ENGG1600 Sustainable Energy | Ground Source Heat Pump

Ground source heat pump is very commonly employed and has long history of usage. However in the recent years with increased focus on the usage of clean and green energy practices and with increased focus on to reduce the emissions, Ground source heat pumps are being employed in large number(Lund et al.,2016).   Also the usage of the Ground source Heat pumps have increased in their applications. They are used in large number of space and water heating requirements. The recent trends include employing thermal energy storage systems for keeping the energy delivered by the GSHP. There are variety  of thermal energy storage systems being employed. The key trend is to go for more compact and efficient TES, thermo chemical agent based TES is one recent trend in collecting the energy form the GSHP (Aydin et al., 2015). One of the very commonly employed applications of the GSHP is for the sake of water desalination. Water desalination can be done using the GSHP and this is being employed globally with increased number. The recent trend is the usage of self powered GSHP for desalination requirements (Davies,2014). Solar energy assistance and there by employing hybrid GSHP also being used for variety of applications like room space heating requirements, district cooling requirements. Employing the solar energy integrated Ground source Heat pumping systems for low temperature water heating systems (Buker,2016). Also there is considerable focus on the usage of solar technologies assisted with the Ground source Heat pumping systems for the sake of electricity generation. The technologies are widely being employed for the sake of the energy generation in several regions across the world (Reda,2015). Other recent trends in the application of the ground source heat pump technologies include employing optimized design practices for the sake of improving the performance of the Ground source heat pump technologies. The expected power output and performance from these heat pumps will be optimized by choosing the right operational parameters, there are variety of methods being employed for this purpose, Taugauchi etc are methods  proved to provide the best outcomes in this regard(Cui et al.,2015). Apart from design optimization, there are also advancements seen in the technology employed for GSHP in recent years. One of the technologies is usage of fault alarms for flagging the operation of the fault conditions in the HPs, employing auto control or closed loop operational controls to regulate the performance of the heat pumps. All these techniques are working out to further enhance the applicability of the Ground source heat pumps. The traditional usage of Ground source heat pumps for direct energy usage are also there in application. However their applications are justified only if the particular energy application needing the direct energy usage is in proximity with the location of the GSHP. Nevertheless, the statistical trends in using have radically raised in recent years.

References

Aydin, D., Casey, S. P., & Riffat, S. (2015). The latest advancements on thermochemical heat storage systems. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 41, 356-367.

Buker, M. S., & Riffat, S. B. (2016). Solar assisted heat pump systems for low temperature water heating applications: A systematic review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 55, 399-413.

Davies, P. A., & Orfi, J. (2014). Self-powered desalination of geothermal saline groundwater: technical feasibility. Water, 6(11), 3409-3432.

Lund, J. W., & Boyd, T. L. (2016). Direct utilization of geothermal energy 2015 worldwide review. Geothermics, 60, 66-93.

Reda, F., Arcuri, N., Loiacono, P., & Mazzeo, D. (2015). Energy assessment of solar technologies coupled with a ground source heat pump system for residential energy supply in Southern European climates. Energy, 91, 294-305.