Energy for Sustainable Development 17 (2013) 4753

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Energy for Sustainable Development

A nancial feasibility evaluation of using evaporative cooling with air-conditioning

(in hybrid mode) in commercial buildings in India
Varun Jain, S.C. Mullick, Tara C. Kandpal
Centre for Energy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 22 March 2012
Revised 2 November 2012
Accepted 4 November 2012
Available online 19 December 2012
Keywords:
Hybrid system
Direct evaporative cooling
Payback period
Life cycle cost
Net present value

a b s t r a c t
Results of a preliminary analysis to study the nancial feasibility of a hybrid mode operation of a direct evaporative
cooler (DEC) with an air conditioning (AC) unit to reduce the annual expenditure on electricity usage (as against a
standalone AC unit to provide almost similar level of comfort) are presented. Four different building applications
located in four different cities of India have been considered in the study. The hybrid mode operation is found
nancially attractive for movie theater and waiting hall building applications for all the climatic conditions considered in the present study.
2012 International Energy Initiative. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Introduction
The need and use of air-conditioning are rapidly increasing in
urban India and normally vapor compression systems are being
used for this purpose. As a consequence the electrical consumption
for air-conditioning is also increasing at a rapid rate. It is therefore
imperative to develop and implement practically feasible alternative
options that can provide acceptable levels of comfort with relatively
lower electricity consumption. For commercial buildings, use of direct
evaporative cooling based systems in a hybrid mode with conventional vapor compression based air-conditioning systems during hot
and dry months of the year is one such possibility. Besides the operational issues of a hybrid system, the primary consideration in making
a choice for the hybrid system as against a standard vapor compression based air-conditioning system would concern the nancial
viability of increased capital investment (higher cost of a hybrid system consisting of both the vapor compression air-conditioning (AC)
system as well the direct evaporative cooler (DEC) as against its
lower overall cost of operation due to lower electricity consumption
of the hybrid system as against that of a standalone AC unit for
satisfaction of the same demand). The approach and the results of
an attempt to study the nancial feasibility of an investment in a
hybrid (AC + DEC) system as compared to a standalone AC system
are presented in this paper for four Indian cities.
Four cities in India namely Akola (hot and dry climate), Bangalore 1
(temperate climate), Delhi (composite climate) and Indore (composite
Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 11 26591262.
E-mail address: tarak@ces.iitd.ac.in (T.C. Kandpal).
1
New name for city of Bangalore is Bengaluru.

climate) were considered for the study. Though the sites of Delhi and
Indore are in the same climatic zone, but being in different regions
their ambient conditions differ considerably and hence also the room
conditions (Hindoliya, 2005). Building application congurations considered include (i) high density ofce (with high internal loads due to
occupancy, lights, computers etc.), (ii) low density ofce, (iii) movie
theater and (iv) waiting hall. The external and internal input parameters to TRNSYS (2005) for these buildings are presented in Table A1 of
the Appendix (Jain, 2010). In the case of the standalone AC unit the
room temperature is set at 26 C and RH 70%. Since with the use of a
direct evaporative cooler (DEC) the attained room conditions change
with ambient conditions, a range of room temperatures and relative
humidity values are considered as set points (27.1 C, 70%; 27.6 C,
60%; and 28.1 C, 50%) (Jain, 2010). A systematic procedure (Fig. 1)
was followed for estimating the electricity requirement for maintaining
the desired comfort level in the chosen building congurations at the
four selected locations. TRNSYS (2005) was used to simulate the
rooms/buildings. The fractions of time during the year when cooling is
needed and a DEC can provide the acceptable comfort were estimated.
The results obtained are summarized in Table 1.
Analysis
The hybrid system considered in the system consists of a DEC unit
along with the AC unit arranged in a manner that whenever the
required comfort is not achieved with the DEC unit, the AC unit is
switched on and DEC unit is switched off. The AC unit considered in
the study is a split air cooled system with indoor and outdoor units
interconnected with refrigerant piping and its cost includes the cost of
refrigerant piping, cost of air distribution system and standard control

