Energy Efficiency Of Heat Pump Research Articles

Energy performance of air-to-water and water-to-water heat pumps in hotel applications

We present work on measurement of the energy performance of heat pumps for hotel operations in subtropical climates. Two city hotels in Hong Kong were investigated. The first case was an application of an air-to-water heat pump to provide heating for an outdoor swimming pool during the heating season. The second case was the installation of three water-to-water heat pumps to complement an existing boiler system for hot water supply. The heating energy output and corresponding electricity use were measured. The heat pump energy efficiency was evaluated in terms of the coefficient of performance (COP), defined as the heating energy output to the electrical energy use. The air-to-water heat pump provided 49.1 MW h heating while consuming 24.6 MW h electricity during the 6 1 2 -month heating season from mid-October to April. For the water-to-water heat pumps, the estimated annual heating output and the electricity use were 952 and 544 MW h, respectively. It was found that the heat pumps generally operated in a COP range of 1.5–2.4, and the payback period was about two years, which was considered financially attractive.

97/03235 Heat pump energy efficiency regulations

97/03235 Heat pump energy efficiency regulations

The cost-effectiveness of heat pumps in specific buildings in South Africa

Water heating heat pumps are extremely energy efficient and large savings can be realized when they are compared to direct electrical resistance heaters. In spite of the energy efficiency of heat pumps, a large number of residential buildings in South Africa still use electrical heaters to heat water. The reason for this is that heat pumps are considerably more expensive than electrical heaters. Building owners tend to choose the system with the smallest initial cost and do not compare the two systems on the basis of life-cycle cost. It is also difficult to calculate the life-cycle cost of a heat pump because it depends on many factors like climatological conditions and water temperature. In this paper a methodology is developed to calculate the life-cycle cost of a heat pump hot water installation. The model is used to investigate the effect of daily runtime, electricity tariff, hot water consumption and geographical location on the cost-effectiveness of heat pumps. The cost-effectiveness of heat pumps increases with daily run time, water consumption and electricity tariff. Heat pumps are more cost-effective near the coast than in the interior. If sized correctly, heat pumps are more cost-effective than electrical heaters for all major cities in South Africa. The cost-effectiveness of heat pumps for two specific buildings, one a university student hostel in Potchefstroom and the other a hotel in Durban, is also investigated. For both cases it was found that heat pumps are more cost-effective than direct electrical resistance heaters.