YORK’s District Cooling Solutions Provide Fresh Air to the Holy Mosque’s Pilgrims
District cooling is a cost-effective and performance-effective HVAC solution for modern buildings and densely populated cities.
Image courtesy of Al Salem Johnson Controls
With crowds returning to normal in the Holy Mosque in Makkah during Ramadan after the lifting of the COVID-19 precautionary measures; and with soaring temperatures; it's essential that all areas of the Holy Mosque are equipped with fresh, cool air and are well ventilated at all times to maintain the health and safety of the millions of pilgrims that are coming from all over the Kingdom and the world.
For this purpose, Al Salem Johnson Controls (YORK), a provider of integrated solutions that incorporate HVAC equipment, fire and security systems, building management systems, and controls, is implementing its district cooling solutions for the Holy Mosque, perfectly suitable for a range of operating conditions.
District cooling is a cost- and performance-effective HVAC solution for modern buildings and densely populated cities. These solutions provide many economic and environmental advantages over other systems — the cooling plants use renewable energy sources, such as solar energy and bioenergy, which helps to rationalize consumption and preserve energy revenues.
On the other hand, a group of buildings using individually designed cooling systems could see up to 50% more energy consumption than using a district cooling solution, making it more effective and economically feasible not only in terms of energy savings but also space utilization.
Al Shamiya and Ajyad designated cooling plants for Al Haram (with a total cooling capacity of 150,000 TR, which is equivalent to cooling 20,000 apartments), the cooling plant of the Makkah Clock Royal Tower (with a cooling capacity of 46,000TR), and the cooling plant of Jabal Omar (with a cooling capacity of 49,000TR). All are examples of the company’s district cooling solutions currently in operation in Makkah.
For district cooling, chillers are installed and operated inside a plant, which is usually a few kilometers away from the buildings and facilities that are to be cooled. The cooled water is pumped from the plant to the air-handling units inside Al Haram, the clock tower, or the hotels and residential buildings in the Jabal Omar area, which in turn are equipped with high-quality filters with a filtration rate of more than 95%. This ensures the purity of indoor air in these buildings, thereby protecting the pilgrims from catching any airborne diseases or infections.
It is worth noting that Al Salem Johnson Controls (YORK), in addition to district cooling solutions, provides various other cooling solutions, such as individual chillers plants to many hotel buildings and residential towers in the central area of Makkah and beyond. These include Makkah Hotel and Towers, InterContinental Dar Al Tawhid Makkah, Al Rajhi Towers, and others. The company has allocated a special service branch for the Makkah region, led by more than 100 engineers, technicians, and administrators, to serve Al Haram, district cooling plants, hotels, and towers.
In order to ensure quality of service and comfort provided to the pilgrims, the number of technicians is increased during peak seasons, such as Ramadan and Hajj. The team is able to quickly respond to emergencies and deal with malfunctions in record time.
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