Clean Energy for Cooling and Heating with Ground Source Heat Pumps

Abstract

Abdeen Mustafa Omer

In the recent attempts to stimulate alternative energy sources for heating and cooling of buildings, emphasise has been put on utilisation of the ambient energy from ground source heat pump systems (GSHPs) and other renewable energy sources. Exploitation of renewable energy sources and particularly ground heat in buildings can significantly contribute towards reducing dependency on fossil fuels. The study was carried out at the Energy Research Institute (ERI), between September 2016 and November 2017. This paper highlights the potential energy saving that could be achieved through use of ground energy source. The main concept of this technology is that it uses the lower temperature of the ground (approximately <32°C), which remains relatively stable throughout the year, to provide space heating, cooling and domestic hot water inside the building area. The purpose of this study, however, is to examine the means of reducing of energy consumption in buildings, identifying GSHPs as an environmental friendly technology able to provide efficient utilisation of energy in the buildings sector, promoting the use of GSHPs applications as an optimum means of heating and cooling, and presenting typical applications and recent advances of the DX GSHPs. It is concluded that the direct expansion of GSHP are extendable to more comprehensive applications combined with the ground heat exchanger in foundation piles and the seasonal thermal energy storage from solar thermal collectors. This study highlights the energy problem and the possible saving that can be achieved through the use of the GSHP systems. This article discusses the principle of the ground source energy, varieties of GSHPs, and various developments.

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