Green Cooling

A sustainable hotel building services design by Scott Wilson, where energy-efficienct HVAC played a major role.

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Construction Week speaks to major air-con companies about how they are meeting the increased demand for energy-efficient products.

Air-con accounts for up to 70% of the total electrical output in the GCC. This has resulted in a large-scale focus on energy-efficiency measures to try and reduce this consumption.

“Over the last eight to ten years, developers have focused on how we can reduce the electrical consumption for cooling,” says Scott Wilson associate director of building services Cathy Crocker.

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This has resulted in a major focus on district cooling in the region. “A district cooling solution, in the correct application, with the correct design, can consume up to 55% less energy than the equivalent standalone cooling system,” says Crocker.

However, it is equally important to try and reduce energy consumption at the source, which means the buildings themselves – and this is where the latest developments in air-con technology are playing a major role.

LG Electronics senior sales manager Dharmesh Sawant says that “of late there has been a high interest in environment-friendly air-conditioners.” Trane Middle East, Africa and India region marketing manager Peter Blanchflower adds: “The energy-efficiency drive is moving away from individual components like chillers to a more holistic system overview (‘system’ kW per ton).

“A high-efficiency chiller does not automatically translate into a high-efficiency system. The pumps, cooling towers and controls must all be integrated to minimise the energy consumption of the entire system.”

Eco-friendly refrigerant
Sawant points to the Multi V, LG’s premium-brand inverter system. This VRF air-conditioner uses a new eco-friendly refrigerant and high-efficiency inverter.

The new inverter allows for optimal control of a single large compressor, based on multi-compressor technology comprising a DC inverter compressor and high-efficiency, constant-speed compressor.

The adoption of this technology has enabled precise control dependant on the cooling/heating load, leading to ultra energy-efficient heating and cooling.

“LG Electronics is currently focusing on eco-friendly air-conditioners, whereby the carbon dioxide emissions are controlled throughout the lifecycle from design and manufacturing to usage and disposal, thus allowing the products to be more energy-efficient.

In the past few years, LG’s residential air-conditioner segment has witnessed enormous growth, together with an expanding market share in commercial air-conditioners, all due to its high energy-efficiency technology.”

The latest development is LG’s innovative hybrid energy solution systems such as Hybrid COGEN and Hybrid XEO, which has further demonstrated the company’s capabilities in energy-savings and cost reduction. Hybrid COGEN simultaneously generates electricity and heat, utilising liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Hybrid COGEN uses 32% less energy, while also reducing the emission of environmental pollutants such as carbon dioxide gas.

Hybrid XEO, a hybrid air-conditioning system, combines a highly-efficient, energy-saving inverter system air-conditioner with geothermal heat pumps, one of the most innovative renewable energy solutions. Hybrid XEO is said to reduce energy consumption by about by 30% a year.