Energy 24 (2028) 128557 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect, Energy femal oneeereteersreteten eames = # Dynamic modelling of geothermal heat pump system coupled with ce positive-energy building Vittoria Battaglia”, Laura Vanoli’, Clara Verde", Perumal Nithiarasu”, Justin R. Searle” * uns of Nels tarhape, geri Depron, Cem Deon - ala C4 80143, gl ly * soe Une, ed Kengo, ATO, Bngerng ene Sma Us ey CoM Sm, SAT BEN, Ute Kom ARTICLE INFO “ApsTRACT apg elt: Neven Dae Dring the last decades, several stuies have shown tha heat pumps are a promising sostion to reach the European Unio targets on climate change mitigation, since they sat the energy needs for heating, eoolag sind ho water prediction employing a single device and wing signin! shereof renewable energy. However, ‘he ful exploitation ofthe energy-saving poten of hest pimps isa dfSclt tak for designers to achieve at several factors, suchas the variability of outdoor climatic conditions, the contol logic ofthe system and the system configuration, influence the energy performance. High Coeficlentof Performance (COP) and low envi ‘ronmental impact make Ground Source Heat Pump (GSH) systems one ofthe most stable ecologies for the heating and cooling services, to promote the decarboniation ofthe bulding sector, expecially in ran areas ‘The bjectveof this stuy sto asses range of srategic for heat pump systems to achieve optimal performance that can be fly tied ‘To do this the authors analyse the performance ofa ‘postive office bulding, located in Swansea Unverty Bay, which i already featured with renewable energy technologies for electricity and heat generation in tegrated photovoltaic roof to generate electricity and a wallphotovolac thermal system. The curent config ion hasline scenario’) ofthe ulldng-lant system was modelled in TRNSYS 17 envionment and the lnfuence of different parameters onthe eneigy performances vas studied. To complemet the already high use ‘of renewables the authors propose sn alternative senaro forthe Active Olfce Bln iterating the ws of geothermal eat pumps withthe existing systems. By comparing the two senaros onan energy and enon. ‘ental point of view twas posible to arses an 11% decrease in primary energy consumption leeding f0 ‘oresponing 11% reduction In greenhouse gas (GHG) emisions. Depending on the soil type and moisture indwater) temperatures undergo little any the European Heat Pump Association [2], EHPA, the European heat ‘pump market in 2019 contributed to 40.6 Mt of CO, emission savings; 159 capacity. Alesouree performance of the system i evaluated through the Energy Eficieney Ratio (EER); its formulation fs like the COP, with the only difference Corresponding author mal ere: iri bttglieunipactbenopet(¥ Battaglia. Dueps://do org/20-1016/ energy-2025:128557 Received 25 January 2025; Received in revised frm 22 June 2023; Accepted 25 July 2023 Avaliable online 29 uly 2023 (0360:5442/0 2023 The Auchons), Published by Hsvier i This san open access article under the GC BY license (hs: //eeatvecommoas.org/ienses/>y/4.07.ana a being the EER, referring to the cooling cycles, focuses on the heat removed from the cold spring. A detailed method to evaluate the heat pump system used in a positive building is Une dynamic simulation ‘which can consider the dynamic variation ofall the variables that in AMuence the behavior ofthe system, such asthe building Toad, the source temperature ofthe heat pum, et. Tnliterature, several approaches are available forthe simulation of heat pump. Selecting suitable software and a simulation model depend fon the type of system and the level of details to be simulated. For ‘example, software like TRNSYS [3], Polysun [1], IDA ICE [5], Car ‘not/Matlab [6] are suitable to study the influence on the performance from system design, but on the other hand, they have the disadvantage that the construction ofthe system through software such as TRNSYS, Modelica (7) and Carnot can take a very long time for design and research, however, they remain the most flexible tools for design and research, plants i ‘or C5Ps systems. Usually these works deal with feasibility analysis of retofit actions, different configurations of plants to maximize the consumption of RES or the evaluation of the ‘operating parameters that influence the system's performances. In [5], Rashad et al. analyse the energy demand of a detached single