A desiccant dehumidifier in conjunction with evaporative coolers can reduce air conditioning operating costs significantly since the energy required to power a desiccant cooling system is small and the source of this required energy (solar, waste heat, natural gas) can be diverse. Such a solid desiccant cooling system with a backup vapour compression system is simulated and the performance of the system is evaluated to study its feasibility in four cities in the United States. This paper describes the relevant psychrometric calculations and analyses of the conditioned zone required for simulating the transient performance of the system.