A research program at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) has addressed the possibility of dramatically lowering the first costs of absorption chillers through lowered material intensity and the use of lower cost materials, primarily in the heat exchangers which make up the bulk of the operating components of these systems. This must be done while retaining the best performance characteristics available today, a gross design point coefficient of performance (COP) of 1.3 and a net design (seasonal) average COP of 1.0 (0.90) in a directly fired, double effect unit. We have investigated several possible routes to these goals, and here report on these findings, focusing on the areas that appear most promising. The candidate technologies include the use of polymer film heat exchangers in several applications, the use of thin strips of new, corrosion resistant alloys to replace thicker, less impervious metals in applications exposed to gas flames, and copper or cupro-nickel foils in contact with system water. The use of such materials is only possible in the context of new heat exchanger and system designs, which are also discussed. To lend focus, we have concentrated on a directly fired double effect system providing capacity only. If successful, these techniques willmore » also find wide applicability in heat pumps, cogeneration systems, solar cooling, heat recovery and chemical process heat transfer. 46 refs., 24 figs., 22 tabs.« less