family building. Different parameters were changed in 7 scenarios ‘to analyse te variations in heating and cooling demand: the diferences in total annual energy demand that occur between the diferent sce narios confirm hove important i is to accurately determine the build ings construction and occupancy, since in can vary up tll 70.16%. Bekzadi etal. (10] model a smart building system integrated with PVT panels to supply the electricity demand and domestic hot water ‘need. The proposed system employs a heat storage tank to make a smart interaction between the building and district heating and electricity networks to dectease the cost of the system compared to other similar solutions using batteries. Additionally, comprehensive energy and ‘exergy assessment are performed using TRNSYS software. The proposed smartbuilding system is optimized using the TRNOPT tool of TRNSYS to ‘minimize the yearly total product cost and maximize the annual Zed law efficiency. 1 [11] the authors present the model description and validation of ‘an electrical and thermal PVT collector macel and its implementation in "TRNSYS. The authors observed that incase of high thermal capacities the thermal results show a more inaccurate fit ofthe dynamic behaviour. ‘This emphasizes the importance of an accurate determination of the thermal capacity of PVT collectors, Nevertheless, the results show avery ‘good agreement of the modelled energy production in all investigated ‘cases, While solar systems’ dynamic behavior i fequenty investigated using TRNSYS, researchers are also exploring other types of renewable applications [12]. In Ret. [13], for example, the authors implement a ‘dynamic model of an innovative layout for biomethane production from ‘organic waste, including concentrating PVT collectors and a biomass heater, considering the dynamic heat and power demand of the diges- {on process and estimating biogas production as a function ofthe most important design and operating parameters. Safa eta, in Ref. [14] analyse the performance of GSHP systems with horizontal coupled ground loop pipes. The system includes a hor {zontal ground loop heat exchanger, the GSHP, a buffer tank for therm ‘storage and fan coll AHU radiant in-loor heating depending on the season. Also, Chargui etal. (15] model and simulate in TRNSYS envi ronment @ heat pump in heating made (where the CO> isthe refrigerant used) by using the geothermal source in southern Tunisia. For the » ey 2882028) 128557 Vauostion Inanuementing cenARios Comparison result_a ed Ground Source Heat Pump Comparison result_2 Temperate PT Comparison resue_3 Comparison reslt_4 Terperatr Ber Tonk Fig. 1. Methodology cutie, 2.1. Positive Energy Office SPECIFIC isa national Innovation and Knowledge Centre (1KC) (201, led by Swansea University, established in 2011 to investigate the ‘concept of turning buildings into power stations using solar energy (0 ‘unctionalise building envelopes. To aid this investigation, they have constructed several demonstrator buildings using a mix of ‘re-commercial and commercially available technologies, to achieve the ‘energy postive philosophy. These are known as ‘Active Buildings. The ‘case study analysed is represented by the so-called Active Office and it was designed and bull using preassembled modules (Wermick’s Rap ‘dplan system) which were then clad with prefinished Colorcoat Prisma stel. Iti the latest demonstrator led by SPECIFIC's Active Building demonstrators’ program and it is equipped with innovative technologies to generate, store and release solar energy It is equipped with an Integrated photovoltaic roof to generate electricity and ‘wall-sounted photovoltaic thermal (PVT) system for electricity and neat generation. Is compose of two floors with a curved roof and sis ‘on concrete pad foundations. The building consists of two floors and ‘each room has different use, as itis possible to notice in the following igs, 2and 3, 2.1L. The building envelope “The external walls ofthe building are boxed in composite panels LLL J Fig. 2. Picture of he active ofc approximately 1.2 m wide and insulated with a solid EHD polystyrene sheet, while the internal part is mede of plasterboard with a painted nish. Inner partitions are composed of 12.5 mm plasterboards on 72 metal studs and an insulation core. ‘The ground and first floors are formed using 38 mm chipboard on a frame of galvanised