ENERGY consumption, COMPARATIVE studies, AIR conditioning, GROUND source heat pump systems, REFRIGERATION & refrigerating machinery, ABSORPTION, RENEWABLE energy sources
Abstract
Abstract: Ground-source heat pump (GSHP) is a renewable energy technology with the advantages of energy saving and environmental friendliness. This paper focuses on the energy efficiency of air-conditioning systems in public buildings in Tianjin. Three public buildings are chosen as case studies with different forms of cold & heat sources. A building with ground-source heat pump for heating and cooling, a building with electricity-driven refrigerating unit for cooling and centralized heat-supply network for heating, a building with direct-fired Li-Br absorption refrigerating and heating unit for heating and cooling are selected. Attempt is made to analyze the actual operating performance of air-conditioning system and evaluate the system energy efficiency in different buildings. The results show that ground-source heat pump air-conditioning system without adequate design and management is not always better than other traditional air-conditioning systems. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]