Chapter 1.

INTRODUCTION
Heating is a major part of energy consumption of colder countries of world. Because of
this and shortage of fossil fuels, efforts are being made to find the alternative energy sources. A
situation has reached where a heat pump is suggested as an answer to the reduction in energy
consumption by using it in energy recovery systems and by applying it to upgrade lower grade
energy in surrounding environment. Basically a heat pump is a refrigeration unit capable of
extracting heat from any source of low grade heat such as atmospheric air, ground and upgrading
the heat to useful temperature. Lord Kelvin suggested the use of heat pump for heating purpose
in 1852 but due to lack of efficient components of refrigeration unit.
The next alternative is to use earth as source or sink, apart from air, is known as
Geoexchange heat pump also known as ground source or geothermal heating or cooling systems.
Geoexchange technology is not new. Geoexchange systems have successfully operated for
decades in a variety of building types. While the basic technology has been around for more than
fifty years, many improvements recently have been made, including types of materials used,
design and installation methods, and the efficiencies of compressors, pumps and other
equipment.
Geoexchange systems exchange thermal energy between a building and the ground.
When the building needs heating, the system extracts energy from the ground and pumps it into
the building where it is concentrated by the heat pump. Conversely, when the building needs
cooling, the heat from the building is concentrated by the heat pumps and the system removes
heat from the building and pumps it into the ground. This exchange of thermal energy makes the
system efficient. Rather than creating heat by burning a fuel on site, the geoexchange system
moves thermal energy between the ground and the building, using heat pump technology.
Applications of Geoexchange system include space heating and cooling, water heating, crop
drying, agricultural greenhouses, government housing facilities, etc. The primary Advantage of the
underground source/sink when compared to the air source is that the underground environment can
have a more moderate temperature swing than the Ambient air temperatures and therefore a positive
thermodynamic advantage. This advantage of tapping the underground thermal source sometimes
comes at a higher first cost and must be offset by reduced operating costs, which give a lower life
cycle cost. Secondary advantages include improved performance of heat pumps with water As the
working fluid (instead of air) and lower maintenance costs.
Office buildings and schools are particularly good applications for geoexchange
technology. They have relatively high occupancy, fluctuating usage schedules, and widely
varying heating and cooling requirements within individual zones (offices and classrooms) that
are difficult to meet efficiently with conventional systems. Further, efforts to improve the
efficiency of conventional systems employ control strategies that add considerable cost and
complexity to the systems, increase maintenance requirements, and often compromise occupant
comfort.