stel beams and cross joints, with a combination of Styite Plustherm EPS and Rockwool insulation between the structural elements Finally, the curved oof consists ofan insulated warm deck flat roof, consisting of Kingspan KSIO00DR compesite sheets, as part of the modules, with timber trusses above to form the curved profile, The curved trusses are covered in Tata Colorcoat Urban® plank sheeting with integrated PV bonded to each ‘plank’. Besides, living wall was {stalled on the east elevation of the building to provide an element of biodiversity and fr useas an engagement ool. On the South elevation, a PE system is also implemented, This system consists of a seres of evacuated tubes, with individual PV cells within, the size of which de termines the tube diameter. The thermophysical properties of the en velope ofthe building necessary forthe energy model were based on the technical drawings provided by the research group that developed the project and listed inthe following Il 1 21.2. Technological units ‘The technological units of the building are responsible for all the electrical and thermal generation. The key components of the techno: Togieal configuration ate in Table: 1 electric energy generation on the roof, using a system; 2, a combined solar thermal and PV (PVT) sytem for space heating and hot water; 3, electrical and thermal energy storage tocontrol of import and export of energy to and from the building; 4. An Ar Souce Heat Pump (ASHP) with Air Handling Unit (ABU); 5.smare EV charge points, working as part of a remote virual power plant. More over, the whole configuration is equipped with an extensive data monitoring system. 2.1.3, Control strategies ‘The control strategies sim to reduce the carbon impact on the grid extend battery life and operate of-grid, The control logic developed by SPECIFIC allows the individual technology components to. work together to optimize the operation of the building. The SPECIFIC team has implemented a platform (1g. 5) for monitoring performance pe rameters to keep track of and he able to optimize the operation of the building. ‘The primary source for space heating and hot water production is a sensible thermal storage tank containing 2000 L of water which can increase its temperature by (in order of preference operationalTisaTOWOrORE [VOLUME] _ ANE PERCENTAGE me ‘orn Be ae oe oa aon aa 3am Pint Fig. 4. Energy Strategy Scheme of Generation, Storage and Bmployment of Energy forthe Active Offic Building in red strategies for heating proetion), preference): 1. PVT Tubes - solar thermal (and electrical) generation; 2. itachi Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP); 3. 6 kWp electic Immersion heater. In heating mode, the only heat source for the AHUs comes from thermal storage through LTHW pipework, which provides the same temperature water to both units, Remotely controlled three-way valves control the volume of water passing through the heat exchanger in each AHIU, enabling independent fow temperatures to beset for the ground floor and the second flor. The air supplying all areas on cach floor level Is at the same temperature. ‘The heating system was designed to meet the 10 KW>p heating load of the building, at supply temperature of 45 °C, to minimize the electricalana a ey 2882028) 128557 ‘Table layer stractare of the epaque components ‘onsacive Tayeraictre Thies Thermal ‘Specie Her apaciy T/_Devay ha? component fr Contac ga = ow KI Bek panes Vapour ened ayer 000 © 017 sia avo (paturetune| ypu wale eos ose fo Inner Partions Sil ayer of pasterbord Gos 81st ee “hype 847/308 ROVER slat ayer oor boss tae tae . Single nye of paseo Gos ote ces i oor Desig i hipboar Gass bis ge a “0 Rackwoot fs bog ta a ‘Site Psher shee rslaton Expanded Poeyrene— 0.150, bow age 1358 as ts) rund Hor Deeg i eto one bis ase a “0 Sepa Maser het nition (Banded Polymyrne- 0.1 tow ates 380 = Hs) rv Roof “os Ubon Caddng sem Seam ste nas m2 tan ae 9a Pyroed/O585, nie bi 0868 2 ‘co Ipajurananel| The glazed components (windows and cuain walling, these ave composed of en aluminium fame with low-eglass characterized by U-value = 1.6 W/nK and value ~ 0.47. To sumarie, the project highlights ar listed below Table 2 ‘Table2 ‘Table Highlghs of scive office building ata of components of heating system ‘onsracion ‘Maar onsracion on cones pa oc ‘compan Tefeence ‘alg elope Thermally ‘ae RASA era, AWARD oor Usage 