Performance characteristics of ground source heat pump and combined heat and power systems under electricity decarbonisation plans

Yuan, X., Shahrestani, M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8741-0912, Fernbank, D., Burton, J., Liu, J. and Yang, Y. (2017) Performance characteristics of ground source heat pump and combined heat and power systems under electricity decarbonisation plans. In: The 8th International Conference of SuDBE2017, 4-7 Nov 2017, Chongqing, China. (In Press)

Abstract/Summary

Buildings account for almost 40% of the energy consumption in the World and more than 50% of this energy is used by Heating, Ventilation, Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration (HVAC&R) systems. This significant energy demand together with the ascending trend in utilizing HVAC&R systems underline the importance of considering sustainable technologies to mitigate the environmental impact of energy consumption in buildings. This study examines the energy performance and the energy related environmental impacts of Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) and Combined Heat and Power (CHP) systems in a case study in the UK. The performance of these two systems are assessed through numerical simulation using TRNSYS software and the numerical model is verified with the actual data collected form the energy meters of the case study building. In addition, due to the significant influence of global warming mitigation policies on the energy related CO2 emissions associated with building services, the studied sustainable technologies are assessed under nine electricity decarbonisation plans using the UK MARKAL model in both short term (2016 to 2020) and long term (2021 to 2050) periods. The results show that considering the current carbon intensity of electricity in the UK National grid, CHP system performs better in terms of energy related CO2 emissions compared to GSHP system. However, considering different electricity decarbonisation scenarios, GSHP system is producing less CO2 emissions. These results are very significant and applicable to decision makers and policy makers to make an informed decision and select the most appropriate system that performs well under different electricity decarbonisation plans.