The architectural impact of using ground-source heat pumps in commercial buildings in Las Vegas (Nevada).

摘要

A series of parametric studies evaluate the architectural impacts on the design and long term performance of ground-coupled heat pump systems over a fixed period of time. The results are applied to a commercial office building in order to assess the net impact of combining various energy efficiency strategies. The conclusion of the comprehensive study is that energy efficient design strongly contributes to a reduction in the required size of a ground-coupled heat pump system. A comparative life-cycle cost analysis validates these results by using the same commercial office building design to evaluate a ground-coupled heat pump system against two other commonly used HVAC systems for commercial building applications.; The analysis indicates that ground-coupled heat pump systems perform competitively against other systems in terms of life-cycle costs. The impact on the ground temperature at the ground-loop in such a system rises significantly over the simulation period of 25 years. This condition strongly suggests that ground-coupled heat pump systems that do not incorporate a secondary means of heat disposal such as a cooling tower or absorption chiller may not be the most suitable HVAC system type for commercial office buildings in Las Vegas. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)