Abstract
A large part of the total energy consumption in buildings in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (K.S.A.), is devoted to air cooling. This leads to high electricity costs for residents and a high amount of equivalent CO2 emissions. The work presented in this paper aims at evaluating and applying shallow geothermal energy for cooling and heating to reduce cost and environmental issues in the Kingdom. The system is based on the earth-air heat exchanger (EAHE) equipped with an air circulation fan. In this study, six cities have been selected; Madinah city, where our university is located, and five other cities representing five different climatic zones. A new parameter called “geothermal percentage” is proposed to calculate the ratio of geothermal energy to the cooling/heating total load. It has been shown that the proposed system covers part of the cooling load and the total heating needs for almost all the country’s territory. However, both heating and cooling needs can be fulfilled by the EAHE for few cities such as Guriiat and Khamis, characterized by a moderate climate.
Highlights
Due to the global warming phenomenon, environmental scientists and international researchers are becoming more worried about the environment
Benhammou & Draoui (2015) and Benhammou et al ( 2017) applied their theoretical model to the Algerian Sahara climate to predict the performance of cooling earth-to-air heat exchanger for different geometrical and operational parameters. They have shown that in transient conditions, the efficiency of the earth-air heat exchanger (EAHE) is more affected by the duration of operation, pipe diameter, and air velocity
The results showed that the EAHE system reduce the ambient air temperature by 9.12оC during summer and increases the ambient air by 5.53оC during winter (Yueer et al 2013, Wang & He 2014)
Summary
Due to the global warming phenomenon, environmental scientists and international researchers are becoming more worried about the environment. Benhammou & Draoui (2015) and Benhammou et al ( 2017) applied their theoretical model to the Algerian Sahara climate (hot and arid) to predict the performance of cooling earth-to-air heat exchanger for different geometrical and operational parameters. They have shown that in transient conditions, the efficiency of the EAHE is more affected by the duration of operation, pipe diameter, and air velocity. Most of the HVAC systems used are based on the mechanical compression principle In this system, the heat energy released to the ambient outdoor air through the condenser is higher than the cooling capacity produced in indoor air. This study shows the potential of using the EAHE for air cooling/heating in many big cities in K.S.A., selected from different climatic zones
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