of activities: products made from sustainable materials, well-insulated, heated and cooled premises, employees using public transport or car sharing, recycled and recyclable packaging, deliveries using electric vehicles and more. It’s inspiring, a goal every business can aim for, which is why almost half of all smaller businesses are saying CO2 reduction is either a high or very high priority for them. These are the early adopters, the business leaders who understand there are a variety of valuable business benefits to embracing net zero before their competitors. How net zero can boost your bottom line Net zero tactics are helping businesses grow, save money, and improve their overall resilience. So says Deloitte, a respected UK provider of audit, consulting, financial advisory and risk services. Their studies reveal how 55% of consumers have at one time or another bought food and non-alcoholic drinks from brands whose environmentally sustainable values and practices err towards ‘green’, and an impressive 32% of people are happy to pay more for goods and services if it meant brands would slash their CO2 emissions. Aiming for carbon neutral practices can improve your business’ reputation according to the Carbon Trust, whose study reported on the way people increasingly want companies to make good ethical decisions on their behalf. It’s no surprise ‘green businesses’ are attracting so many new customers. If you’re joining in with a carbon offsetting scheme, for example planting trees or getting your raw materials from as close to your business as possible, cutting back on CO2 emissions from food miles or sending less waste to landfill, place it at the heart of your marketing and communications strategy and it’ll do you proud. Lower energy bills mean your fixed costs are lower Do you pay for renewable energy or are you on an ordinary fossil fuel tariff? A green tariff will help cut your CO2 emissions. Renewable, climate friendly tech is getting cheaper than ever as demand for good energy grows, and better than ever as the tech is refined. Solar panel performance is seriously impressive these days, generating useful amounts of energy even when it isn’t sunny. And evaporative cooling, essential for many companies as the climate gets warmer, costs a fraction of ordinary aircon to buy, fit, run and maintain, giving you a dramatic reduction of 90% on electricity usage. Just re-thinking the way you use energy at your premises can make an impressive difference. One manufacturer in Scotland shaved a whopping £170,000 a year, and 2000 tonnes of emissions, simply by changing their ventilation system. If you’re city-based in a place with low emission zones to navigate, you can save money by investing in or leasing electric vehicles Investors love CO2 conscious businesses Investors and shareholders are focusing on businesses with long-term sustainable strategies, businesses that are not so welded to fossil fuels, because they’re more future-proof than investments in companies not taking climate change into account. Old-school companies are already lagging behind and will probably lag further behind as time passes and CO2 neutrality becomes the norm. When you fit tech like solar and wind power at your premises, you’re better protected from the energy price hikes that decimated so many of us in the recent past. CO2 neutrality gives you a powerful competitive edge Increasing numbers of studies are proving how understanding your business’s CO2 footprint and taking steps to cut it back delivers a vital competitive advantage. More consumers than ever are becoming increasingly interested in businesses' sustainability credentials and plans, from the way products are packaged to the CO2 footprint of the products and services themselves. Last but not least, a YouGov poll from 2021 revealed people were becoming increasingly willing to pay more for environmental products , with younger consumers leading the way in being happy to pay more for sustainable products created by sustainable businesses. That was three years ago. As you can imagine, it’s more important than ever these days. As this recent survey reveals, for increasing numbers of us it’s all about the ‘green’. Choose evaporative cooling and DESTROY your cooling bills! So many businesses in so many sectors need to stay cool to keep employees happy, keep the manufacturing process safe, and keep their products in good condition from start to end. If you’re exploring new cooling systems for business, give us a call for a fascinating discussion about low cost, super-simple, highly effective evaporative cooling.