SEMCO Revolution

Submitted by: Jim Sand, Cooling, Heating and Power

The "SEMCO Revolution" system that Gene refers to in his letter (which is linked at the bottom of this article) is an active-desiccant/vapor-compression, hybrid air conditioning system that was developed through DOE/ORNL subcontract R&D funding in collaboration with SEMCO, Inc.

One of the most compelling arguments for using this newly developed type of air conditioning is that it allows buildings (schools in this application) to bring in the recommended amounts of fresh, outside air for ventilation while controlling the humidity levels in the interior space. This is virtually impossible with the conventional packaged rooftop air conditioning systems that 80 - 90% of school buildings use. That is why many of these school districts (especially in the southeastern U.S. and the Mississippi valley) have such a problem and fear of mold growth in classrooms.

A couple of interesting wrinkles in this story from Timber Ridge Elementary school is that this school knew it had a problem with humidity and IAQ in the school before this unit was installed and that has been turned around, and the district had previously tried to use another desiccant product that was on the market which failed to solve their problem. This previous failure meant that ORNL and SEMCO had to be very convincing advocates to get them to try again.

I am attaching the testimonial letter from Gene Trull and a brief presentation highlighting the changes that have been documented as a result of this retrofit demonstration at Timber Ridge Elementary school.

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