Kuwaiti technology for more efficient air conditioning
Clymi is developing a product that works with existing central AC systems — without replacing or redesigning them — aiming at independent room control and better use of energy. It is based on a patented invention and developed in Kuwait.
The national challenge
Why air conditioning?
Air conditioning accounts for a large part of electricity consumption in Kuwait, and its effect is greatest in the summer months and at peak times. Any measurable improvement in how it runs is therefore worth having, for the building and for the grid.
Why cooling is important
Kuwait’s electricity is generated mostly from oil and gas, and emissions are dominated by power generation.1 Unnecessary air-conditioning operation therefore carries an energy cost and an environmental one.
Kuwait Energy Outlook 2023: The government has a big opportunity to reduce building energy consumption by auditing AC demand in government buildings, utilizing smart building applications, and setting policies for building automated systems.1
What Clymi could contribute
Room-by-room control in existing buildings
Clymi is developing a product that brings room-by-room control to existing buildings, working with the central AC already in place and without replacing it — so air conditioning can run as each room needs.
If field testing shows that it works, Clymi could be considered as one of the ways to run air conditioning more efficiently in existing buildings.
Value the project could add locally
These areas run in the same direction as the State’s priorities on energy efficiency, private-sector participation and local manufacturing — a shared direction, not an official endorsement or an existing partnership.
Energy efficiency
Measuring how much unnecessary operation can be reduced.
Industrial development
Looking at local manufacturing, assembly and supply once field testing shows the product works.
Skills
Building local expertise in developing the product and the systems around it.
Gulf markets
Developing a product from Kuwait for markets with similar operating conditions and cooling needs.
The numbers
Cooling is one of the largest loads on the grid
TodayKuwait · 2023
about60%
of Kuwait’s total electricity demand goes to air conditioning
Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Kuwait Energy Outlook 20231
Some Middle Eastern countries · extremely hot days
more than70%
of peak residential electricity demand can be cooling
Regional context from the International Energy Agency, not a figure for Kuwait alone.
International Energy Agency, The Future of Cooling, 20182
Demand is set to double in government buildings
ProjectionGovernment office buildings · 2040
more than22TWh
projected air-conditioning demand of government office buildings by 2040 — about double the current level
Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Kuwait Energy Outlook 20231
And across Kuwait as a whole: air-conditioning demand in the same outlook
39TWhcurrent level in the 2023 report
growing about 1.5% a year
53TWh2040 · projection
Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Kuwait Energy Outlook 20231
The State’s target for government buildings
TargetAll government buildings · 2050
50%
improvement in energy efficiency across all government buildings by 2050
An interim target of 30% by 2025 preceded it; that date has passed. Both are the State’s targets as reported by the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, not Clymi’s figures.
Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Kuwait Energy Outlook 20231
Where things stand
What is in place, and what is not yet proven
In place today
A patented invention
Engineering development of the product
A software preview of the user experience
Not yet proven
Performance in real buildings
The effect on energy use
This is what field testing will measure.
Prototype: building the prototype and testing it against its engineering requirements.
Field testing: measuring comfort, performance and energy use in real buildings.
Manufacturing and scale: defined on the basis of the test results.
Working together
How collaboration could start
We welcome conversations with government, research and industry bodies. A collaboration could start in one of three ways:
A technical briefingFor the relevant body, under a confidentiality agreement where needed.
Defining what to measureHelping set what field testing should measure.
Hosting a field testIn an existing building with central air conditioning.
The figures on this page come from the official and independent sources below. None of them describes Clymi or its performance.
Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR), Energy and Building Research Center — Kuwait Energy Outlook 2023 (KEO-2023). Air conditioning demand in Kuwait accounts for approximately 60 percent of total electricity demand in Kuwait.…growing at a rate of 1.5 percent annually … to 2040. Kuwait’s energy targets: improving energy efficiency in all government buildings by 30 percent by 2025 and 50 percent by 2050.…air conditioning demand in government office buildings, which is projected to double over the Outlook period to 2040, reaching over 22 TWh. On generation and emissions: power generation is mainly fueled by natural gas, with crude oil used when gas was short, and emissions are dominated by the power generation sector. kisr.edu.kwPDF
International Energy Agency (IEA) — The Future of Cooling (2018). In some countries, such as in the Middle East … space cooling can represent more than 70% of peak residential electrical demand on extremely hot days.iea.org
