Solar Powered Window A/C Units? Is this possible? Am I dreaming?

[hunter]

3. Ideally you'd have an air conditioner matched to the solar panels...

... the motor and motor controller of the air conditioner's compressor would accept direct current power directly from the solar panels, nominally 100 volts. It would be very similar in setup to a solar powered water well pump, and the cost comparable -- so "not cheap." I'm guessing at a bare minimum about $1000 retail for a "Made in China" mass produced air conditioner, and it would be the sort that sits on the floor and is connected to the window by flexible "dryer hose" style vents.

You'd also need a place to put the solar panels, at least fifty square feet of them, and another $1000, installation not included.

Batteries would be an expensive nuisance. Solar water wells don't use batteries, they use a simple water tank; in a similar way a solar air conditioner would better use the mass of the room or possibly even ice to store the "cold."

Of course wherever there is existing utility line power, the easiest setup is a standard air conditioner and a standard solar setup with an inverter synchronized to utility power, the sort that makes the meter "run backwards" when the solar panels are generating more electricity than the home is using.

But those don't work when the utility power goes out.