Ground-Coupled Heat Pump Applications and Case Studies

Abstract

The paper presents an overview of ground loops for space-conditioning heat pumps, hot water, ice machines, and water-cooled refrigeration in residential and commercial applications. In Louisiana, a chain of hamburger drive-ins uses total ground-coupling in its stores. A grocery store has ground-coupling for all heat pumps and refrigeration. Desuperheaters provide 80 percent of the hot water for a coin laundry in the same building. A comparison of energy costs in a bank with a ground-coupled heat pump to a similar bank building with air-conditioning and gas for heat revealed a 22 percent reduction in utility costs for the ground-coupled building. In a retrofit application of ground-coupled heat pumps to replace air-conditioning and electric heal, energy consumption was reduced by 67 percent, and peak kilowatt demand was reduced by 50 percent.