0.12 (W/m) » Wall > Uae — 025 (W/E) ston with Vila Stn PARA 30/ eat» Uvaoe = 04 (8/8 eating sytem Sar thm pd ASIP spoping thermal tere ‘lecroton lpn hough Ale 5), UPS2 25.0 LTH) oe water generation Soltero, ASH? a ercrson Baler fescrition '8Y | 1S000VA|200Anp Gevere) Main Vetition Type Natl, uppemented wit ightie purge No cong ster Sat V charge pois lee heat ser (no gus onsen) Power required by the ASHP to maintain the thermal storage tank st point during periods when there was insufficient solar thermal genera ‘on. The heat pump can only be controlled by setting the setpoint ofthe ‘neat storage tank. While che AHUs control the supply air temperature by varying the water flow rate through the heat exchanger and monitoring ‘the supply air temperature. Idealy, the 6 kWp electric immersion heater ‘would only be used in exceptional cireumstances, such as equipment failure or extremely low winter temperatures, ‘The control strategy for the domestic hot water system was to pro vide pre-heating from the thermal storage tank, refilled by a 3 KWp Jmmersion heater, o have a safe operating temperature and to ensure periodic disinfection cycles with a temperature of 60 “C. SPECIFIC’ designers chose to keep the heating on all the time and, use a setback temperature at nights and weekends of only 2 °C lower than the daytime set point: the goal is to keep the building at a ‘comfortable temperature between 08:00 and 18:00, Monday through Friday. Currently, the building is controlled with a setpoint of 19 °C during the day and a return temperature of 17 °C. ‘There is no cooling capacity: if some rooms need heating and others need cooling - then heating has priority. “The heating lon ae tferesnted ina low-temperature hot water (LTHW) ‘areul, which provides space heating on the ground and fist foots, and the domestic hot water eet (DH, which supplies the heat exchanger laa S04. tank fr showers and washbasins inthe toilets. The thermal ore ait Fees ‘wo identical AHUs with heat recovery located on the ground and secon lor, it \s tefleé by the PVT, the ASHP andthe electric immersion heater. The tech nologieal components considered ia ths work are those rated to the heating system, forthe sake of clearness a qualitative scheme ofthe energy lows andthe boundary of the system modelled are represented in. For the integrated modelling ofthe building, Sketchup and TRNSYS 17 are the software employed. The use of the first one allowed the geometrical modeling ofthe building, while the second one allowed to se the thermophysical parameters ofthe envelope and the plant com: ponents to define the scenarios. 22, nergy model: TRNSYS simulation components ‘The space heating and hot water system are dynamically designed and simulated using TRNSYS software, The Simulation too! ealulatesana a Aetive Ofc Pant Room ey 2882028) 128557 Fig 5. Active oie — plant room ~ lve yout ‘energy and mass flows and temperature profiles for the system compo nents for any time interval. In addition, the software includes an ‘extensive library of embedded components developed from exper ‘mentally validated data. The operating strategy ofthe system is stated as follows: Type 56 (building) Is the central component of the TRNSYS slobal model, which receives the external weather conditions as input, determines the thermal balance, and delivers the internal conditions t0 the thermostat. Consequently, the thermostat controls the distribution ‘components to maintain the desired indoor temperature and humidity ‘reviousy set in the schedules. ‘The distribution system is composed of two air handling units (AHU), ‘which work exchanging heat hetween the arfnside che building and the water circuit. The air source heat pump (HP) heats the water of the Aistribution system and thus supplies energy to the AHUs and the Do- rmestic Hot Water (DHW) systems, The core ofthe heating system isthe stratified vertical cyinder to ensure the correct operation of the HP, reducing the frequency and increasing the length ofits operating cycles. “This isa hybrid system in which the heat pump is assisted by a PV/T system located on the south elevation of the building. A Simplified heating and DHW system layout i presented in the following Fi. 6 ‘The reference building was modelled as multi-zone element: wo main zones representing the ground loor and rst floor whieh were then divided into 4 adjacent sub-zones. All these zones have the same char acteristics in terme of Building Structure, Windows type, Infiltration and -.