"Air conditioning contributes significantly to the energy consumption of buildings in many countries. A promising possibility for energy reduction is the use of solar thermal energy in solar-assisted air conditioning systems. The main advantage of this technology is that cooling loads and solar gains occur at the same time, at least on a seasonal level. However, until today only a few systems have been installed world-wide and design and operation experiences are fairly poor." "The goal of this handbook is to address this lack and to support the planner in the design of solar assisted air-conditioning systems, which use solar collectors as heat source. Book jacket."--Jacket.