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Keeping Cool in the Desert: Arab States Seek More Efficient Cooling Systems

From Die Presse · () German

Translated from German and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Context piece
  • Air conditioning accounts for about 70% of Saudi Arabia’s electricity use in summer, as temperatures above 50 degrees Celsius drive demand across homes, businesses and public facilities.
  • Gulf companies have developed district-cooling systems that serve entire neighborhoods and use about half as much electricity as conventional cooling, according to Tabreed’s chief executive.
  • The systems require expensive plants and insulated pipe networks, but operators say they can cut lifecycle costs by 40% and reduce carbon emissions.

Around 70% of Saudi Arabia’s electricity consumption goes to air conditioning during the summer, according to Saleh Al Awaji, the country’s deputy minister for water and electricity. With temperatures above 50 degrees Celsius, cooling is required in offices, schools, factories, hospitals and homes. The kingdom has roughly as many air conditioners as people, about 35 million.

Demand is unlikely to peak soon. Economic growth, new industries, data centers and housing construction are expected to push household energy consumption sharply higher. Al Awaji says more than 1.5 million new homes will be needed to keep pace with population growth, and household energy demand is expected to double by 2030.

Most Gulf electricity still comes from oil- and gas-fired power plants. At the same time, some of the world’s largest solar farms are expanding across the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula, helping prevent the electricity needed for cooling from adding further to global warming.

Around 70 percent of electricity consumption in Saudi Arabia goes to air conditioning in summer.

· Saleh Al AwajiThe Saudi deputy minister for water and electricity described the scale of seasonal cooling demand.

Companies in the Gulf have also pursued a different way to reduce demand: district cooling. Instead of separate air conditioners for each apartment or building, large plants cool entire neighborhoods through insulated pipe networks, much like district heating systems. Cold water can be stored in tanks and pumped through blocks of homes, factories, airports and high-rise districts when needed.

The infrastructure is costly. A cooling plant can easily cost $100 million, while the pipe network can cost $500 to $1,500 per meter, in addition to ice and chilled-water storage tanks. Plants serving districts in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates now cool areas including Doha’s West Bay, the Pearl island and the district around Dubai’s Burj Khalifa and Dubai Mall. Operators say the systems are 40% cheaper over their lifecycles and produce substantially less CO2 than conventional cooling. Tabreed chief executive Khalid Al Marzooqi says district cooling uses about half as much electricity.

District cooling consumes on average only half as much electricity as conventional cooling methods.

· Khalid Al MarzooqiThe Tabreed chief executive compared district cooling with standard air-conditioning systems.
About this summary

Originally published by Die Presse in German. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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