-—_ iit ‘ ote ermal ‘a bee @— ti | —- ‘aol Oo own + = Pvp & > remaster — ioe ie + oe 6 Simplifed heating and DW system layout. (AH, Air Hang Unit; DAW, Domestic Hot Water ASHP, Air Source Heat Pump),aap eo Radiation Mode, but different internal gains, roof zones are excluded. ‘The following 's. 7 represents the Google SkezchUp™ model [A mixedsmode ventilation strategy was adopted for the building, ‘combining natural ventilation through opening windows with me ‘chanical ventilation through the ar handing unit system. The latter was ‘designed to provide the required ventilation in office spaces, of 10 L/s. ‘Although in some mixed-mode ventilation systems, natural ventilation is managed through the automatic opening and closing of windows in the ‘Active Office, the windows are manually controlled, allowing building ‘occupants to choose when to open or close them depending on the desired comfort level. “The simulation model i created uses the Type list in Table 4 For the sake of brevity, the deseription ofthe components used (0 perform the simulation is restricted to the core centre of the plant ‘configuration, However, for detailed information on the component models adopted, the software reference TRNSYS can be found Ref (61 2.2.1. Mulizone bung = pe 56 “Type 56 modes the thermal behaviour ofa building divide into ferent thermal zones. To use this ype, @ separate pre-processing program must fst be exceuted: a dynamic 3D-bulling simulation ‘wl carey out by TRNSUS using the 3 drawing capabilites of Trays for Google Sketchup, then importing the geometica information into the Type 56 (ul-zne building mode! For the reference building, the geometic and construction data of the building in Table 1 were sed. As for meteorological data, these were {imported using the Metereonorm 7.3 software, acording othe weather conditions in Swansea (heating Season middle of October tothe end of ‘March).The personal accupaney density was eto 0.1 people/m?, fresh er person equal to 30 m'7h, the lighting power density assumed ‘equal to 9 W/n?, whereas the equipment power density is 13 W/a, {rom 9:00 am. to 5:00 p.m. except weekends and holiday. 222 Combined PV/T solar collector - type 563 “This component is intended to model a solar collector which has the ‘dual purpose of ereating power from embedded photovoltae (PV) cells ‘and providing heat toa fui stream passing through tubes bonded to an absorber plate located beneath the PV cells. This model relies on linear actors relating the efficiency of the PV eels to the eel temperature and ‘the incident solar radiation. The cells are assumed to be operating at their maximum power point condition. The thermal model ofthis cot lector relies on algorithms presented in “Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes” [21] 22.3. Storage tank (thermal storage) - ype 534 ‘The tank model is divided into isothermal temperature nodes (to ‘model stratification) with the possibility to set the number of "nodes". Each constant-volume node interacts thermally with the nodes above and below through several mechanisms: uid conduction between rhodes, and through fluid movement. The model also considers ‘temperature-dependent fluid properties. ey 2882028) 128557 Tables LTRNSYS types use inthe proposed system move Componens oe ling “6 Coneraiere 25,1502 autos e753, 112, 64 afer tank ‘ ‘Thermal Storage Su Dit oak “e ‘iret Water Rest Pap on ‘Wer to-nter ea pane on Boreole oa Flows pumps 3 Diverter mers 1,645 opus 650 654 224. Airto-water heat pump - ype 941 ‘This component mode's a single-stage alr source heat pump that has 1 liguid stream on the load side, This model is based on user-supplied data files concaining catalog date for the capecity and power. As a function of entering water temperature tothe heat pump, the entering water low rate andthe air low rate. 2.2.5. Normalized watertoswater heat pup - ype 927 ‘This model i a performance map meaning that its reslts are based ‘on information contained in a user supplied data les containing eatalog data forthe capacity and power draw as a function of entering load and source temperatures. 