FEASIBILITY OF A CLUSTER COOLING SYSTEM IN HDB RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

The use of air conditioning has evolved into a necessity in today’s society, and is no longer regarded as a privilege or luxury. With almost every home having their own separate air conditioning system and that it is being used more often than before, the energy cost associated with cooling has no doubt constituted a large portion of the utility bill. Furthermore, given that the cost of electricity has been rising in the past decade, any energy savings that can be achieved will result in cost being saved to the user. Hence this dissertation studies the feasibility of using a cluster cooling system in a bid to determine whether it will result in more savings to the user while still providing the same advantages as their split system air conditioner. Unlike central cooling systems whereby large ductwork is needed to pump conditioned air to separate rooms, the cluster cooling system eliminates that need and allows for air conditioning based on demand, which gives residents the flexibility of choosing when and where they want air conditioning. From the data collected from the survey and interview with an air conditioning contractor, the results were analysed and the cluster cooling system was found to consume significantly less energy than using multiple split system air conditioners. Furthermore, the data showed that more residents are acceptable to the idea of using a shared air conditioner than those who were against doing so. However, implementing it into an existing HDB block will pose many challenges such as requiring residents who already own an air conditioner to pay again for the cluster cooling system. As such it was concluded that it might be more feasible to implement the cluster cooling system in upcoming new HDB blocks as the necessary infrastructure required can be catered for.