HEATING/COOLING SYSTEMS FOR URBAN BUILT

ECOSYSTEMS: A COMPARTIVE STUDY

Harshit Jain1*, N. M. Saxena2 and Nikhil Jain2

1
Department of Civil Engineering, Institute of Technology,Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi,
2
Department of Civil Engineering, Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu Universityi,Varanasi
E-mail: hjair4617@gmail.com

Keywords: Sustainable Technology, Geothermal energy, geothermal source heat pumps

Abstract: Developing countries like India are good markets for investment in infrastructure. Rising levels of Income,
standard of living, need of office spaces for IT’s and BPO’s in growing metro cities, increase in retail
industry are main reasons for growth of real state in urban India. Heating and cooling systems of buildings
in urban cities shares a large pool of energy consumption in form of electricity. In the developing countries
like India, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Bangladesh etc. there are abundant energy crisis. There is a need of
adopting sustainable technology in our daily life to avoid environmental imbalances.
The various systems present for heating and cooling are air source heat pumps, geothermal source heat
pumps etc. GSHP’s use geothermal energy for heating and cooling of buildings. Air source heat pumps are
convention air conditioners. This paper presents detailed overview of various cooling systems for
buildings. The detailed life cycle assessment of cooling systems, cost analysis, sustainability studies,
factors affecting efficiency of GSHP’s are discussed in the paper. GSHP reduces about 70% of energy
consumption as compared to conventional systems. GSHP also reduce CO2 emission thereby, decreasing
global warming.
The life cycle assessment suggests that GSHP’s saves about 32% of total cost as compared with other
conventional air conditioning units. Zone heating and aesthetics can be improved in case of GSHP’s which
ensures better structural and architectural stability to it. The results suggest that GSHP’s can be a
sustainable solution for rising energy crisis, global warming, and climate change.

1 INTRODUCTION The new and renewable options for mitigating

World Energy Council had presented several
scenarios for meeting future energy requirement
which are varying on economic growth,
technological progress, environmental protection
and international equity for countries. During 1900-
2050, the primary energy consumption is expected
to increase by 50% according to most
environmentally friendly conscious scenario and
250% according to highest growth rate scenario
(Kaygusuz and Kaygusuz, 2002). The current world
energy induced various local and regional effects on
environment like global dimming, global warming,
ozone depletion, etc. These effects allured various
countries on the recommendation of World Earth
summit held at Rio-de-Janeiro. The earth summit
actions plans on the protection of the atmosphere
and urges review of urgent combinations to
determine how the contribution of ‘environmentally
sound energy system’ in particular efficient manner
(UNCED, 1992).
these effects are solar, geothermal and hydropower
energy. Among all available options, geothermal
energy is the most important because of its benign
nature. The sustainability of geothermal energy
ensures viable energy while maintain the integrity of
nature and environment. Geothermal energy reduces
emissions of harmful gases like CO2, NOx and SO2.
Geothermal energy can be regarded as one of the
cleanest form of energy. Geothermal energy is the
energy stored within the earth surface.
Urban ecosystem here refers to houses, schools,
libraries and other commercial building like malls,
shopping complexes, etc. According to IHS Global
Insight's forecast for India, non-residential
construction is expected to rise at a rate of 13.9%
during 2007-13. Increase in urbanization,
inspiration of having high standard of living among
people and huge investment made by multi-national
companies in Indian market leads to more
infrastructural and real estate development.
Development of infrastructure leads to more use of
heating/cooling appliances for ensuring a

