KC-2841 -- Shallow Ponds for Dissipation of Building Heat: A Case Study PDF

During the design-development phase for a corporate office building, a thermal-analysis computer simulation was developed to determine if a small pond could dissipate building heat. At that time, the owner desired to avoid the use of conventional cooling towers on the site, due to objectionable steam plumes. After the initial feasibility was determined, several likely scenarios were developed in order to analyze the thermal performance of the pond. Acceptable performance was determined by inspecting the temperature profile of the pond for each scenario. Pond temperatures in excess of 80°F (26.7°C) were deemed unacceptable because of the poor refrigerating plant performance. The use of shallow ponds as heat-dissipation devices for typical office buildings was determined to be technically feasible. The economic viability of such cooling ponds depends on site-specific factors not addressed by the present study.