Harnessing Solar Energy for Efficient Cooling in Hot Weather Regions: A Comparative Experiment on Solar-Assisted Air Conditioning’s Energy Efficiency

As countries continue to develop their industries while failing to acknowledge climate change and the intensifying concerns of global warming, energy consumption through fossil fuels will only increase. Hot countries in the Middle East, specifically Kuwait, have seen a trend of increasing overall temperatures for the past decades. The results of this increase have caused a stressful energy consumption from air conditioners (AC) as a need for a comfortable indoor climate. Conventional AC units can be substituted or supported with solar energy as an attempt to decrease energy consumption. The research compared conventional and solar assisted air conditioning energy consumption in two identical novel portable cabins while maintaining an indoor temperature of 22 °C. The results have shown an energy saving of 28%, 31%, 24%, and 18% by an integrated solar PV panels and batteries during the last 5 days of April and the first 3 weeks of May, respectively. The investigation provides great insights for manufacturers to consider solar energy as a source of electrical power of AC.