Ground source heat pumps
The future of renewable energies
Geothermal energy is the thermal energy available in the ground that can be extracted as heat. If the temperature level of this energy is less than 30 °C, Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHPs) can be used to extract ground heat for space heating and domestic hot water (DHW) production. Moreover, GSHPs can also be used for active and passive cooling. The geothermal energy is renewable, as recognized explicitly by the EU Directive 2009/28 / EC.
The use of geothermal energy through ground source heat pumps requires the use of collector systems to extract heat from the ground. Collector systems commonly used are vertical boreholes, horizontal ground collectors and groundwater systems.
Heating and cooling installations with Ground Source Heat Pumps consist of the ground heat collector system, the heat pump itself and the heat distribution system inside the building. Distribution systems commonly used are underfloor heating and radiant surfaces, fancoil units or low temperature radiators.
Heating and cooling installations with ground source heat pumps
Advantages
- Integrate climate control, allowing the production of heating, cooling, domestic hot water production in a single installation.
- Passive cooling. Allow passive cooling production with extremely low energy consumption and cost, technologically exceeding air source heat pumps.
- Low noise. Do not require noisy fans and do not generate air drafts. All their components are silent and sound insulated inside the case.
- Easy to use. Are controlled with simple thermostats and do not require any user interaction, providing great comfort.
- Clean and safe. They do not require any type of fuel and do not generate flames or smoke, so they do not need fuel storage tanks or chimneys.
- Do not require installation of elements in the outside, no visual impact. All their components are buried or inside the building, therefore they do not require elements in the outside. They do not cause any kind of visual impact.
- Reliability. Installations with ground source heat pumps require minimal maintenance and have a long life by using a simple, proven, known and very reliable technology.
- Energy efficiency and economic savings. ErPA+++ rating. They provide a far more energy efficiency than traditional systems and other types of heat pumps, so the cost of heating is drastically reduced, achieving significant savings.