Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Solar-desiccant air-conditioning
systems
Napoleon Enteria
Enteria GrĂ¼n Energietechnik, Davao, Philippines
16.1 INTRODUCTION
16.1.1 Energy and environment
One of the alarming situations regarding the current energy supply and demand sce-
nario is the peaking of supply due to rapid utilization (Greene et al., 2006). The
scenario also causes instabilities and unpredictability for the long-term energy supply
situation owing to the domination of energy suppliers from specific regions and group-
ings. Hence, the main source of global conventional energy sources comes from the
Middle East and Russia. A decade ago, the Middle East accounted for 33% of the
world's conventional energy supply (IEA, 2004). In addition, the Russian Federation
is becoming the global supplier, particularly of natural gas (Gelb, 2006). Due to the
above situation, energy and economic politics have collided, examples being the 1973
oil crisis, the Gulf War and the Russia-Ukraine crisis (Gelb, 2006).
Since the start of the industrial revolution, large amounts of greenhouse gases
(GHG) have been deposited in the atmosphere (Brown et al., 2009), the increase in
global pollutants coming from human activities of urbanization, industrialization and
so on (Lin et al., 2008). Greenhouse gases are the primary cause of global warming
(IPPC). The ozone layer depleting substance such as CFCs, halons, and other ozone-
depleting chemicals are the cause of ozone layer thinning (Calm and Didion, 1998). All
of these have consequences for the increase in global temperature, which has serious
effects on climate patterns - flooding, cyclones and other weather disturbances (Barrios
et al., 2006). The above situation has serious consequences for global sustainability,
as concluded by numerous studies (Bard and Frank, 2006).
The building sector is one of the primary energy consumers, accounting for
50% inclusive of commercial and industrial buildings (Zimmermann et al., 2005).
Energy sector output is used to support electrical appliances, thermal comfort and
other requirements such as lighting. As the global population grows, urbanization
spreads and standards of living increase, it is expected that energy consumption by
the building sector will increase (IEA, 2004; York, 2007; Solecki and Leichenko,
2006). Studies show that population size and age structure have effects on energy
consumption (York, 2007). Power sector energy consumption will increase by 119%
between 2002 and 2030 (IEA, 2004), while energy consumption in the residen-
tial sector, including agriculture, was 56.7% in 2006 compared to 44.2% in 1973
(IEA, 2008).
 
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