Caeli: cooling buildings with low-carbon air conditioning

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1. Global warming, overheating in buildings and energy-hungry air conditioning: the vicious circle  

Rising temperatures and outdated air-conditioning systems 

Climate change over the coming decades will lead to periods of high heat and heatwaves, which will have an impact on overheating in buildings and their energy consumption in summer. In 2019, ADEME reported that 22% of households were equipped with one or more cooling systems, compared with 14% in 2016, an increase of 50% in 3 years. By 2050, ADEME predicts that 1 in 2 homes will use air conditioning. Already, in Europe, the air-conditioning market represents 8 million units sold each year, worth 5 billion euros. 

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Even if the principle of an air conditioner is to reject and blow cold air, it doesn't actually do this without absorbing warm air from an area and releasing it outside. Conventional air conditioners are therefore an unsatisfactory solution, because of their colossal carbon footprint: they consume a lot of energy, use refrigerant gases with a high greenhouse effect, and also emit heat. Today, the world's air conditioners have the same carbon footprint as Japan. Worse: by 2050, they will consume as much electricity as China does today. It's a vicious circle with far-reaching consequences that Caeli Energie has set out to break. 

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The main challenge is for multi-family dwellings. More equipped with air-conditioning systems than single-family homes, they are also more likely to be found in urban environments, and therefore exposed to Urban Heat Islands (UHIs). A study by the Centre National de Recherches Météorologiques, published last July, looked at the massive use of air conditioning in the Paris region. The results are clear: locally, the temperature rises by up to 3°C due to the hot air released by air-conditioning systems.

Regulatory framework accelerates response to this challenge

Since the heatwave that hit France in 2003, cooling has become an obligation : Following the heatwave of 2003, which led to the deaths of over 15,000 people in France, the government published theOrder of August 13, 2004, amending the order of April 26, 1999, setting out the content of the specifications for the multi-year agreement provided for in article 5-1 of law no. 75-535 of June 30, 1975, on social and medico-social institutions.The same approach has been proposed for nursing homes. The same approach has been proposed for healthcare establishments. 

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It has therefore become a matter of urgency to protect sensitive people during heat peaks, particularly in nursing homes and hospitals, critical equipment and examination rooms. 

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Added to this is the Law of March 30, 2023, which introduces a 5-year derogation from public procurement law to massively increase the energy renovation of public buildings. 400 million square meters of public buildings (300 million square meters for local authorities) are to be renovated.

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Benefits and subsidies will be provided to projects that choose companies compatible with this law, rather than obsolete air-conditioning systems. The new standards will therefore encourage the expansion of new, much more environmentally-friendly solutions. 

The need for disruptive innovation in the existing air-conditioning market

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Over the next thirty years, an average of four air conditioners could be sold every second, according to the International Energy Agency. Air conditioning is becoming a real scourge for the climate: it's time to change the model. 

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The most urgent measure to implement would be to ensure that all new air conditioners are much more energy-efficient. Not all units are created equal, and some are up to 25% more energy-efficient. But is this enough? There is a growing need for projects advocating the "air conditioning of the future". 

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Caeli is one of them.

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2. Substitute imports of polluting air conditioning with low-carbon cooling systems manufactured in France.

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Refrigeration systems with high energy efficiency and low environmental footprint

Caeli's mission is to offer a sustainable alternative to conventional air conditioning. To achieve this, the Isère-based company designs and manufactures cooling systems with a low environmental footprint: they consume 5 times less energy than conventional air conditioners and operate without refrigerants. What's more, they do not reject heat to the outside and do not increase the phenomenon of ICU. 

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This innovative, patented solution, developed at the CNRS, uses the energy of water's change of state as it evaporates. In practice, this process is naturally boosted to produce cooler air than any other existing evaporative system.  

At the heart of the Caeli project: innovation, performance and relocation

i) Technological innovation 

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The main attraction of this technology lies in its apparent simplicity: the only moving parts are fans, and the functional core uses no chemicals or rare metals to operate, just water and air. Only a handful of companies in the world have mastered this cycle, and Caeli Energie is currently the company with the best track record in this field. 

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ii) Energy performance

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Caeli cooling systems deliver remarkably higher energy and thermal performance than conventional air-conditioning systems. Their coefficient of performance (COP) is over 17, 4 times higher than that of conventional air conditioning. 

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iii) Industrial relocation

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Beyond the CO2 issue, another objective: Caeli aims to relocate production of the air conditioning system. Their workshops, located in Grenoble, provide 100% of their production. 

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To achieve this, we focus on 2 main areas: 

• simple, proven technologies
• a network of strong local skills

Behind the project, a skilled team driven by long-term ambition

Behind the project are Rémi Pérony (CEO), who is deeply involved in the company's strategy and development, and Stéphane Lips, a former researcher at the Centre d'Energétique et de Thermique de Lyon (CETHIL), who is behind the Caeli product. He is in charge of the R&D part of the project. 

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The Caeli Energie team is made up of men and women who share a strong commitment to the climate cause, and who are driven by the values of efficiency, benevolence and fairness. 

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3. A sustainable solution to the recurring problem of summer overheating

Caeli technology: revolutionary heatless air conditioners

The technology developed by Caeli is based on indirect adiabatic dew-point cooling. The dew point is the temperature at which the air must be cooled to reach saturation, and thus the start of condensation. This cooling solution is based on the Maisotsenko cycle, and enables an air mass to be cooled below its humid temperature. 

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To optimize the Maisotsenko cycle, Caeli Energie's R&D teams have developed a patented process that maximizes the heat exchange surface between the air and the wet surfaces, resulting in high compactness and unique performance. 

Proven results in terms of environmental impact

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Caeli's value proposition is to transform and improve our living spaces with the least possible impact on the environment. This is achieved by following 2 objectives: 

First objective: drastically reduce the environmental footprint of air conditioning

Lighting a Caeli product reduces CO2 emissions by 85%. In a few years' time, this means 250,000 tonnes of CO2 will not be emitted into the atmosphere. 

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Caeli cooling systems : 

• do not use refrigerants, and therefore have no environmental impact on the greenhouse effect
• use 5 times less energy than conventional air conditioning
• operate without an external cold pack, making them easy to integrate and preventing warm air from being blown outside

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Concrete, measurable results:

To quantify this environmental benefit, a comparative life cycle analysis (LCA) was carried out using the OPEN LCA tool. The results speak for themselves: deployment of the solution in Europe would cut air-conditioning-related carbon emissions by a factor of 3 to 6.

Second objective: increasing yields for ever greater environmental efficiency

Thanks to its unique technology, the energy efficiency of the Caeli air-conditioning system increases as the temperature difference between inside and outside rises. 

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This solution offers : 

1/ High energy efficiency : for equivalent use, and compared with conventional air conditioning, a Caeli system consumes 5 times less electricity.

2/ Water savings : thanks to its energy efficiency, Caeli technology requires very little water compared with a conventional air conditioner.

3/ No impact on humidity : conventional air conditioning dries out the ambient air, but Caeli does not affect the absolute humidity (water content) in the room concerned.

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For all these reasons, we are very proud to enable Caeli Energie to finance the creation of a pilot line to increase its production capacity, systems production operations, and strategic recruitment.

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The Caeli project as told by its co-founders :

Press coverage:

• Caeli Energie wants to deploy its low-carbon cooling systems, Les Echos
• Caeli Energie raises 10 million euros to deploy its "green" air conditioning systems, Maddyness

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