Abstract:
In marching towards sustainable development after 30 years of civil war, Sri
Lanka is currently undergoing a boom time with regard to its construction
industry. A number of mega projects are ongoing in the capital city of the
country. Thus, managing the high operational costs of these upcoming
mega facilities will become a challenging task in near future. Air
conditioning is identified as a prominent building facility in terms of high
operational costs. The aim of the research is to study the effect of District
Cooling Systems (DCS) on the reduction of energy demand arising from the
operation of mega facilities and, thus, subsequently reducing the
operational costs.
A qualitative approach was selected as the research methodology to achieve
the research objectives. An expert survey was carried out to identify the
dominant enablers of DCS implementation in the country. The expert survey
included professionals from multi-disciplinary backgrounds such as
investors, HVAC contractors, DCS engineers and facility managers.
Furthermore, an in-depth case study was carried out with the intention of
validating the potential energy saving with the proposed DCS approach. Six
existing large-scale buildings which are located close to each other were
selected for the case study.
The results showed that the implementation of DCS in Sri Lanka (as an
energy conservational approach) has tremendous potential. They showed a
25% reduction in energy demand when maintaining a temperature of 170C.
Thus, DCS can be proposed as an effective approach to reducing the
operational costs of mega facilities. Furthermore, the adaption of these
advanced technologies in infrastructure developments will enhance the
attraction of potential international investors to the country.
