There is an alternative to individual air-conditioning: district cooling networks.
They distribute cool air to offices, shopping centres, hospitals and more and more to homes. VIDEOGRAPHIC
They distribute cool air to offices, shopping centres, hospitals and more and more to homes. VIDEOGRAPHIC
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00:00There is an alternative to individual air conditioning, district cooling networks.
00:14They distribute cool air to offices, shopping centres, hospitals and more and more to homes.
00:20The system comprises a central cooling system linked to a network of underground pipes which
00:25take cold water to buildings.
00:27This is known as the primary closed network.
00:30Each building needing cooling is equipped with an underground system, including an exchanger
00:35allowing the transfer of cold water from the district network to the building's pipe system,
00:41known as the secondary network.
00:43The production of cooling can be done in different ways.
00:46Refrigeration units, which use electricity and are cooled by outside air, or the district
00:52cooling system via a local cold source such as a river.
01:01The system can be equipped with a reserve cooling capacity in the form of ice.
01:06Produced during the night, it is used for cooling during the warmest hours of the day,
01:09which reduces the consumption of electricity.
01:13The advantages of a network cooling system are that it consumes two times less energy
01:19and half as much greenhouse-producing refrigerants than individual air conditioners.
01:25It also avoids the heat island effect, which is amplified by individual air conditioners.
01:31The limits of the district cooling networks are that they are difficult to integrate into
01:35the existing urban landscape and must use electricity which is more or less decarbonised
01:41depending on the source.
01:49For more UN videos visit www.un.org