Case study of evaporative cooling technologies for Australian office buildings

This paper presents the results of a preliminary simulation-based study of the potential energy efficiency benefits of a range of evaporative cooling technologies for Australian office buildings across the full range of Australian climates. It is found that dewpoint coolers offer the most promising savings potential (13-55%) across climate zones 2-7 (i.e. all climate zones other than Darwin and Thredbo). In climate zone 8 (Thredbo) it is shown that a direct/indirect evaporative cooling arrangement can wholly supplant the need for a chiller. Overall, the results indicate that there is significant potential for the application of evaporative cooling technologies in Australian office buildings outside the tropics.