Climate-potential of earth-to-air heat exchangers

Abstract

Amid several natural cooling sources that refer to thermal sinks (water, air, ground and night sky), a possible system is represented by the horizontal earth-to-air heat exchangers (EAHX). This technology, even if less diffused if compared to other geothermal systems, has been demonstrated to be effective alone and coupled with mechanical air-handling systems to reduce the energy consumption for both cooling and heating.After a short review of existing EAHX simulation software, the paper will introduce a new simplified method to assess the potential of earth-to-air heat exchangers according to local soil composition and climate data.