Abstract
This study presents a sustainability assessment of geothermal heating and cooling system of three buildings at the University of Illinois at Chicago - Grant, Lincoln, and Douglas Halls based upon the triple bottom line sustainability framework and presents a comparison between geothermal and conventional heating and cooling systems. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was performed to evaluate and quantify the environmental impacts for both geothermal and conventional systems. Similarly, economic impacts were evaluated by making a comparison between direct and indirect costs of both systems. Indirect costs were calculated using Stepwise 2006 incorporated in monetized LCA and compared that cost with social cost of carbon. Social impacts were quantified using Social Sustainability Evaluation Matrix (SSEM) which covers four major dimensions of society: social-individual, socio-institutional, socio-economic, and socio-environmental. An overall sustainability index for geothermal system and conventional system was calculated by evaluating environmental, economic, and social impacts using Integrated Value Model for Sustainability Assessment (MIVES) methodology. The results show that the geothermal heating and cooling system is more sustainable and environmentally friendly than the conventional system.
Highlights
Thermal comfort has been a key aspect of a successful building design as it has a direct and strong influence on the occupant’s productivity, health, as well as the overall efficiency of energy system in the building
The main objective of this study is to present a comparative analysis of the sustainability of geothermal heating and cooling system with the conventional heating and cooling system
Overall result shows that the geothermal system has less impact to the environment than that of conventional system
Summary
Thermal comfort has been a key aspect of a successful building design as it has a direct and strong influence on the occupant’s productivity, health, as well as the overall efficiency of energy system in the building. Traditional energy sources for heating and cooling systems are limited and non-renewable, such as natural gas, propane, coal, etc. The U.S Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has concluded that a well-designed geothermal heat pump system produces less environmental impacts than any other alternative energy systems and it is the most efficient technology with low greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and global warming effects [2]. According to USEPA, geothermal energy is a renewable source of thermal energy generated and stored few feet under the surface of the earth.
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