Energetic and economic aspects of a heating and cooling district in a mild climate based on closed loop ground source heat pump

Over the next few years, thermal energy for heating residential buildings will be reduced, while cooling energy will be increasingly used. Therefore reversible heat pumps producing heating and cooling energy efficiently may become more popular in areas with mild climate. The Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) system is one of the most promising techniques which can be coupled with other solutions based on renewable energy. The present work considers a heating and cooling district based on a closed loop GSHP and its energetic and economic aspects, including the density of population in the district where the buildings are located. Economic analysis and payback times are investigated as a function of inhabitant density, adopted solutions, as well as different economical benefit scenarios. Primary energy consumption may be reduced in a range of 50-80%, compared to traditional systems. The district heating/cooling is more suitable in a medium density area and splitting a district into subdistrict distribution systems may reduce the initial financial risk. Possible mechanisms for the diffusion of GSHP are here shown for district heating/cooling systems. Policy makers and stakeholders may use the results of this work for promoting possible incentives, which can be similar to the ones presented here. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.