Paper No 924 – Assessment of ambient loop-coupled GSHP and WWHP systems in a cold-climate institutional/residential development – 14th IEA Heat Pump Conference, Chicago, USA
Six potential heating and cooling systems were simulated in a large (44-storey) proposed institutional/residential development on a Canadian university campus: a base case including natural gas boilers and a water-cooled chiller; an ambient loop (AL) coupled with conventional equipment (natural gas boilers and cooling tower); an AL-coupled wastewater heat pump (WWHP) system; a hybrid WWHPconventional AL system; an AL-coupled ground-source heat pump (GSHP) system; and a hybrid GSHPconventional AL system. The hybrid WWHP-conventional system and the two GSHP systems outperformed the base and conventional AL systems on all fronts, providing energy savings and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions while also costing less to operate on an annual basis than the base or conventional AL systems under both 2019 and 2030 energy pricing. Of the six systems investigated, the hybrid GSHPconventional system had the lowest energy use, produced the least GHGs, and cost the least to operate under 2019 and 2030 price schemas. While the results of the simulation mediate towards the adoption of a GSHPbased system for this institutional/residential development, annual cost savings and GHG emissions reductions must be balanced against upfront costs, available energy resources, and logistical concerns such as the construction of a borehole field.