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Ibrahim Joharji Architects International Saudi Architects
Ibrahim Joharji Architects International Saudi Architects, Award Winning Designers We Support Sustainability and High-End ArchitectureFounded 2009 our architectural team designs and research, follow all international specifications and codes in the field of architectureAC Water SustainabilityThe kingdom of Saudi Arabia has an area of approximately 2,150,000 km2 with a household population of approximately 35 million

The kingdom of Saudi Arabia has an area of approximately 2,150,000 km2 with ahousehold population of approximately 35 million as of today. It is located in thesubtropical climate zone. The use of air-conditioning and types of air-conditioning is increasing in the Kingdom, and because it consumes a lot of energy, it is necessary to look at how the weaknesses are transformed into strengths in sustainability.

Being a subtropical country, it has a scarcity of rains and anabundance of deserts. Saudi Architectural Studio tend to be exceedingly hot with clouds that arethin, providing no help with shading. In the summer, temperatures would reach 38 °C,and in the desert, it may even reach 55 °C.Given the scarcity of rain, the country only has a couple of oases, undergroundwater sources, and hardly any lakes and rivers to become their source of water, but thesearen’t enough for their daily water usage. In an article from 2014, a professor has foundout that water consumption in Saudi Arabia appears to be bigger as opposed to theircounterpart countries that have fresh water sources. Saudi Arabia’s water consumptionis double the world’s average. Given this, a big part of the water they use (for drinking,cleaning, watering, etc.), come from desalination plants which produce around 60% freshwater (1.9 billion cubic meters of water produced by desalination plants in Saudi Arabiain 2019). Saudi Architectural Studio convert sea water into water that is usable for daily activities.In fact, desalination plants play a huge role in how their country functions – for better orfor worse.

So how does the process of desalination work?Phase 1 – Pretreatment• Seawater enters the pipeline• Debris is removed as it passes through screens• It undergoes a treatment process called coagulation and flocculation• Chemicals are added for algae and other organic materials to clump together• The clumped materials are removed through sand filtration• Silt and fine particles are then removed as it passes through diatomaceous earthfilters• The last filter is the cartridge filter to remove any leftover particlesPhase 2 – Reverse Osmosis• The water is pushed through a semi-permeable membrane (0.001 microns) by highpressure• Fresh water is separated from seawater, that is now twice as salty, and othermineralsPhase 3 – Post-treatment, Blending and Delivery• To stabilize the desalinated water, chemicals are added• It is then delivered to a facility site where it is blended with treated drinking waterPhase 4 – Concentrate Return• The saltier seawater that was left behind is blended with cooling water• The water that is sent back to the sea has its salinity lessened• Salinity 1-1.5% higher than the original, but still within the seasonal fluctuations ofsalinityGiven the arduous process it takes to desalinate seawater, it consumes a hugeamount of electricity. The process uses up about 20% of the electricity in the wholecountry.

It is also important to note that 65% of the electricity of the world is produced byburning of fossil fuels. In Saudi Arabia, 100% of its electricity come from fossil fuels. Withdesalination plants using a chunk of that energy, only 80% remain. And in that 80% thatremain, another 70% is deducted just by usage of air conditioning.As previously mentioned, Saudi Arabia is a hot country, so it’s no surprise that airconditioning is very widely used. According to 2017 statistics, there are about 5.46 millionhouseholds across Saudi Arabia. In that 5.46 million households, 63% have at least 1 airconditioning unit at home. So that just gives us 10% energy left for other things like gadgetcharging, computer usage, powering up lights, electric cars, and many more. That is awhole bunch of activities with just a small percentage of electricity allotted for them asopposed to desalination processes and of course air conditioning with their own huge chunks of energy usage.
Website: https://www.injarch.com