Heat Pumps for the First Wasteheat District Cooling System in Singapore

Heat pump works exactly the opposite of air-conditioner; it blows hot air instead of cool air. It has many industrial applications. This article describes how it could help to set up the first Wasteheat District Cooling System in Singapore.

FAQ
How Heat Pump Works?
In the nutshell, heat pump works exactly like air-conditioner but the opposite. One can find more information about it from Wikipedia.

Why Heat Pump?
Temperate countries use heat pumps for room heating but not so in tropical countries. It is 3 to 4 times more efficient than electric resistance heaters.
In industries, they are mainly used for:
a) Process heating and cooling;
b) Water heating;
c) Steam production;
d) Drying/dehumidification;
e) Evaporation;
f) Distillation;
g) Concentration
More details about heat pump applications in industries can be found here.

Proper use of heat pumps can save energy bills and cut environmental pollution. Payback is around 2 to 6 years. In industries that produce a lot of wasteheat, one can use heat pumps to convert them into useful energies.

3. How Much it Would Cost?
Heat pumps are basically refrigeration machine. It costs around US $2000/= per ton of refrigerant, slightly more than ordinary refrigeration machine. This cost is expected to come down by popular use.

4. What is the Largest Size Available?World’s largest heat pump can be found in Stockholm, Sweden. Vaertan e008 Uk It has 6 nos of 30 MW heat pumps. The total capacity of heat pump in the plant is 420 MW. . The heat pumps convert energy of sea water, a low grade heat much worse that wasteheat, into useful energy for district heating.

Heat Pump for Wasteheat District Cooling System (WHDCS)
One of the difficulties in setting up a WHDCS in Jurong Industrial Estate , is to secure wasteheat from the industrialists in Jurong Island. Many companies feared that the tapping of wasteheat, not being part of the design, might affect plant efficiency. The available wasteheat might not be able to start the WHDCS plant. If one has the heat pumps, one could supplement this wasteheat supply from seawater until more companies could offer wasteheat.

Conclusion
Singapore has no other resources but she has plenty of sea water. She should explore the use of this seawater not just for cooling purposes but also for extraction of its energy and water. Heat pump is one device that she could use. The use of heat pump could help her set up the first Wasteheat District Cooling system in this part of the World.