Solutions to Achieve High-Efficient and Clean Building HVAC Systems

The building sector accounts for a substantial amount of energy consumption, resulting in higher carbon emissions and environmental impact worldwide. Electrification and energy efficiency in building systems can be the key to decarbonization in buildings. This research proposes new heating and cooling loops consisting of heat pumps to lower natural gas usage in building systems. Typical chillers and boilers in the cooling and heating loops are replaced with heat pumps to serve the loads and maintain thermal comfort in the building. In addition, a new optimal supply air temperature (SAT) reset strategy is also implemented with the proposed configuration for better system performance. A large multi-zone office building is simulated as a case study to measure the conventional system's electricity and natural gas consumption and the proposed design. Even with heat pumps that use electricity as the energy source, electricity consumption is reduced by 3.3% to 11.8% in different climate zones for the proposed system. On the other hand, 10.2% to 67% lower natural gas is consumed when the proposed system and the optimal SAT reset are utilized. The carbon emission is also reduced by 10.8% to 38% compared to the conventional system. The results show that the proposed design and optimization strategy can lead to significant energy and cost savings in conjunction with lower carbon emissions.

Automated summary

The building sector contributes significantly to energy consumption and carbon emissions worldwide. This research suggests the use of heat pumps and an optimal supply air temperature reset strategy to reduce natural gas usage and improve energy efficiency in building systems. Simulation results show that the proposed design and optimization strategy can lead to substantial energy savings, reduced carbon emissions, and lower operational costs.