Joubert, JROwen, MTFHassan, EHaasbroek, Sarel M2025-08-052025-08-052024-04http://hdl.handle.net/10204/14339In light of escalating global demand for air-conditioning, there is an increasing need for sustainable and energy-efficient building climate control systems. This includes building infrastructure in ports across the globe, which offers a unique opportunity to utilise the readily available seawater it is near, to precondition its air supply. Seawater air-conditioning (SWAC) offers potential energy savings due to either the complete elimination of refrigeration cycles (in the case of direct SWAC) or increased refrigeration cycle COP (with hybrid SWAC). Since many building air-conditioning systems make use of water-intensive evaporative cooling towers as the heat sink, SWAC also offers considerable fresh water saving potential. A case study is presented in this paper in which the resource saving potential of a hybrid SWAC system is assessed for a commercial building in the Port of Cape Town, South Africa. The analysis employs a simplified thermodynamic model of a vapor compression refrigeration cycle with both seawater and evaporative cooling to assess the energy and fresh water saving potential of SWAC in the specific location. This preliminary analysis reveals an annual energy and fresh water saving of 333 600 kWh (60% reduction) and 5.7 ML respectively with SWAC for the specific case. More comprehensive analysis of hybrid SWAC for the South African context is strongly recommended and if proven to be viable, implementation of this technology at scale will support the government and private sector in reaching its net zero emission (NZE) targets, while saving costs and valuable resources.FulltextenSeawater air-conditioningOcean energyWater conservationSustainabilityEnergy efficiencyConference Presentationn/a