 An entrepreneur from the eastern province of Kars is challenging the ‘fossil fuel lobby’ with his emissions-free solar cooling system. Professor Ahmet Lokurlu says all it takes to change the world is one person. Lokurlu, who seems to have lost nothing from his scientific idealism during a long journey in the business world, is now leading his own energy company.
Power from the sun can save the world only “if we help it out,” according to the chief executive officer of an emissions-free solar cooling system.“A 100- or 150-bed capacity, four- or five-star hotel needs 2 megawatts of cooling capacity per day,” Solitem Group CEO Ahmet Lokurlu said during a press conference late Wednesday. “We can provide a 1.5 megawatt cooling capacity, which will also meet their needs since our technology is based on a smart system and leaves no room for waste of energy.”
Lokurlu gave an extensive introduction to his system, called “Montana,” which essentially uses solar energy to transform water into steam to power a cooling system. The system at the moment is only suitable for use in hotels and industrial facilities but Solitem is working on developing smaller scale models for individual use, he said.
The “Montana” system relies on the installation of reflective solar panels on roofs, while the hot water produced in the process could have several uses, such as for laundry.
Lokurlu said humidity, the rate of cloudiness, latitude and even longitude, though only slightly, determine whether a given region is suitable for the Montana system. “The Mediterranean region is where the system works most effectively.”
Presently, four Mediterranean countries benefit from the system – Morocco, Cyprus, Jordan and Turkey.
Lokurlu said the firm has so far installed the system in six facilities in Turkey. “Currently we are installing our system in a facility in Mexico, and very recently a facility from Brazil ordered one.”
Solitem also sells the system in Germany, where its headquarters are based but all production is conducted in Turkey. The company's production facility is in Ankara.
Lokurlu, a winner of awards such as the RIO Innovation Prize, the Energy Global Award and TIMI Magazine’s Hero of the Environment, complained about a “lack of enthusiasm” for environmentally friendly projects on the part of Turkish authorities.
“The Finance Ministry is unwilling to subsidize projects that do not create jobs. However, we do not expect subsidies. A small percentage of every gas bill paid by consumers goes to renewable energy development funds and policies. If renewable energy were adopted as a state policy, we could do an amazing job with that small amount.”
According to Lokurlu, another factor which prevents enthusiasm for environmentally friendly systems is the “gas lobby,” which is “very strong in Turkey.”
Not looking to sell
Lokurlu is not interested in selling the patent of the technology he has developed. “I know if I do that, they are going to blow it,” he told journalists.
“We are after strong joint ventures. The Chinese are excellent in that. They have an amazing system. They offered us twice as much of the land we would need to produce our system in a Chinese industrial-free zone. They also offered to pay half of our staff’s salaries,” he said.
“But, you know, they do not offer these things without self-interest,” he said. “By the time you start production, they will already have unlawfully replicated your system, although with lower quality.”
Solitem’s parabolic facilities in Ankara started as an assembling facility, but now the entire production takes place in Turkey. “We employ robotic production. Nevertheless, we have 35 people on staff.” The company’s annual turnover was 10 million euros last year, a figure Lokurlu aims to triple in 2011.
The installation of a system that produces 1.5 megawatts is 2.5 million euros, one-fifth of which will be amortized within the first year.
“The entire system pays itself off in five to seven years,” Lokurlu said. “The system has a 20-year effective duration, and we offer a warranty for 15 years. Maintenance is fairly cheap, and, if applied regularly, the system promises long vitality.”
Lokurlu said such a system requires a 4,000 square-meter area for it to be mounted on.
“When you are in the energy business, you see the world is full of ridiculous nonsense, and we can change all of it,” he said. “We are captives of our habits and of a system that makes a fetish of electricity. Solar energy is not a choice, it is a must, and not a thousand years in the future, but now, when the climate clock is ticking fast.”
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News | 
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