2.2.6. Vertical ground heat exchanger - type 557a ‘The heat exchangers of the GSHP system are designed to full the beating load requirement. Type 557a was chosen to model its behaviour jin TRNSYS; this component, described as the vertical U-tube, is compiled using a Duct Ground Heat Storage (DST) calewlation model developed by Hellstrom [22], which is capable of exchanging heat with a heat cransfer medium within the ground and giving a very accurate analysis caeulation, 23. Validation ofthe Bulng HVAC integrated model on TRNSYS studio ‘The experimental data collected from the monitoring of real data acquired for the year 2019 were used to validate the heating system ‘model. The calibration of the model vas performed using the Buffer ‘Tank and Thermal Storage temperatures ‘Thus, as mentioned above, the comparative analysis fr the valida: tion of the model created in TRNSYS was caried out over one year of operation, For the parameters analysed above, the average value for both the monitored data (2019) and the calculated ones (TRNSYS) was calculated on a one-year scale, For the sake of clarity, the diagrams are plotted weekly ‘The comparison of the temperatures of the Thermal Storage is Fig. 7. Mult-zone bung trys 30 modelana a itustrated in Fig. 8. The analysis performed on a weekly scale displays ‘an almost same trend, except fora deviation of about 4 °Cin the time ‘considered in this plot. ‘The PVT flow temperature was also observed for comparison be- ‘tween the reference building and the model simulated in TRNSYS. The deviations between the monitored data (2019) and those calculated using the model simulated in TRNSYS are listed in Table 5. 3, Alternative scenario {An alternative scenario for the Active Office Building based on the use of geothermal heat pumps was considered. Based on Swansea's meteorological data and the building envelope thermal characteristic, the building model previously ereated was coupled with a GSHP for supplying heating and DEW demand for the building in TANSYS, in Which the HP exchanges heat with the ground through the BHES sc cording to the schematic of the GSHP system's design shown in Fig. ‘The hest pump is selected based on the value of the maximum calculated heating demand. The main parameters of the heat pump are listed in Table 6 and the component Type 927 represents the water water heat pump in the TRNSYS simuiation mode ‘The case study is located in the town of Swansea in Wales. Since the ‘peak heat output isles than 20 kW, a reference was made to the in Tormation in the literature and specifically produced by the British Geological Survey application forthe soil characteristics. [An approximation has been made regarding the sll thermal property data for the heat exchanger design of this model. The assumption is reliable due to the impossibility of inéing experimental data for the reference city. Therefore, reference was made tothe town of Penmaen, hich is geographically the closest (distance Swansea - Penmaen approx. 22.5 km) and more importantly has the sme sol texture. The data ofthe thermal properties ofthe soll can are listed in Table 7 ey 2882028) 128557 ‘Tables Deviations measured. by che comparison between the experimental data collected andthe model oxtpts ‘easements __-Rcownce bully ——TRNSYS Medel Deviaon cor co oo Tapngenn S678 sor 0 Towatgesmt 3256 sas 2 Taga S213 sa 3 ‘The values, calculated as annual averages, showed tht the TRNSYS model ie site relnbe ae deviations of les than 59% were recorded for the top tempera ture ofthe thermal storage and the average temperature of the ber tank and Just 5% for the bottom temperature ofthe thermal storage. On the aterhand, as regards the top temperature ofthe bulfer tak andthe flow temperature ($3) of the PVT, theres ofthese investigated parameters reported a deviation of 10% ‘Therefore, although e percentage deviation of 10% orless was recorded fr mast ofthe parameters taken a5 reference, deviation of 20% was recorded forthe return temperature 1). ‘The unit linear meter heat exchanger capacity for the reference texture soil is assumed to be 45 W/m, while the inground heat ex change, Q (kW), (data provided by the GSI manufacturer), the borehole length is calculated using the following equation o ‘a Tina rer Feat exange Capac sa ‘The storage volume is calculated according tothe following equation (1 ‘Thermal Storage Temperature Comparison Tamed Fig 8. Weekly dynamic analysis of thermal storage top temperatures: comparison between monitored and data calculated (TRNSYS)ta tat 294012857 © Circlatng Pump