With the help of advances in intelligent controls and a shift In design mindset, these systems can steer buildings toward smaller equipment sizes and associated savings. Review three projects and consider the benefits of keeping an upcoming project in the loop.

摘要

For several decades, our industry has applied closed-loop, water-source heat pump systems in commercial and institu- tional buildings. These systems can provide excellent energy performance when the building's internal heat gains match the building's heat losses or loads on a real-time basis, sim- ply moving heat from where it is not needed to where it is required. However, the application of thermal energy storage in these systems has generally occurred in only a small portion of buildings such as the occasional water storage tank that served as a diurnal "thermal flywheel" to hold surplus heat from a daytime cooling cycle to pro- vide the basis for nighttime heat requirements being the most com- mon example. The polar shift towards net-zero building energy use requires us to rethink any application where we might be discarding energy that has potential to do additional beneficial work.