EVALUATION OF THE USE OF DISTRICT COOLING SYSTEM TO REPLACE LOCAL AIR CONDITIONING IN HDB FLATS IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

Air conditioning has become a necessity in both residential and commercial tall buildings. A wide variety of options and systems are available such as chilled water, direct expansion, ice storage, packages, air cooled, water cooled, constant air volume, variable air volume and centralized air conditioning. Combination of the system and equipment variations, each with its own set of features, advantages and disadvantages are numerous. However, best system or combination of systems for particular buildings in the past may not be so in today’s context. At present, energy cost is one of the most important factors on manufacturing, managing, maintenance and etc. This resulted in new invention and technology to utilize energy in the most efficient way. As such, many new concepts are being implemented with the aim to reduce energy cost. The district cooling system is one of the many concepts involved in energy management on the air conditioning in tall buildings. The concept centralized the air conditioning system into one plant. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility of replacing the commonly used local air conditioning system which are the spilt unit type or window type air conditioning system for HDB flat with district cooling systems. Questionnaire surveys were conducted in order to understand the perceptions of residents of HDB flats and to collect data related to the usage patterns and cost of air conditioning systems. From the raw data analysis, the pros and cons of the local air conditioning unit in HDB flats are compared with district cooling system. It is found that, district cooling system can easily meet the requirements of HDB flats occupants. However, the diverse profile of the occupants and their requirements increased the implementation complexity when compared with commercial building. Henceforth, it is concluded that conventional local air conditioning units are still more suitable for use in HDB flats. District cooling is only economically feasible in very dense concentrated central areas of offices, department stores, cinemas, and dance halls etc which demand long periods of air conditioning throughout the year.