0973-0826/$ see front matter 2012 International Energy Initiative. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.esd.2012.11.002

48

V. Jain et al. / Energy for Sustainable Development 17 (2013) 4753

consumption (in kWh) for standalone AC unit (AECac) and the unit
price of electricity (Upe) for the user during the rst year. If the unit
cost of electricity is expected to escalate at annual rate (in fraction)
resc, the annual operating cost of the AC unit (AOC-ACj) in jth year
of its useful life can be estimated as

Selection of building application



j1
AOCACj AECac Upe 1 resc :

Use of TRNSYS for calculation of cooling load for each

building application, for the city considered

Cumulative present value of the life cycle operating cost of the

standalone AC unit (PVLCCac) with a useful life of n years can be
estimated as

Estimating the supply conditions and air change rate of

DEC to achieve best possible room conditions,using a
computer program developed for this purpose

PVLCCac




 
AEC ac U pe 
1 r esc n
1

dresc
1d

where d represents the discount rate.

Similarly, the cumulative present value of the operating cost of the
hybrid system (PVLCChybrid) can be expressed as

Supply conditions and airchange rate calculated in the

previous step are used as inputs in TRNSYS for
respective building applications to determinethe room
conditions

PVLCChybrid





 
AEC hyb U pe 
1 r esc n
1

dr esc
1d

where, AEChyb represents the annual energy consumption (in kWh) of

the hybrid system. As mentioned earlier, the annual maintenance cost
of the hybrid (DEC+AC) system (AMChyb) essentially comprises of the
annual maintenance costs of the vapor compression air-conditioning
(AC) system (AMCac), of the direct evaporative cooler unit (AMCdec), of
the VFD (AMCvfd) and that of the control (AMCcontrol). Thus

DEC can provide comfort, if the room conditions is

acceptable for that particular hour, otherwise the AC is
needed

Total energy consumed in the hybrid mode operation (AC

and DEC)is compared with the energy consumed if
standalone AC is operating for all hours that require cooling
during the year

AMChyb AMCac AMCdec AMCvfd AMCcontrol :

If it is assumed that the overall annual cost of maintenance of

the hybrid system escalates at an annual rate (in fraction) jesc, the
cumulative present value of its annual costs of maintenance during
its useful life (PVCOMhybrid) can be expressed as

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the procedure for estimation of energy savings with the
use of hybrid system.

PVCOMhybrid

components (supplied with the AC unit). The annual cost of maintenance

of the AC unit is essentially dened by the cost of its annual maintenance
contract that includes all required spares, consumables, refrigerant gas
and oil etc. as well as all scheduled and unscheduled maintenance visits.
The cost of the hybrid system includes the cost of the DEC unit,
variable frequency drive, and cost of air distribution system and control
unit as well as the cost of the AC unit. Consequently, the annual cost of
maintenance of hybrid system comprises the cost of annual maintenance contract for the AC unit, the DEC unit, variable frequency drive
and the control unit.
The annual cost of operation of an AC unit is essentially dened by
the cost of electricity consumed in its operation, while for the hybrid
system it should include both the cost of electricity consumed as well
that of water used in the DEC unit.
The annual operating cost of a standalone AC unit during its rst
year of operation can be estimated as the product of annual electricity


 

AMC hyb
1 jesc n
1
:
djesc
1d

In order to facilitate a comparison of the nancial attractiveness

of a hybrid system with a standalone vapor compression type AC
system, the values of life cycle and levelized annual costs, as well as
simple payback period and net present value of incremental investment
on the hybrid system have been calculated, for all the four building
applications in the cities of Akola, Bangalore, Delhi and Indore.
The life cycle cost (LCC) is estimated as the total sum of the capital
cost, and the cumulative present value cost of operation and maintenance
during the life cycle of the project. The levelized annual cost is the sum of
the annualized capital cost and the levelized annual cost of operation and
maintenance. The levelized annual values of the cost of operation and
maintenance have been estimated by rst calculating the equivalent
present value life cycle costs and then redistributing the same over the
useful life by using the capital recovery factor. Such a procedure allows

