The ACES Alternative Water Energy System

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This seemingly magical process — which is known as the Annual Cycle Energy System (or ACES, for short) — is not based on magic at all. Rather, it is firmly founded on two very scientific speculations.
This seemingly magical process — which is known as the Annual Cycle Energy System (or ACES, for short) — is not based on magic at all. Rather, it is firmly founded on two very scientific speculations.
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A small experimental energy storage bin (right) and its ice collector units (left), photographed at Oak Ridge.
A small experimental energy storage bin (right) and its ice collector units (left), photographed at Oak Ridge.
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The heart of ACES is a large ice bin, shown on this page in three different versions. ABOVE: The tank can be incorporated into the basement structure of a building. RIGHT. A possible alternative to indoor energy storage is a vinyl-lined pond with a floating insulated lid. BELOW. A third distinct possibility is an insulated galvanized steel bin which can be built above grade.
The heart of ACES is a large ice bin, shown on this page in three different versions. ABOVE: The tank can be incorporated into the basement structure of a building. RIGHT. A possible alternative to indoor energy storage is a vinyl-lined pond with a floating insulated lid. BELOW. A third distinct possibility is an insulated galvanized steel bin which can be built above grade.

There’s an old saying used to describe impractical ideas — “That heats about as well as ice in winter” — which may have just become outdated.

Outdated because a team of engineers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee have designed, constructed, and are currently testing a water energy system that actually does heat a house in winter by turning water into ice. Then, to add frosting to the cake, the water energy system turns right around and uses that same ice to inexpensively air condition the building during the summer!

This seemingly magical process — which is known as the Annual Cycle Energy System (or ACES, for short) — is not based on magic at all. Rather, it is firmly founded on two very scientific speculations.

The first of these assumptions went something like this: “Although heating and cooling always go hand in hand in theory, real life systems only seem to use one of the two. Can’t heating and cooling be combined into one system?”

Speculation No. 2 hinged on the fact that throughout most of the United States — from Georgia to the Northern Plains — cold and hot seasons are about equally long. “Wouldn’t it be something,” wondered the Oak Ridge technicians, “if we could come up with a simple way of storing ‘excess’ summer heat for use in the winter and ‘extra’ winter cold for summer cooling?”

  • Published on Sep 1, 1975
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