Combined Effect of Global Warming and Buildings Envelope on the Performance of Ground Source Heat Pump Systems

Heating and cooling systems as well as domestic hot water account for over 50 % of the world’s energy consumption. Due to their high thermal performance, ground source heat pump systems (GSHP) have been increasingly used to reduce energy consumption. The thermal performance of GSHP systems strongly depends on the temperature difference between indoor and ground operation temperature. This temperature difference is a function of mean annual air temperature and energy demand for heating and cooling over the year. The thermal load of a building, on the other hand is influenced by the thermal quality of the building envelope (TQBE) and outdoor temperature. Over the time, there is a change in heating and cooling load of buildings due to two reasons; improving the comfort requirements and outdoor temperature change. The overall aim of the current work is to study the impact of climatic changes in combination with TQBE on driving energy of GSHP. This was achieved by comparing the driving energy of the GSHP for different global warming (GW) scenarios and different TQBE. Under climate conditions of selected cities (Stockholm, Roma, and Riyadh), the current study shows that GW reduces the driving energy of GSHPs in cold climates. In contrast, GW increases the driving energy of GSHPs in hot climates. Also it was shown that buildings with poor TQBE are more sensitive to GW. Furthermore, the improvement of TQBE reduces the driving energy more in cold climates than in hot or mild climates

Built environment life cycle process and climate change

In order to design and realise an efficient built environment life cycle with focus on climate change mitigation and adaptation, it is necessary to carry out exhaustive investigations of all the decision and processes that form it. The efficiency level of the considered built environment life cycle depends on a great many micro, meso and macro factors. The authors of this paper participated in the different EU projects related with built environment and climate change [Linking European, Africa and Asian Academic Networks on Climate Change (LEAN CC), etc.]. One of the LEAN CC project’s goals was to develop a Model and Intelligent System of Built Environment Life Cycle Process for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation. The presented Model and Intelligent System enables one to form up to 100 million alternative versions. Intelligent system allows one to determine the strongest and weakest points of each project and its constituent parts. In order to demonstrate the micro, meso and macro factors that influence the efficiency of the built environment in climate change mitigation and adaptation processes, the Model and Intelligent System will be considered as an example.(undefined