Worldwide Trends in Ground Source Heat Pump Usage

Discussion: worldwide trend in GSHP usage
Ground source heat pump is very commonly employed and has long history of usage. However in
the recent years with increased focus on the usage of clean and green energy practices and with
increased focus on to reduce the emissions, Ground source heat pumps are being employed in large
number(Lund et al.,2016). Also the usage of the Ground source Heat pumps have increased in their
applications. They are used in large number of space and water heating requirements. The recent
trends include employing thermal energy storage systems for keeping the energy delivered by the
GSHP. There are variety of thermal energy storage systems being employed. The key trend is to go
for more compact and efficient TES, thermo chemical agent based TES is one recent trend in
collecting the energy form the GSHP (Aydin et al., 2015). One of the very commonly employed
applications of the GSHP is for the sake of water desalination. Water desalination can be done using
the GSHP and this is being employed globally with increased number. The recent trend is the usage
of self powered GSHP for desalination requirements (Davies,2014). Solar energy assistance and there
by employing hybrid GSHP also being used for variety of applications like room space heating
requirements, district cooling requirements. Employing the solar energy integrated Ground source
Heat pumping systems for low temperature water heating systems (Buker,2016). Also there is
considerable focus on the usage of solar technologies assisted with the Ground source Heat
pumping systems for the sake of electricity generation. The technologies are widely being employed
for the sake of the energy generation in several regions across the world (Reda,2015). Other recent
trends in the application of the ground source heat pump technologies include employing optimized
design practices for the sake of improving the performance of the Ground source heat pump
technologies. The expected power output and performance from these heat pumps will be
optimized by choosing the right operational parameters, there are variety of methods being
employed for this purpose, Taugauchi etc are methods proved to provide the best outcomes in this
regard(Cui et al.,2015). Apart from design optimization, there are also advancements seen in the
technology employed for GSHP in recent years. One of the technologies is usage of fault alarms for
flagging the operation of the fault conditions in the HPs, employing auto control or closed loop
operational controls to regulate the performance of the heat pumps. All these techniques are
working out to further enhance the applicability of the Ground source heat pumps. The traditional
usage of Ground source heat pumps for direct energy usage are also there in application. However
their applications are justified only if the particular energy application needing the direct energy
usage is in proximity with the location of the GSHP. Nevertheless, the statistical trends in using have
radically raised in recent years.
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References
Aydin, D., Casey, S. P., & Riffat, S. (2015). The latest advancements on thermochemical heat storage
systems. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 41, 356-367.
Buker, M. S., & Riffat, S. B. (2016). Solar assisted heat pump systems for low temperature water
heating applications: A systematic review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 55, 399-413.
Davies, P. A., & Orfi, J. (2014). Self-powered desalination of geothermal saline groundwater: technical
feasibility. Water, 6(11), 3409-3432.
Lund, J. W., & Boyd, T. L. (2016). Direct utilization of geothermal energy 2015 worldwide
review. Geothermics, 60, 66-93.
Reda, F., Arcuri, N., Loiacono, P., & Mazzeo, D. (2015). Energy assessment of solar technologies
coupled with a ground source heat pump system for residential energy supply in Southern European
climates. Energy, 91, 294-305.
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