1
comfortable stay in the buildings due excessive
heating or cooling condition prevailing due to
season change. This increases the load on energy
required for heating/cooling of building. A
sustainable solution can only reduce this heavy
energy load required for heating/cooling of
buildings.
Geothermal source of heat pumps (GSHP) are
used to transfer heat from building to earth beneath
which remain relatively at constant temperature.
The paper presents the comparative study of
geothermal source heat pumps (GSHP) with other
conventionally used heating/cooling appliances in
terms of financial assessment over the entire life
cycle, visual impact assessment etc. The
sustainability aspects of GSHP are also discussed.
2 GEOTHERMAL SOURCE HEAT
PUMP
The geothermal energy is broadly classified into two
types. Firstly, High grade geothermal energy which
is the heat produced due to earth enormous pressure
at great depth. Secondly, Low Grade geothermal
Energy which is part of solar energy stored within
the earth crust. Around 46% of total solar energy is
absorbed by earth crust.
Geothermal source heat pumps (GSHP) use low
grade geothermal energy (Harries et al, 2006). Earth
act as incredibly large and steady source or sink of
heat for GSHPs. Earth beneath remains almost at
constant temperature throughout the year, i.e.
warmer than air in winter and cooler than air in case
of summer season. GSHP uses this information as its
main principle for working. It transfers heat from the
building during summer to earth and vice versa
during winter. The GSHP system usually consists of
three subsystems:
2.1 Geothermal Heat Pump Sub-System
This system is responsible for interaction of fluid
present in geothermal heat pipes for exchange of
heat with the earth sub-surface. The closed loop
system and open loop system are the basic loop
networks (Sarkhi et al, 2008, Haehnlein et al, 2010).
Their utility and efficiency depends upon climatic
condition, soil condition available at the particular
area, available land area and total installation cost at
the site. Closed and open loop system both can be
used for residential as well as commercial buildings.
Refrigerants like R410A, blend of HFC(s) do not
contribute for depletion of O3 layer. In addition to
this mixture of propyl alcohol, methyl alcohol or a
mixture of either of these with water can be used as
heat carrier from heat pump to ground.
2.2 Geothermal Heat Distribution
Subsystem
Most residential geothermal systems use
conventional ductwork to distribute hot or cold air
and to provide humidity control. Properly sized,
constructed, and sealed ducts are essential to
maintain system efficiency. Ducts must be well
insulated and, whenever possible, located inside of
the building's thermal envelope (conditioned space).
Geothermal heating and cooling systems for large
commercial buildings, such as schools and offices,
often use a different arrangement. Multiple heat
pumps (perhaps one for each classroom or office)
can be attached to the same earth connection by a
loop inside the building.
2.3 Geothermal Heat Pump Subsystem
The geothermal heat pump is packaged in a single
cabinet, and includes the compressor, loop-to-
refrigerant heat exchanger, and controller. Systems
that distribute heat/cool using ducted air also contain
the air handler, duct fan, filter, refrigerant-to-air heat
exchanger, and condensate removal system for air
conditioning. For home installations, the geothermal
heat pump cabinet is usually located in a basement,
attic, or closet. In commercial installations, it may
be hung above a suspended ceiling or installed as a
self-contained console.
All heat pumps use a vapour compression cycle
to transport heat from one location to another. In
heating mode, the cycle starts as the cold liquid
refrigerant within the heat pump passes through a
heat exchanger (evaporator) and absorbs heat from
the low-temperature source (fluid circulated through
the earth connection). The refrigerant evaporates
into a gas as heat is absorbed. The gaseous
refrigerant then passes through a compressor where
it is pressurized, raising its temperature to over
180°F. The hot gas then circulates through a
refrigerant-to-air heat exchanger where the heat is
removed and sent through the air ducts. When the
refrigerant loses the heat, it changes back to a liquid.
The liquid refrigerant cools as it passes through an
expansion valve, and the process begins again.
Although heat pumps are complex internally, they
are marvels of compact design for reliability. Some
include features such as additional heat exchangers
for water heating and microprocessor-based
automatic controls and protection devices. For
heating, a geothermal heat pump removes the heat
from the fluid in the earth connection, concentrates
it, and then transfers it to the building. For cooling,
the process is reversed.
3 COMPATIVE STUDY
United States Environment Agency proclaimed
geothermal heating/cooling system is ‘the most
2
energy and environmental sensitive of all space 3.2 Low Maintenance
conditioning system’. The system takes befit form
the earth constant temperature, which is According to a study completed for the Geothermal
approximately 55⁰F to heat or cool a building. GSHP Heat Pump Consortium (GHPC), buildings with
can save 40-70% cost of heating and 30-50% cost of GHP systems had average total maintenance costs
cooling a building as compared to conventional used ranging from 6 to 11 cents per square foot, or about
heating or cooling device, i.e. air source heat pumps. one-third that of conventional systems. Because the
In case of conventionally used air conditioning workhouse part of the system—the piping—is
appliance which are presently used in houses, underground or underwater, there is little
offices, school and commercial building more maintenance required. Occasional cleaning of the
electrical work is requires to transfer heat from heat exchanger coils and regularly changing the air
building at 21 degree Celsius to air which is at filters are about all the work necessary to keep the
relatively higher temperature whereas GSHP system in good running order.
necessitates less electrical work as compare to
former case to transfer heat from building to the
earth beneath.
GSHP reduces electricity consumption by 70%.
GSHP are superior to ASHP/AC because they suffer
lesser oscillation in heat source temperature over the
year. There is larger temperature difference in
exterior heat exchanger (Hepbasli et al, 2009).