Table 1
Potential of using direct evaporative cooler unit and corresponding annual electricity savings.
Building Application

High density ofce

Low density ofce
Movie theater
Waiting hall

Fraction of time DEC can be used for demand satisfaction

Annual amount of electricity saved with the use of hybrid system (kWh)

Akola

Bangalore

Delhi

Indore

Akola

Bangalore

Delhi

Indore

0.56
0.57
0.53
0.43

0.88
0.83
0.79
0.55

0.37
0.37
0.35
0.31

0.65
0.65
0.61
0.55

5600
3000
13,600
11,700

6100
4000
7100
6700

1900
1300
3800
3700

4500
3100
8800
8500

Notes: (i) hours of operations of AC unit and DEC unit in a hybrid system are presented in Table A2 of the Appendix.
(ii) Capacities of AC unit and DEC unit are indicated in Table A3 of the Appendix.

V. Jain et al. / Energy for Sustainable Development 17 (2013) 4753

Table 2
Dependence of cost of air distribution system on the ow rate.

Table 3
Costs of split air cooled AC units.

Air ow rate
(in cubic feet per minute)

Air ow rate
(in cubic meter per minute)

Costa of air distribution

system (Rs)

1000
2000
3000
5000

28
57
85
142

27,050
44,400
58,550
81,450

a
Values of various costs quoted in the paper pertain to year 2010 (US $1 = Rs 45.50
in October, 2010).

internalization of any annual escalation in the cost of operation and

maintenance.
The NPV of incremental investment required for the hybrid system essentially takes into account, the incremental costs of hybrid
unit (both capital as well maintenance costs) as well as the monetary
savings due to reduced electricity consumption. The simple payback
period is determined as the length of time required to recover
the incremental investment on DEC, VFD and controls through the
net monetary savings due to reduced electricity consumption while
using a hybrid system.
Assumptions and input parameters
Effective value of unit price of electricity to the user
Since most of the commercial buildings use diesel generating
(DG) set(s) to meet the electricity requirements during periods of
unavailability of grid electricity, the weighted average of the cost of
grid electricity and the cost of electricity from the DG set(s) has been
used as the unit cost of electricity to the user. In this study, it assumed
that, on an annual average basis, the grid electricity is available for
60% time of the year at a price of Rs 6.00 per kWh2 and the remaining
40% of the time DG Set based electricity is used at an estimated price
of Rs 11.00 per kWh. Thus a weighted average value of Rs 8.00 per
kWh (=6(0.6)+ 11(0.4)) is obtained. An annual increase of 5% in the
weighted average value of the unit price of electricity for the user is
also internalized in the calculations.

Capacity of AC unit (TR)

Cost of AC unit (Rs)

3.0
5.5
8.5
11.0
17.0
22.0

48,000
78,000
110,000
145,000
210,000
280,000

Capital cost of AC unit

The cost estimates as obtained from manufacturers for different
capacity split air cooled type AC units are presented in Table 3.
Capital cost of direct evaporative cooling unit
An air washer type direct evaporative cooling (DEC) unit used in
commercial buildings is considered in the present study. It typically consists of a centrifugal fan and motor assembly, isolators, lters, humidication media (cellulose pad), GI water tank, FRP header for the water
distribution, and an appropriate sized pump to re-circulate the water.
The cost estimates of DEC units as a function of air ow rate as obtained
from the manufacturers and suppliers are presented in Table 4. The
following cost function is obtained for the capital cost of the DEC (Cdec)
in Indian Rupees as a function of the air ow rate (AFR) using the data
presented in Table 4.
0:9792

Cdec 466:1 x AFR

Discount rate
A discount rate of 12% is used in the study.
Cost of variable frequency drive (VFD) and controls
Based on the inputs received from the manufacturers the cost of
VFD and cost of controls is assumed to be Rs. 25,000 each.

