Students Challenged to Address Global Energy Needs
Global Venture Challenge 2008 (GVC) is an educational event designed to foster entrepreneurial spirit by engaging students, industry, government and the investment community in the discovery and development of innovative ideas. This year’s event focused on one of the world’s most critical issues—energy. Semi-finalists from 14 teams competed for a top award of $25,000 by submitting technology-based business plans specific to meeting the needs of bioenergy, energy efficiency and renewable fuels.
Team: University of Tennessee “Airflow Hybrid”
Team Members: Jim Bell, Bryan Moore, Joel Riddle, Jyotirmoy Dwivedi
Faculty Advisors: Glenn Swift, Pat Richardson
Topic: Energy Efficiency
Product or Service: The Airflow Hybrid Water Heater, a bolt-on, modular unit that takes existing heat pump technology and uses a drop-in element to “pump heat” from the surrounding air into a residential electric water heater, transforming a low-efficiency system into an ultra-efficient, hybrid system.
Pictured (Back, L to R) are U.T. lecturer Pat Richardson; U.T. students Joel Riddle and Jim Bell; and U.T. lecturer Glenn Swift; (Front, L to R) Bryan Moore and Jyotirmoy Dwivedi of the University of Tennessee “Airflow Hybrid” team. High-resolution version of photo
The concept is straightforward. Modify a common everyday appliance into a new standard of efficiency and place consumers at the vanguard of the conservation movement without the high first cost typically associated with similar products. That’s what a team from the University of Tennessee hopes to do with the Airflow Hybrid water heater system, a technology patented by Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The Airflow Hybrid unit simply bolts onto a residential electric water heater and saves the average consumer 75 percent of their annual electric water heating costs. The unit takes existing heat pump technology and uses a drop-in element to “pump heat” from the surrounding air into a residential water heater.
The Airflow Hybrid can be easily installed in less than an hour by any homeowner and is similar in weight and dimension to a small window air conditioner. This hybrid system also offers the benefit of dehumidification.
The system works on the principle of infusing ambient air heat to heat water. The most efficient electric water heaters have an energy factor (EF) of 0.95, meaning 95 percent of the electricity is converted to heat.
The Airflow Hybrid system simply moves heat from outside to inside the water heater. Using the system to more efficiently heat the water, the appliance’s energy factor is improved to more than 2.0.
The U.T. team intends to market the Airflow Hybrid through brand name manufacturers who will use their infrastructure to deploy the product alongside traditional electric water heaters as an upgrade. Currently, the industry sells 4 million new water heaters a year in the United States.
The ideal end consumer is a homeowner with a water heater installed in a utility room or basement that may benefit from the dehumidification or air cooling capabilities.
Water heating amounts to approximately 25 percent of the average residential electric bill. Increasing energy costs due to rising fuel prices has pushed consumers to look for new ways to conserve energy and lower electricity costs.
A customer could expect to see a $100 electric bill be reduced $20 a month from installing the Airflow Hybrid system. The combination of the price of the Airflow Hybrid minus an existing Energy Star tax credit will make the system highly affordable.
Approximately 4.5 million existing 50-gallon residential electric water heater units are currently installed and available for the Airflow Hybrid add-on, cost-saving product.