Future City Will Get District Cooling System
Centralised chilled-water system to cool buildings, cutting power use and emissions.
Hyderabad: Buildings in the upcoming Bharat Future City will not have pesky AC units protruding from windows, ruining the look of buildings and the spanking new city. Instead, it will have underground lines carrying cold water that will be used to cool buildings.
Called the district cooling system (DCS), it will be on the lines of the one implemented in Gujarat’s GIFT City, marking the first such large-scale urban cooling initiative in Telangana. Residential and commercial buildings in the future city will not require individual outdoor air-conditioning units, though the structures will remain fully air-conditioned, official sources said.
Instead of installing separate AC systems in each building, chilled water will be produced at a central district cooling plant and transported through an underground network of pipelines. The water, cooled to around 5°C, will be supplied to buildings through an integrated utility tunnel. Inside the buildings, plate heat exchangers will transfer the cooling effect to internal systems, after which the warmed water will return to the plant for re-cooling.
The central business district (CBD) planned in the Future City will be a key component of the future city project and will be developed in multiple zones. Plans include a 300-acre AI City, 200-acre Health City, 500-acre Education Hub, and a 3,000-acre Life Sciences Hub, where the district cooling system will be implemented.
District cooling systems combat global warming by providing energy-efficient, centralised air conditioning to multiple buildings via insulated underground pipes/ By utilising large-scale, high-efficiency chillers and renewable sources like seawater, DCS lowers carbon emissions and mitigates urban heat island effects
The system offers several advantages, including up to 50 per cent reduction in electricity consumption, lower greenhouse gas emissions, reduced maintenance costs and better space utilisation in buildings.
Officials said district cooling systems are widely used in newly developed cities, townships and large malls across the world. The state government has already proposed adopting the technology in Bharat Future City as part of its Telangana Rising Vision 2047 development plan.
Sources said GIFT City in Gujarat has India’s only fully functional district cooling system of this scale. Similar systems are also being considered in select developments in Telangana, including a gated community in the IT corridor and facilities such as the Infosys campus in Pocharam.
District cooling has been widely adopted for decades in West Asian countries such as the UAE, Oman, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, where it supports large urban developments with efficient and environmentally sustainable cooling solutions.
