China’s Ordos Ejin Horo International Airport in Inner Mongolia has introduced an innovative energy system that uses carbon dioxide (CO₂) to help generate, transfer, and store energy, marking a significant step toward more efficient airport operations.
The technology replaces traditional Freon-based systems with CO₂, which can naturally carry and transform energy.
It allows the airport to integrate energy from sources such as solar power, wind power, and thermal energy, converting fluctuations in renewable energy supply into stable heating and cooling.
The system is designed to significantly reduce the airport’s overall energy consumption, reportedly cutting it by around 60% while lowering operating costs by approximately 50%.
One of its key features is its ability to store waste heat generated during summer and reuse that stored energy for heating during winter, improving energy efficiency throughout the year.
The airport is also expected to save around 2.6 million cubic meters of natural gas annually through the technology.
Beyond aviation, the system could potentially be adapted for industrial parks, data and computing centers, factories, and other large facilities with high heating and cooling demands.
The project highlights how CO₂-based energy systems could play a role in reducing conventional fuel consumption while making large-scale infrastructure more energy efficient.
