15-26: Hybrid Cooling Towers – Water Savings Calculations and Measurements

In many areas of the globe water has become, along with energy, a critical natural resource. Because of that concern, a variety of hybrid cooling towers have been developed for power-plant usage. These hybrids provide the cooling performance of a wet-cooling tower but with less water usage. The particular amount of water savings that can be achieved varies with both the design of the hybrid cooling-tower and the ambient climate. There is no generally accepted method for estimating the expected water savings from a specific hybrid design at a specific site; nor is there a generally accepted method for verifying that the estimated water savings was realized. This paper proposes methods for both standardization of hybrid water-savings calculations and verification of water savings by field measurements.