3.1 Life cycle Assessment

Life cycle assessment for GSHP and AC is
presented in Table 1. Air conditioners have a cycle Fig. 1 Cost for GSHP in various cities
of 10 years while GSHP has a life cycle of 20 years.
The installation cost of GSHP accounts of GSHP 3.3 Durability
and fixing of ducts inside building as well as GSHP systems have relatively few moving parts,
geothermal heat pumps and pipe network. and those parts are sheltered inside a building, their
Maintenance cost accounts for all the investment durability and reliability is enhanced. The
need for dressing of cracks (if any cracks arises). underground piping often carries warranties of 25 to
The probability of arising cracks in case of GSHP 50 years, and the GHPs often last 20 years or more.
system is minimal because the whole network of
heat pipes of GSHP is roofed by the earth. However, 3.4 Reduced Vandalism
inflation in the cost in the case of AC after 10 years
will also increase the savings in case of GSHP GHPs usually have no outdoor compressors or
system. The lack of roof top penetrations also means cooling towers, so the potential for vandalism is
less potential for leaks and ongoing maintenance, eliminated. The excellent feedbacks from leading
and better roof warranties. In addition, the countries like USA, Sweden etc. prove it a safe and
aboveground components of a GSHP system are controlled solution for heating and cooling. It does
inside the building, sheltering the equipment both not depend upon climatic condition and can be used
from weather-related damage and potential in various climatic conditions like humid, tempered
vandalism. etc. It is also insensitive of conventional energy
prices. The annual /cooling cost for various cities of
Table 1: Life Cycle Assesment for GSHP and conventional USA are given in Fig. 1.
heating/cooling system for 5000 sq. ft. 3 ton AC/GSHP
GSHP AC Savings
Lifecycle 20 years 10 years
Installation 30 * 2 Reinstallation
50
Cost =60 savings
Electricity
6.6 22 70%
Cost
Maintenan
2.0 5.0
ce
Total 58.6 87.0 28.4
Per Year 5.13 7.25 2.11

Fig. 2 CO2 emission for various type non- conventional

energy sources

3
4 SUSTANIABLITY 5 CONCLUSION
Sustainable development can be defined sustainable
development as development that "meets the need of With rises in urbanization and aspiration for high
the present generation without compromising the standard of living among people increases a energy
ability of the future generations to meet their needs load for heating/cooling systems. Geothermal source
GSHP system reduces CO2 emission up to 80% heat pump can be one of the possible solutions for
(Russo et al, 2009). The value of CO2 emission and reducing heavy energy load. GSHP reduces
emission for various conventional heating and electricity consumption by 70%. GSHP ensures
cooling system are presented in Table No. 2. The saving of around 2 lakh as compared to all other
GSHP is highly efficient as compared to all heating/cooling system. Geothermal is cleanest form
available conventional heating and cooling systems. of energy as compared to other in-conventional
The geothermal energy is one of the clean form of source of energies. GSHP heating/cooling system is
energy, Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 shows CO2 , NOx and CH4 highly durable as well as reliable.
emission for geothermal as well as other non-
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Fig. 3 CH4, NOx, SO2 emission for various type non-

conventional energy sources