This one's really cool. Right now there are these things called adsorption chillers. They are powered by waste heat, and are able to use that waste heat to do the same job as the compressor in a Fridge or in your home A/C unit. In NYC, there are many powered by the steam waste heat from the power plants.
This article is about the work done by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to make the things potentially cost competitive with home A/C units. Okay that's great, but how do you "power" the thing at home; since no one has a steam connection from the local power plant? Solar water heaters are already cost effective over most of the continental USA; they can make hot water even on cold cloudy days. Even then, a simple electric heating element could be used in place of the solar water heater.
Still, though, in the times when the heat is the worst, this solar setup would work great; taking load off the grid, and removing your decadency on it for cooling if the grid goes down. This is great for self sufficient areas, places where power costs are high, military uses, and so on.
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