Useful life
The expected useful life of the AC unit as well as that of the
DEC unit is assumed to be 15 years with the provision of an annual
maintenance contract.
Cost of annual maintenance contract for AC and DEC units
Based on detailed discussions with the manufacturers and suppliers
of both the AC and DEC units in the country, the cost of AMC is estimated
at 10% of the total capital cost with an annual increase of 5% from the
base year value.
Cost of air distribution system
Air distribution system includes sheet metal duct, exible connection, volume control dampers, supply/return air diffusers, exhaust air
grilles etc. Using the cost estimates received from the manufacturers
and suppliers (Table 2) the following cost function is obtained for the
cost of air distribution system (Cads) in Indian Rupees as a function of
the air ow rate (AFR) in cubic meter per minute.
0:6861

Cads 2752:6AFR

49

US $1 = Indian Rupees (Rs) 45.50 in October, 2010.

Results and discussion

Using the numerical values of input parameters presented in
Assumptions and input parameters section, the values of life cycle
cost (LCC), levelized annual cost, as well as the simple payback period
(SPP) and NPV of incremental investment on a hybrid system have
been calculated. The results are presented in Table 5 and a brief
discussion on the results is presented in the following paragraphs.
It is observed, that in Indore the hybrid system is nancially
attractive for high density ofce, movie theater and waiting hall and
not for the low density ofce. This may be attributed to a relatively
low value of LCC of a standalone AC unit in the low density ofce.

Table 4
Capital cost of direct evaporative cooler (DEC) units (air washer type).
Capacity of DEC unit
(cubic feet per minute)

Capacity of DEC unit

(cubic meter per minute)

Cost of DEC unit

(Rs)

2500
3000
5000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
30,000

71
85
142
283
425
567
708
850

30,000
36,000
60,000
120,000
172,500
230,000
287,500
345,000

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V. Jain et al. / Energy for Sustainable Development 17 (2013) 4753

Table 5
Measures of nancial attractiveness for all the four building applications in Akola, Bangalore, Delhi and Indore.
Unit

(A) High density ofce

Life cycle cost
Levelized annual cost
Simple payback period
(of incremental investment)
NPV (of incremental investment)
(B) Low density ofce
Life cycle cost
Levelized annual cost
Simple payback period
(of incremental investment)
NPV (of incremental investment)
(C) Movie theater
Life cycle cost
Levelized annual cost
Simple payback period
(of incremental investment)
NPV (of incremental investment)
(D) Waiting hall
Life cycle cost
Levelized annual cost
Simple payback period
(of incremental investment)
NPV (of incremental investment)

Akola

Bangalore

AC system

Hybrid system

AC system

1000 Rs
1000 Rs
Years

1165
171

1002
147
3.6

750
110

1000 Rs

163

1000 Rs
1000 Rs
Years

680
100

710
104
14.5

1000 Rs

30

1000 Rs
1000 Rs
Years

3012
442

2329
342
1.1

1107
162

1000 Rs

1000 Rs
1000 Rs
Years

3180
467

1000 Rs

684

2519
370
0.6
661

Delhi

Indore

AC system

Hybrid system

AC system

543
80
3.3

739
108

823
121
42

746
110

207

84

551
81

489
72
6.1

535
79

658
97
Not feasible

547
80

123

18

906
133
4

1979
291

1967
289
8.7

1625
239

1321
194
2.9

201

12

2011
295

1923
282
4.1

1752
257

89

1384
203

Fig. 2. Sensitivity of the net present value of hybrid system (DEC + AC) in high density
ofce to the values of (a) discount rate, (b) useful life, and (c) unit price of electricity.

Hybrid system

62

1124
165
2.5
260

Hybrid system
674
99
6
73

565
83
12.2

304

1371
201
1.7
354

Fig. 3. Sensitivity of net present value of hybrid system (DEC + AC) in low density
ofce to the values of (a) discount rate, (b) useful life, and (c) unit price of electricity.

