District cooling system via renewable energy sources: A review

According to different studies, building sector consumes around 40% of the total energy produced and it is responsible for a major portion of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A significant share of this energy consumption is used for cooling and heating purposes. District cooling system (DCS) has been widely used to provide the necessary cooling comfort in residential, industrial and commercial buildings because of its low cost and high energy efficiency. DCS is a centralized system of supplying the thermal energy in form of chilled water for use in space cooling and dehumidification. In addition, DCS integrated with renewable energy is economically feasible when compared to conventional cooling systems. The purpose of this review is to present the possible potential of DCS with different renewable energy technologies. The most suitable renewable energy technologies that can be integrated with DCS are biomass energy, solar thermal energy, geothermal energy, surface water energy, solar photovoltaic energy, and waste heat energy. The conclusions obtained from the six contexts showed that the DCS has strong budding with these renewable energies to supply sustainable and clean cooling energy options in the future world.