Use the sun to cool your building

Most people try to escape the summer sun when trying to cool down. But a Los Angeles-based energy company has created a new thinking: Use the sun to help cool buildings.

Southern California Gas Co. (SCG) has chosen two solar concentrators to measure how effective they are at cooling. The units will be installed on the roof of its Energy Resource Center (ERC) in Downey, Calif., according to CNet News . One concentrator is made by Sopogy , the other by HelioDynamics . The utility plans to test these concentrators for two years and will add electricity production to the site in a year

SCG vice president of customer solutions Hal Synder said the two specific products were chosen because they are modular and small enough to fit on an office building roof. He also stated that air conditioning in California can often result in half of a commercial electricity use.

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