V. Jain et al. / Energy for Sustainable Development 17 (2013) 4753

51

Fig. 4. Sensitivity of net present value of hybrid system (DEC + AC) in movie theater to
the values of (a) discount rate, (b) useful life, and (c) unit price of electricity.

It is noted the LCC for the standalone AC system is maximum for

waiting hall building and minimum for low density ofce, for all the
four cities considered in the present study. Also, as expected, the
hybrid system becomes attractive when there is a large difference
between LCC of standalone AC unit and that of a hybrid system.
In Delhi, the hybrid system is not attractive in two out of four building applications (i.e., hybrid system is attractive for movie theater and
waiting hall building only). For city of Delhi, in the case of low density
ofce the use of a hybrid system though reduces electricity consumption
its operating cost (cost of AMC, electricity and water cost) is much more
in than that for a standalone AC system. The attractiveness of the hybrid
system at Akola is somewhat similar to that observed for the city of Indore, i.e., the hybrid system is attractive for high density ofce, movie
theater and waiting hall. However, the recovery of the capital cost is
faster as compared to Indore. For the case of high density ofce the simple payback period (SPP) of incremental investment in a hybrid system
is 6.0 years in Indore while it is 3.6 years for Akola. Similarly, while in Indore the values of the SPP for movie theater and waiting hall buildings
are 2.9 years and 1.7 years respectively the corresponding values for
Akola are 1.1 year and 0.6 years respectively. In Bangalore, the hybrid
system is nancially attractive for all the four building applications.
Variation of the NPV of the incremental investment on a hybrid
system, with discount rate, useful life and unit price of electricity,
for high density ofce for all the four cities is presented in Fig. 2
(a to c). It may be noted that the NPV of incremental investment
in a hybrid system is quite sensitive to the values of these input
parameters. Results of similar sensitivity analysis for the case of low
density ofce for three locations (excluding Delhi) are presented in

Fig. 5. Sensitivity of net present value of hybrid system (DEC + AC) in waiting hall to
the values of (a) discount rate, (b) useful life, and (c) unit price of electricity.

Fig. 3. Results for the cases of movie theater and waiting hall are
presented in Figs. 4 and 5 respectively for all the four locations considered in the study. It may be noted that except the low density ofce, all
the other three building applications in Indore and Akola can benet
from the use of a hybrid system with monetary gains for the investor.
In Delhi, only the movie theater and the waiting hall building can
benet from the use of a hybrid system. This is different from the
results obtained for Indore, although the city of Delhi is grouped in
the same climatic zone i.e. composite zone as per the National Building Code. In Bangalore, all the four building applications can benet
from the hybrid system. A summary of the feasibility of using hybrid

Table 6
Feasibility of using hybrid system as against standalone vapor compression AC system
{feasible: []; not feasible: [X]}.
S. no.

Cities (climatic zone

as per NBC)

High density
ofce

Low density
ofce

Movie
theater

Waiting
hall

Akola (hot and dry

climatic zone)
Bangalore (temperate
climatic zone)
Delhi (composite
climatic zone)
Indore (composite
climatic zone)

2
3
4

52

V. Jain et al. / Energy for Sustainable Development 17 (2013) 4753

as a DEC unit) can be a nancially attractive option in certain cities/

region of the country for high density ofce, movie theater and
waiting hall applications as the hybrid system appears to be more
attractive for building with higher cooling loads. Efforts should
therefore be directed towards exploiting the potential of hybrid
systems for meeting high cooling loads in suitable climatic
conditions.

system (as against the standalone vapor compression AC system) is

presented in Table 6.
Concluding remarks
The results of the simple nancial analysis presented in the present
study suggest that a hybrid system (comprising of an AC unit as well
Appendix

The building applications considered are of multi-storied and with multi-zone, however, for the purpose of study, part unit size of 10 m 5 m
is considered from a building oriented along east-west (facing northsouth direction). Same area modular unit* considered in all the building
application for the purpose of comparison.
Table A1
External and internal input parameters for different building applications (Jain, 2010).
Sl. no.

