| Title | Proposal on the Use of Geothermal Brine for Space Cooling |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kiruja, Jack; Mburu, Martha |
| Year | 2011 |
| Conference | Geothermal Resources Council Transactions |
| Keywords | Geothermal brine; space cooling; absorption cooling; silica scaling; Menengai; design |
| Abstract | Kenya has a vast geothermal resource estimated to be more than 7000MWe, but currently only 209 MWe and 16 MWt are installed. The government of Kenya has mandated the Geothermal Development Company (GDC) to fast track the development of geothermal resources in the country. This includes availing 5000MWe worth of steam by the year 2030 for electricity generation and promoting direct uses. In the past, the country has been using geothermal energy mainly for electricity generation but recently, with the creation of GDC, more emphasis is being put into direct uses. Among the various ways of utilizing geothermal heat directly, spacing cooling has been identified as one of the possible option in Kenya, especially in the northern parts of the rift valley where the climate is semi-arid. The development of geothermal resources in these areas through drilling of geothermal wells is expected to yield substantial amount of brine with a large thermal potential which can be utilized in the running of space cooling appliances through absorption cooling. The purpose of this paper is to assess the viability of using geothermal brine with absorption cooling systems for space cooling. An assessment in terms of technical viability and cost implications is carried out. |