Cooling with a closed system

I'll put out front that I'm a wannabe permie, currently an apartment dweller dreaming in a soul sucking city.

That being said, I found an interesting article about a NESCOT system developed by Saudi Arabia. Link at the end of the post.

It uses a  closed system thermodynamic cycle with an endothermic reaction mixing ammonium nitrate with water, which provides cooling, then uses solar power to provide the energy to separate them back out.
No electricity required.
Given a warming planet, cooling is going to become more important.

Has anyone else seen this, used it? Or other systems?

Saudi Arabia’s scientists create NESCOD: A cooling system that works without electricity even in extreme heat | - The Times of India https://share.google/K5ruUYIWFwL1gX8tJ

Hi Kathryn, welcome to permies.  Thanks for sharing this with us.  Hopefully you can get a bit more space so you can start doing more, but in the meantime things like shopping at a zero waste shop if there's one near you can make a difference, keep learning and seeing what you can do both now and in future towards permie goals.

Hi Kathryn. Welcome aboard!

The NESCOD system you mention is interesting. I'm not sure it's in action yet but it may be important if it can be deployed at scale, especially in the hottest and most populous parts of the world.

Meanwhile, poke around this site and ask a few questions. It's possbile to have a homestead in the city. A homestead is not first and foremost about land; it's about a mindset and a method and a vision.

Looking at the original article, I see a dearth of technical specifications, not even a BTU rating?  This leads me to believe it's a theoretical thing that may never see the light of day in a working system.  I've seen a lot of "ideas" on the internet bantered about that have NEVER been tested in any kind of real-world application.   So, good luck with that.

What I can tell you from personal experience, what WILL work is a high-voltage home-based solar system that can power a traditional air-conditioner.  High-voltage residential solar panels are getting dirt-cheap right now, with 6W/$ for panels in my local area.  I personally have built two systems now that HAVE run a 8000BTU air-con from at least 9am till 4pm with zero battery depletion.

My own personal strategy for solar cooling is to start the air-conditioner in the early afternoon with my 48V cabin system, allow West-facing panels to keep the air-con running off solar only till about 6pm, then start draining the battery after 6pm.  By then though, the cabin has been cooled off, and is only cycling on and off, so battery depletion is not as great as starting it after 6pm.  I selected a wall-mount air conditioner, and what has worked well is leaving the air-con on till about Midnight, then shutting it off and opening the windows.  In my Sierra Nevada location, I've never yet had to run the air-con all night till the next morning, so I can't say what it would be like in a deep desert location.

I’ve seen a couple of off-grid setups that tried to use salt-water mixes for cooling, and the big lesson was how often the reaction materials had to be swapped out. If NESCOT has a way to regenerate the ammonium nitrate mix with solar heat, that could be a game changer. I’d poke around for data on cycle lifespan and whether the system needs hands-on tending or if it mostly runs itself.

Such a system, hypothetical or hopefully not, might be of interest to the poorest of the poor in Banda, India -- one of the hottest places in the country, where the heat won't relent.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crmp0krp98ro