Description

High density ofce

Low density ofce

Movie theater

Waiting hall

Remarks

Area (m2)

Height (m)

Unit size of,

10 m 5 m
3.50 m

Unit size of,

10 m 5 m
3.50 m

Unit size of,

10 m 5 m
6.00 m

Unit size of,

10 m 5 m
3.50 m

3
5
6

Volume (m3)
Occupancy (numbers)
Fresh air in cubic meter per minute
(CMM)
Air changes per hour (ac/h)
North wall area (m2)
South wall area (m2)
Ceiling
North window (m2)

175 m3
8
4.8

175 m3
4
2.4

300 m3
75
36

175 m3
50
24

Same area modular unita considered for

purpose of comparison.
Same height considered for the purpose of
comparison (except theater)

As per National Building Code (NBC)

As per NBC

1.65
35
35
Internal partition
14

0.82
35
35
Internal partition
14

7.2
60
60
Internal partition
0

8.23
35
35
Internal partition
14

South window (m2)

Equipment load
(light/power density in W/m2)
Wall U-factor (W/m2/K
Solar heat gain coefcient (SHGC)
Glass U-factor (W/m2/K)

14
24 W/m2

14
11.8 W/m2

0
12.9 W/m2

14
10.8 W/m2

40% glass, as per Energy Conservation

Building Code (ECBC)
40% glass, as per ECBC
As per ECBC

0.39
0.75
2.83

0.39
0.75
2.83

0.39

0.39
0.75
2.83

Within the limit given in ECBC i.e., 0.4

As per ECBC 0.25b
Within the limit given in ECBC.

7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Notes:

All the other oors, walls are considered as internal partitions.

Room internal capacitance is considered as 2100 kJ/K for all the buildings excluding Movie theater where it is 3600 kJ/K.
a
Part unit size considered from a building oriented along eastwest (facing northsouth direction).
b
As per information received from the architects and HVAC designers, glass available with SHGC of 0.25 are very expensive, therefore, generally glass are provided with SHGC of
0.7 to 0.75 with internal shadings (in buildings), to make up for the rest. In present study, SHGC of 0.75 with suitable internal shading accordingly is considered.

Table A2
Hours of operation of AC unit and DEC unit is a hybrid system for comfort conditions of 26 TSI (Jain, 2010).
Building application

Operating hours of AC and DEC in a hybrid system for comfort conditions of 26 TSI
Akola

High density ofce

Low density ofce
Movie theater
Waiting hall

Bangalore

Delhi

Indore

AC

DEC

AC

DEC

AC

DEC

AC

DEC

3868
3623
3956
4854

4887
4881
4385
3702

1028
1420
1774
3842

7732
7090
6511
4782

3691
3605
3711
3998

2187
2146
1955
1793

2542
2461
2643
3141

4727
4510
4175
3908

Table A3
Selected DEC unit capacity in m3/h for different building application and AC unit capacity for different building applications as well as for different cities (Jain, 2010).
Building applications

Capacity of selected DEC unit in ow rate in m3/mina

Capacity of selected AC unit (in tons of refrigeration (TR) and ow rate in m3/min).
Akola

High density ofce

Low density ofce
Movie theater
Waiting hall

87.5
87.5
150
87.5

Bangalore

Delhi

Indore

TR

m3/min

TR

m3/min

TR

m3/min

TR

m3/min

5.5
3
17
17

62
34
193
193

3
3
5.5
5.5

34
34
62
62

3
3
11
11

34
34
125
125

3
3
8.5
8.5

34
34
96
96

a
DEC unit capacity is calculated with volume of the room and air change rate. In our case, volume (10 m 5 m 3.5 m) and air change rate (30 ac/h) is same for all the type of
buildings except in movie theater where volume is different as height is 6.0 m (air change rate is same as 30 ac/h).

V. Jain et al. / Energy for Sustainable Development 17 (2013) 4753

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