District Cooling and Architecture

Impact of District Cooling on Architecture and Urban Design Dr. Yasser Mahgoub Head of Department of Architecture and Urban Planning,

College of Engineering, Qatar University ymahgoub@qu.edu.qa

Contents The Impact of District Cooling on Architecture and Urban Design/Planning • District cooling and the creation of new architectural forms • District cooling and future urban design projects • District cooling as a sustainability strategy

Introduction • This presentation argues that District Cooling Systems (DCS) are changing architecture and urban design professions.

• Their impact is exceeding their known advantages of energy saving and rationalization of resources.

• They provide opportunities for new urban design and architectural forms.

Introduction • “District” cooling addresses districts containing large number of buildings and not individual buildings.

• They promote New Urbanism and Mixed-use compact design approaches and avoid Urban Sprawl.

• In short, they encourage the development of Smart Cities.

DISTRICT COOLING SYSTEM (DCS) What is District Cooling System (DCS)?

DCS is a centralized cooling system which provides chilled water to the airconditioning system of user buildings for cooling purpose. The central chiller plant supplies chilled water and conveys it to the user buildings via underground chilled water pipe network.

Benefits of DCS Benefits to Society (a) Highly energy-efficient enables energy saving up to 35% compared with conventional air-cooled air-conditioning systems. (b) Environmentally friendly system as it consumes less electrical energy and hence produces less greenhouse gases and contaminants to the environment. (c) Noise, vibration, and thermal plume are also resolved as no chiller plant is required in the end-user building.

Benefits to End-users (a) Reliability and Quality are superior to conventional air-conditioning.

DCS's ensures stable cooling supply to the end-user building at all time. (b) Save plant room space with an average of 70% for end-user building. (c) Meets growth of cooling demand and extended service hours easily. (d) Saves initial cost as no need to build its own chiller plant. (e) Saves maintenance and operation cost due to less serviceable equipment and higher efficiency.

Introduction • District Cooling Systems have well known advantages: – Saving energy, – Preserving Resources – Reducing Environmental Impact • It rationalizes production and distribution of cooling energy to different users and building types.

Energy

DCS Resources

Environment

Introduction More advantages: • Elimination of large number of stand alone equipment and machinery from facades and rooftops.

• Reduce the need of spaces for technical rooms inside buildings.

• Reduce noise pollution produced by machines and equipment.

Introduction More advantages: • Opportunity to install renewable solar energy collectors on roof tops.

• Opportunity to install green roofs on buildings.

• Optimized maintenance and operational cost.

New College of Engineering Building, Qatar University

Introduction • On the other hand, it provides opportunities for urban designers and architects to design new environments and buildings. • Architects are able to create new tall buildings and skyscrapers with distinctive forms and vanity heights.

Introduction • Urban designers are considering district cooling as essential strategy for future urban development schemes. • It will allow the return to more climatically viable solutions of compact and mixed use developments.

Introduction • Ventilation and cooling systems have always impacted the architectural design of buildings and urban design of settlements and cities.

Old Doha

Old Kuwait

Introduction • Traditional ventilation and passive cooling systems; such as wind towers (badjeers) and wind catchers, were distinctive identity features of traditional buildings.

Introduction • District cooling can ensure sustainability on the building and urban levels. • Due to climatic conditions, the demand for cooling will continue to increase in the countries of the Gulf region. • Better utilization and improvement of design decisions can be achieved by considering the potentials provided by district cooling.

Environmental

Sustainability

Economic

Sociocultural

Context

History of District Cooling • District cooling has its roots in the early 1800s when proposals were made to distribute clean, cold air to buildings through underground pipes.

• The Colorado Automatic Refrigerator Company was established in Denver in 1889.

• In the 1930s large cooling systems were built in the Rockefeller Centre in New York City and the United States Capitol buildings.

• In 1960s, the first commercial district cooling systems were installed in the USA in commercial areas near cities.

• In 1967 Europe obtained its first district cooling system. Climadef began supplying district heating and cooling to the La Défense office complex in Paris.

• In 1989 Scandinavia obtained its first district cooling system in Baerum outside Oslo.

History of District Cooling in Qatar • In November 2003, Qatar’s United Development Company (UDC) and UAE’s National District Cooling Company (Tabreed), along with some local Qatari investors, founded the Qatar District Cooling Company as a joint venture with the intention of providing district-cooling services to the public, commercial and industrial sectors of Qatar. Currently, Qatar Cool is the leading commercial provider of district cooling services in Qatar.

History of District Cooling in Qatar • Qatar Cool owns and operates cooling plants covering the West Bay and The Pearl-Qatar districts with the combined capacity of 197,000 tons of refrigeration. In terms of reduction of emissions the plants have eliminated around 490 million kilograms of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the past five years, which is equivalent to removing over 93,000 vehicles from the roads or planting 13 million mature trees.

Qatar Cool

Qatar Cool

Qatar Cool

History of District Cooling in Qatar • In 2010, the Company inaugurated the world’s largest district cooling plant ‘The Integrated District Cooling Plant’ (IDCP) at the Pearl-Qatar. IDCP will service more than 80 apartment towers, beachfront villas and townhouses, shopping complexes, offices, schools and hotels throughout the Island, ultimately supplying 130,000 tons of refrigeration to the Island’s 45,000 residents.

History of District Cooling in Qatar • Two other plants are fully-operational in West Bay, To date our West Bay plants have a combined connected load of just over 76,921 tons of refrigeration (TR) serving 50 of the towers. Additionally, Qatar Cool built a dedicated district cooling plant for AL Gassar resort and St. Regis hotel providing 10,000 TR for the property.

Future Directions and DCS • • • • • • •

Vertical Cities Mammoth Enormous Complex Architecture High-Density, Mixed-Use Complexes Green Sustainable Architecture (LEED/GSAS) Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Urban Energy Conservation District Energy

Introduction

MUSHEIREB HEART OF DOHA District Cooling System is a vital part of the strategy to provide an energy efficient approach to the Musheireb project.

King Abdullah Financial District, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 1.6 million m2, 34 high-rise complexes, 900,000 m2 of office space, apartments for 12,000 residents, 62,000 parking spaces, hotels, metro stations and mosques.

De Rotterdam, Rotterdam (NL) The largest building in the Netherlands. A Vertical City.

Thank you.