GROUND SOURCE HEAT PUMPS – OVERCOMING MARKET AND TECHNICAL BARRIERS (IEA HEAT PUMP PROGRAMME ANNEX 29)
Within the framework of the IEA, the Heat Pump Programme has carried out three Annexes on ground source heat pumps (GSHP), the IEA Energy Conservation through Energy Storage Implementing Agreement one, and both Programmes came to the result that utilising the ground highly efficient solutions for the building sector can be achieved. The work in Annex 29 will include a matrix of GSHP applications depending on climate, ground conditions and applications, a study on how to improve technical performance and cost of GSHP, the identification of market barriers and innovative approaches to increase GSHP. Ground-coupled heat pumps gain importance world-wide with respect to energy efficiency in heating and cooling operation. The ground acting as a store offers the possibility of damping the effects of the outside air temperature fluctuations, in colder climates it enables monovalent heating operation of the heat pump, and for utilities it is – compared with outside air operated heat pumps - a tool for demand side management measures.