agen Yao one x S % S Fi. 9. Seema aout fhe Gon Spree PaO) tem, consequent nthe COP, which ibetween 260 ae. In the second Bale cere (GSHP), the COP is practically constant ac around 430, te ‘During the summer season (Fig. 11) the COP of the ASHP heat pump ss OD a FO COP increase de the milder extra ai temperstiey, wie the COP of 2 8 Sat the GSHP heat pup hss 2 constant trend, showing light decrease compared the alc recoded for the winter ses, The comparative analss in tems of COP af the two ses was extended ver oe year Sioragesome = mbna ® depths Of operation and the deviation was estimated. The ret ofthe si + (0525+ Spacingnas) ‘The main exchanger design parameters ae listed in Table 8 4, Results and discussion A one-year simulation is conducted to analyse the systems perfor: mance over its first year of operations. The average COP of the GSHP simulated in TRNSYS was compared with the COP performance of the baseline scenario that reproduces the current plant layout, equipped with an ASHP, Fig. 10 represents the typical trend ofthe average daily COP, in the ‘old time of the year, for both the air source heat pump and the ‘geothermal pump. Inthe first case (ASHP), since the outside air tem ‘perature fluctuates considerably during the year, these variations have 3 significant effect on the heating capacity of the heat pump and lation reveals that the adoption of a geothermal system generates a higher COP compared to that using an air source heat pump equal t0 20% for one year of operation Both systems were also compared in terms of energy savings and eavironmental impact. The primary energy demand of the existing reference system (ASHP) and the proposed system (GSHP) was caleu lated by analysing and comparing the power consumption of both the air source heat pump system and the geothermal one and taking ns, = 0.40 fas the reference value for the national electricity efficiency for the UK territory. Denoting Fes as the GHG emission factor for EE, in kg, COs equivaleat per kWh (in the UK, approximately 0.45 kg/kWh), GHG emissions were then estimated for both the reference system (ASHP) and the proposed system (GSHP), shown in Fg. 12 ‘The energy analysis carried out showed an energy saving in terms of primary energy and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions into the ‘Table7 Parameters and description ofthe soil eturs sed for the model (7. Sates ——Tiegaldifisviy GIO ® —soll_—_—_ulkdeasly Pare densiy—_—_Prealy Spade beat “ermal conducviy ane me) erwe gen) ‘gen oe in PENMAN 28671 su 2a oa 1014 3a [Note * SNL = SAND TO SANDY, CLAYEY AND SILTY LOAMS.. ‘Tables aia heat exchanger design parameters onal Dah Barbe Toe Dimcis ~~ iniwecn Bos Unit liar Mae Hest chaps (87 @° GW) Stage Vola oo Number (oo) om = =ana a ey 2882028) 128557 (COP Comparison cor ost —corasir Fig. 10. COP Anaiyss for one week of operation in winter: Comparison Between bascline scenario (ASHP system) alternative scenario (GSHP), (COP Comparison Fig. 11. COP Analysis for one week of operation in summer: Comparison between bassline senario (ASHP sytem) alternative senario (GSHP), Primary Bnergy i: fq 2 Ll CO, emissions ‘Da t ig- 12. Assasment of energy savings and CO; emisions for the two systems analysed atmosphere of 11% as well as the CO; emission reduction ‘As mentioned in the introduction, in summary, the benefits of GSHP in comparison to ASHP can be outlined as follows: (1) they have lower ‘energy consumption during operation, (2) they eliminate the need for supplementary heating during extremely old outéoor temperatures, (3) they require les refrigerant, (4) they typically feature a simple design ‘and part of the plant is not exposed to the environment, resulting in reduced maintenance, The aforementioned characteristics of GSHP ‘make them particulary intriguing in challenging climates, as well asin ‘urbanized areas, like the city of Swansea. However, they do have the initial disadvantage of higher initial ‘capital cost: a geothermal system is about 30-50% more expensive than ‘an aie unit, Equivalent technical feasibility Is not easy to estimate for ‘each countzy, because drilling costs differ from country to country ‘depending on the maturity of the market, the sols and geology of the subsoil, the hydrology and the competitiveness of the diling companies. That sald, according to the study published in 2018 by Maller etl, [23], the average costs