This years UC Davis Western Cooling Challenge winner has been announced as the denver based company, Coolerado Corp. The UC Davis challenge was designed to help manufacturers design better dehumidifiers and for customers to get the latest information about them.

Coolerado were announced winners after federal tests came back about their entry, the H-80 five ton commercial rooftop cooling system. The federal tests found that the rooftop unit overall uses over 50% less energy than a conventional cooling system.

The results of the tests, which were carried out at the US Government’s National Renewable Energy Labratory, actually came as a surprise for many. Mark Modera, the UC Davis challenge director, originally thought that the rooftop cooling unit would only use 40% less energy, he was wrong. However, once the results of the tests came back, it was found that the five ton unit uses 80% less power.

The winning unit, the Coolerado H-80 rooftop unit, has been designed for small commercial shops and offices. Just one of the H-80 units can cool around 3000 square feet of floor space, definately alot more than a standard cieling fan.

No doubt with this announcement, a large number of companies will look to invest in a H-80 unit to try and improve their green profile. Air con and air filter units are one big thing that many environmental campaigners are against as they are seen as a luxury. Now with the new H-80 that uses around 80% less energy than other units, this will prove popular with both retailers and customers. Although I suspect many customers don’t really consider what’s keeping the store cool and refreshing.

Despite this good news for the air conditioning business, we might see some more soon. Many other companies have also submitted their cooling units, not just Coolerado, however, the results of these tests have not yet been released. Whether any will beat the H-80 is unknown.