Abstract

A preliminary study of the technical and economic feasibility of installing a geothermal district heating and cooling system is analyzed for the Maryvale Terrace residential subdevelopment in Phoenix, Arizona, consisting of 557 residential houses. The design heating load was estimated to be 16.77 million Btu/h and the design cooling load was estimated to be 14.65 million Btu/h. Average annual energy use for the development was estimated to be 5870 million Btu/y and 14,650 million Btu/y for heating and cooling, respectively. Competing fuels are natural gas for heating and electricity for cooling. A geothermal resource is assumed to exist beneath the site at a depth of 6000 feet. Five production wells producing 1000 gpm each of 220/sup 0/F geothermal fluid are required. Total estimated cost for installing the system is $5,079,300. First year system operations cost (including debt service) is $974,361. The average annual geothermal heating and cooling cost per home is estimated to be $1750 as compared to a conventional system annual cost of $1145. Further, the cost of geothermal heating and cooling is estimated to be $47.50 per million Btu when debt service is included and $6.14 per million Btu when only operating costs are included. Operating (or fuel) costs for conventional heating and cooling are estimated to be $15.55 per million Btu.

Full Text
Paper version not known

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.