عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Varieties

Saudi Research Tests New Energy-Efficient Cooling System

KAUST's new cooling system
KAUST's new cooling system
TT
20
TT

Saudi Research Tests New Energy-Efficient Cooling System

KAUST's new cooling system
KAUST's new cooling system

The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) has conducted observational experiments in the houses located inside the campus to create a new cooling system that consumes energy less than the currently used systems.

These experiments aim at testing the efficiency of the new system under different weather conditions in Saudi Arabia.

Air conditioning systems in use today typically achieve only 35–40 percent of the cooling possible for the amount of electricity they consume. As well as their principal task of cooling air, they remove moisture from the air by lowering its temperature to the level at which the water in it condenses. But this double step wastes a lot of energy.

A team led by Kim Choon Ng, professor of Environmental Science and Engineering at KAUST, has now devised a way to reduce the amount of energy consumed by decoupling the two processes.

Instead of dehumidifying air by cooling it, the system uses a more efficient process called adsorption. This binds the water in the air to the surface of a specially developed nanomaterial. Made of calcium chloride salt embedded in a silica gel lattice, this material can adsorb up to 20 times as much water as conventional silica gel in proportion to its weight.

Ng is now testing prototypes, and findings to date show an improvement in efficiency of 30–60 percent over conventional air conditioners. “This new type of air conditioner could offer a much-needed mean to slow down the increasing contribution of cooling systems to climate change,” says Kim Choon Ng.

In this new system, the proprietary adsorbent coats the coils of a mechanical vapor compressor, which cools the air the adsorbent has dehumidified in the manner of a conventional AC system. Air flow through the system is reversed and then reversed again in a period cycle to regenerate the saturated adsorbent.

Global consumption of air conditioning electricity, mainly generated from burning fossil fuels, has risen from 600 TWh in 1990 to 2,200 TWh in 2020, and based on current trends, could reach 6,300 TWh in 2050. By then, half of all electricity used by the world’s hottest countries, including Saudi Arabia, would be used just for keeping people cool.

Most Viewed

 
Varieties

Water Levels Plummet at Drought-Hit Iraqi Reservoir

Kochar Jamal Tawfeeq, director of the Dukan Dam facility, gives an interview by the reservoir northwest of Iraq's northeastern city of Sulaimaniyah in the autonomous Kurdistan region on June 4, 2025, where waters have been receding due to a mix of factors including lower rainfall, severe drought, and diversion of inflowing rivers from Iran. (AFP)
Kochar Jamal Tawfeeq, director of the Dukan Dam facility, gives an interview by the reservoir northwest of Iraq's northeastern city of Sulaimaniyah in the autonomous Kurdistan region on June 4, 2025, where waters have been receding due to a mix of factors including lower rainfall, severe drought, and diversion of inflowing rivers from Iran. (AFP)
TT
20
TT

Water Levels Plummet at Drought-Hit Iraqi Reservoir

Kochar Jamal Tawfeeq, director of the Dukan Dam facility, gives an interview by the reservoir northwest of Iraq's northeastern city of Sulaimaniyah in the autonomous Kurdistan region on June 4, 2025, where waters have been receding due to a mix of factors including lower rainfall, severe drought, and diversion of inflowing rivers from Iran. (AFP)
Kochar Jamal Tawfeeq, director of the Dukan Dam facility, gives an interview by the reservoir northwest of Iraq's northeastern city of Sulaimaniyah in the autonomous Kurdistan region on June 4, 2025, where waters have been receding due to a mix of factors including lower rainfall, severe drought, and diversion of inflowing rivers from Iran. (AFP)

Water levels at Iraq's vast Dukan Dam reservoir have plummeted as a result of dwindling rains and further damming upstream, hitting millions of inhabitants already impacted by drought with stricter water rationing.

Amid these conditions, visible cracks have emerged in the retreating shoreline of the artificial lake, which lies in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region and was created in the 1950s.

Dukan Lake has been left three quarters empty, with its director Kochar Jamal Tawfeeq explaining its reserves currently stand at around 1.6 billion cubic meters of water out of a possible seven billion.

That is "about 24 percent" of its capacity, the official said, adding that the level of water in the lake had not been so low in roughly 20 years.

Satellite imagery analyzed by AFP shows the lake's surface area shrank by 56 percent between the end of May 2019, the last year it was completely full, and the beginning of June 2025.

Tawfeeq blamed climate change and a "shortage of rainfall" explaining that the timing of the rains had also become irregular.

Over the winter season, Tawfeeq said the Dukan region received 220 millimeters (8.7 inches) of rain, compared to a typical 600 millimeters.

- 'Harvest failed' -

Upstream damming of the Little Zab River, which flows through Iran and feeds Dukan, was a secondary cause of the falling water levels, Tawfeeq explained.

Also buffeted by drought, Iran has built dozens of structures on the river to increase its own water reserves.

Baghdad has criticized these kinds of dams, built both by Iran and neighboring Türkiye, accusing them of significantly restricting water flow into Iraq via the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

Iraq, and its 46 million inhabitants, have been intensely impacted by the effects of climate change, experiencing rising temperatures, year-on-year droughts and rampant desertification.

At the end of May, the country's total water reserves were at their lowest level in 80 years.

On the slopes above Dukan lies the village of Sarsian, where Hussein Khader Sheikhah, 57, was planting a summer crop on a hectare of land.

The farmer said he hoped a short-term summer crop of the kind typically planted in the area for an autumn harvest -- cucumbers, melons, chickpeas, sunflower seeds and beans -- would help him offset some of the losses over the winter caused by drought.

In winter, in another area near the village, he planted 13 hectares mainly of wheat.

"The harvest failed because of the lack of rain," he explained, adding that he lost an equivalent of almost $5,700 to the poor yield.

"I can't make up for the loss of 13 hectares with just one hectare near the river," he added.

- 'Stricter rationing' -

The water shortage at Dukan has affected around four million people downstream in the neighboring Sulaimaniyah and Kirkuk governorates, including their access to drinking water.

For more than a month, water treatment plants in Kirkuk have been trying to mitigate a sudden, 40 percent drop in the supplies reaching them, according to local water resource official Zaki Karim.

In a country ravaged by decades of conflict, with crumbling infrastructure and floundering public policies, residents already receive water intermittently.

The latest shortages are forcing even "stricter rationing" and more infrequent water distributions, Karim said.

In addition to going door-to-door to raise awareness about water waste, the authorities were also cracking down on illegal access to the water network.

In the province of roughly two million inhabitants, the aim is to minimize the impact on the provincial capital of Kirkuk.

"If some treatment plants experience supply difficulties, we will ensure that there are no total interruptions, so everyone can receive their share," Karim said.