In December 2015, the 21st UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) adopted the Paris Agreement as a global response to climate change, urging countries to set voluntary greenhouse gas reduction targets.
Korea pledged to cut 37% of its projected 850.6 million tons of CO₂eq (BAU). However, during last year’s parliamentary audit, this goal was criticized as unrealistic, since major reduction measures like renewable energy expansion and CCS require massive budgets. The challenge: how to reduce emissions efficiently and economically?
A first step is to utilize unused or wasted energy rather than only developing new sources. One solution is a desiccant cooling system linked with waste heat from combined heat and power (CHP) plants, which face low summer demand.
To explore this, we spoke with Lee Dae-young, Director of the Urban Energy Research Center at KIST.
Need for Desiccant Cooling
The IEA’s analysis (1990–2005) showed CHP accounted for 15% of Europe’s GHG reduction, ranking 3rd, even without major subsidies—unlike renewables. Yet CHP is difficult to expand in areas with low heating demand.
In Korea, summer heat demand is less than 10% of winter’s peak, reducing CHP plant utilization below 40%. To justify the high cost of CHP, new summer heat demand must be created—such as cooling via heat supply. As of 2007, district cooling using CHP waste heat served 459 buildings across 22 districts, but penetration in apartments, which account for 90% of household demand, remains low.
Advantages of Desiccant Cooling
Desiccant cooling uses relatively low-temperature heat (70–80°C), making it ideal for small-scale and residential applications. It can provide cooling without excessive electricity, and thus is seen as optimal for Korea’s apartment sector.
Development in Korea and Abroad
The IEA launched solar cooling R&D in 1974, identifying desiccant cooling as a key technology. Studies showed it to be the most economical solar cooling option in terms of installation and operating costs. By 2008, Munters (Sweden) commercialized desiccant systems using solar or waste heat.
In Korea, KIST initiated R&D in 1999 on “non-refrigerant cooling systems,” developing a polymer desiccant with 4–5 times the absorption capacity of silica gel or zeolite, regenerable at just 60°C. By 2007, KIST built a prototype desiccant cooling system for apartments with Korea District Heating Corp.
The technology was later transferred to SMEs (Deukyung, Wonjin) and major firms (Kiturami) for commercialization. In 2010, a national project developed a hybrid desiccant cooling system with electric heat pump integration, tested in 40 new apartments.
Results
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