ofa standard geothermel plant does rot depend much on materials (probe, filer, whereas the installation has a 14.2% share of the cost, the device takes the scond largest part with 27.7%, while the largest cost factor is diling with 39.3%, Hence, rock drillability assumes significant importance when eval: uating the installation of GSHDs. Furthermore, by considering the soi properties outlined in Table 7 along withthe éillability charts provided in Refs. (24,25), it becomes evident that GSHP installations emerge asa favorable ehoice for locations like Swansea 5. Conclusions ‘The present work consists of the adoption of a dynamie simulation ‘mode! for the evalustion ofthe performance of an energy system con- sisting of a Positive building, Iocated in Swansea (UK). The currentaap ea ‘actual configuration (baseline scenario") of the building-plant system ‘was modelled in TRNSYS environment and the influence of different ‘parameters was studied, such as the conteol logic of the heat pump and the PVT and the thermal inertia of the building. A validation of the calculation was made based on the comparison between the measured data and the results ofthe similation. Finally, the adoption of a vertical ground-coupled heat pump coupled to the reference building to replace the existing air source heat ‘pump was proposed as an alternative scenario and is performance was ‘compared. CGSHP systems, these in the lst decades have attracted great interest ‘among heating and cooling operators and have undergone a consider able increase in the numberof installations. However, this technology has not yet achieved the expected attractiveness compared to other high: ‘ffcieney solutions. Tis is probably due to the particular energy and economic context (eg. temperate climate, reduced building re ‘quirements, energy taxes, installation costs, lack of specific incentives) and the application of « design methodology based on the peak-load approach. ‘The comparison showed an increase of 20%, in terms of the coef ent of performance (COP), with the adoption of a GSHP system. The ‘energy analysis shows an energy saving of 11% in terms of primary ‘energy and a reduction of GHG emissions. ‘he same methodological approach can be applled to other GSHP ‘configurations, suc as shallow heat exchangers and groundwater heat ‘pump systems; as well as the study of optimal coupling strategies be twveen GSHPs and other HVAC technologies (eg. solar systems) and ‘other equipment layouts. ‘aura Vanols Writing ~ review & editing; Conceptualization; Fund: ing acquisition. Vittoria Battaglia: Writing original draft; Formal analysis; writing (equal) Clara Verde: Writing ~ original drat; Form analysis; writing (equal) Perumal Nidlarast: Coneeptualzation; Funding acquisition. Justin ®. Searle: Conceptualization; Funding acquisition Declaration of competing interest ‘The authors declare that they have no known competing financial Interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported inthis pape. Data availability “The data that has been used is confidential Acknowledgement ‘This reasearch was carried out by two PAD students so funded by the scholarship, the data related tothe Positive Office are online or provided bby Swansea University during abroad period of one ofthe PhD student. Nomenclature ‘AHP Absorption Heat Pump ‘AHUs Air Handling Units ‘ASHP Air Source Heat Pump BHEs Borehole Heat Exchangers COP Coetficient OF Performance HE Energy Efficiency ED Energy Efficiency Directive HER Energy Efficiency Ratio ey 2882028) 128557 EGEC — Huropean Geothermal Hnergy Council EHPA — Suropean Heat Pump Association EPBD Energy Performance of Buildings Directive FU European Usion GCHPs Coupled Ground Heat Pumps GHG Greenhouse Gas emissions GSHP Ground Source Heat Pump GWP Global Warming Potential HP Heat Pump HVAC Heating, Cooling and Air Conditioning Systems NZEB Nearly Zero Energy Building RES increase the share of Renewable Energy Sources SCOP Seasonal Coeficient of Performance References (a) Dice 2008/2586 of be European Psiament ad ofthe Counc of 23 Ae on mon cy ana en ng (3) TRNSYS- Transient system simulation tot Ua) algun pena slain age 15] TDA done linac ad ergy” s/n seen [el Caruaatah haps hworhcom ashe ecacarge 890 dale pases asd boner A, Norman Jebarn HAs ofenery demand alas af novel PVIcbved sm bling ney tem. 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