Development and Implementation of Solar Assisted Desiccant Cooling Technology in Developing Countries: A Case of Saudi Arabia

Shafiqur Rehman, Muhammad M. Rafique, Luai M. Alhems and Md. Mahbub Alam
Additional contact information
Shafiqur Rehman: Center for Engineering Research, Research Institute, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
Muhammad M. Rafique: School of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
Luai M. Alhems: Center for Engineering Research, Research Institute, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
Md. Mahbub Alam: Institute for Turbulence-Noise-Vibration Interaction and Control, Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), Shenzhen 518055, China

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 3, 1-22

Abstract: This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the potential and feasibility of using solar thermal cooling systems in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The performance of a desiccant cooling system has been determined based on climatic data of 32 cities spread all over the territory of the country. The investigation has been carried out keeping in view the high energy consumption for cooling applications in the country. The analysis has been done using the overall performance of the system, sensible energy ratio, and cooling and regeneration loads. The main objective of this study is to encourage the implementation of solar thermal cooling systems in the country for the development of sustainable buildings. The economic analysis shows that thermal cooling technology can reduce the cost of cooling units, remarkably. Furthermore, the utilization of the proposed system will decrease the dependence on primary energy resources. The saving factor of the proposed system with 1 ton capacity in comparison to the conventional vapor compression unit is found to be 34.6%. The present study also recommends that the government subsidies and incentives can further improve the development and utilization of solar air conditioning technology in developing countries.

Keywords: thermal cooling; solar energy; air conditioning; sustainable development; Saudi Arabia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/3/524/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/3/524/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:3:p:524-:d:311368

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().