Efficiency, economic and environmental assessment of ground-source heat pumps in Central Pennsylvania

Seth Blumsack, Jeffrey Brownson, Lucas Witmer

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

The energy use of a ground-source heat pump (GSP) for heating, cooling and hot water in a Central Pennsylvania residence (namely, the author's house) is analyzed, compared to a simulation of electricity and a heating-oil furnace (with electric cooling) for these same energy uses. Energy demands for space conditioning in the house are simulated by building a model of the house using the Transient Energy System Simulation (TNRSYS) tool. Overall, the efficiency gain for the ground-source heat pump compared to electricity is 43% for cooling and 81% for heating. For home heating and hot water, the ground-source heat pump has a 42% efficiency gain over a fuel-oil furnace. The system modeled in this paper has a payback period of between four and five years compared to an all-electric system. The payback period compared to a hybrid system of fuel-oil heat and electric cooling is between two and three years.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 42nd Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS
DOIs
StatePublished - 2009
Event42nd Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS - Waikoloa, HI, United States
Duration: Jan 5 2009Jan 9 2009

Publication series

NameProceedings of the 42nd Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS

Other

Other42nd Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityWaikoloa, HI
Period1/5/091/9/09

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Computer Science Applications
  • Information Systems

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