The Gulf Region has been populated since thousands of years despite extreme climatic conditions. The people have learned to adapt their living on the hot and extreme humid weather.
Houses were built with insulating double walls made of coral stone, which absorb and release humidity.
Wind towers were ventilating fresh air through the houses and open ponds were cooling the hot air by evaporation cooling.
The cities and dwellings were characterised by narrow streets and houses with small windows. The buildings are oriented to provide maximum shading in the alleys during the hot day.
The countires of the Middle East have a very fast economic development, which is based on technologies of the last century. The air-conditioning systems have a high power consumption and are limiting the speed of economic growth by restrictions in power generation capacity.
Solar Air-conditioning Systems are reducing the operation and maintenance costs for air-conditioning significantly. The power consumption is approx. 5% compared to compression chillers and can be supplied either by a photovoltaic system or by a auxiliary power generator, hence the system can be operated independently from the grid.
Fresh water is supplied with high temperatures during the Summer, increasing the thermal load inside the buildings. A Fresh Water Cooler reduces the fresh water temperature on a refreshing level for very low operating costs.
During Winter the fresh water is too cold for showering. The Integrated Storage Collector supplies hot water 24 hours a day safely and reliable.
Solar Thermal Power & Desalination Plants will convert deserts into fertile land. The surplus power will be transmitted to remote locations whilst the desalinated water is used locally e.g. for agriculture.
The energy consumption of buildings will be reduced by sustainable technologies. Solar Thermal Air-conditioning Systems will cool houses free of charge. Parabolic Trough Collectors will be installed on flat roofs e.g. industrial buildings. The surplus of chilled water will be pumped to the the city centre in order to cool the high rise buildings.
Solar thermal systems have very low life-cycle costs compared to other technologies due to the hign life expectancy and low operation & maintenance costs of the solar thermal components.