Development of a cost effective approach toward energy efficient buildings by design, fabrication and economical analysis of air conditioning pods: A case study of a bus station in Thailand

Abstract

Energy consumption by air conditioners in buildings is 57% around the globe. However, particularly in Thailand percentage of energy consumption is 18.6% by bus stations due to the massive tourism. The current study aims to provide feasibility and economical analysis of small air conditioning (AC) pods at a bus station located in Hat Yai Thailand by design, fabrication and experimental investigation. As there is no need to cool complete waiting area. An economic analysis is performed in Homer Pro software. According to the results, thermal load calculated for Pod is 1236 W. COP of the system is 1.5. Moreover, proposed system is 9.5% more economical than pre working system with the payback period of 1.72years. Also, per unit cost of electricity after installation AC pods reduces by 31%. Moreover, The AC pod successfully lowered the cabin temperature down till 17 °C by using only 4.9 A and 1127 W. Current research can be used to provide thermal comfort to travelers at airports, subway or train stations or in office as a separate cabins using less amount of energy. Also, it will be a milestone towards development of simulation based small AC installations in commercial sectors, to save cost and energy in Thailand.