Use of Cooling tower in Commercial/Institutional Buildings:
- Scale of Cooling Demand: These buildings (office towers, hospitals, universities, malls) generate immense heat from people, lights, computers, and equipment. A simple residential air conditioner (with an outdoor condenser coil) is insufficient. Cooling towers handle orders of magnitude more heat.
- Energy Efficiency: They use the principle of evaporative cooling, which is far more efficient for rejecting large heat loads than standard air-cooled systems. This significantly reduces electricity consumption for the chiller.
- Centralized System Design: They enable a chilled water system, which is the standard for large buildings. This system is efficient, controllable, and allows for multiple air handlers in different zones to be served from a central chiller plant.
- Space Efficiency: While the tower itself is large, it is often placed on a roof, freeing up valuable ground-level or mechanical room space. It’s more compact than the acres of condenser coils needed for an equivalent air-cooled system.