Energy-efficient heat pumps have been applied in the United States and other regions of the world for decades. Geothermal heat pumps have been... Show moreEnergy-efficient heat pumps have been applied in the United States and other regions of the world for decades. Geothermal heat pumps have been used, but their application is not wide spread due to the high cost of drilling and installing a ground loop. An alternative choice for space conditioning at municipal water utilities is a surface water source heat pump. Because treated surface water is readily available and it exists in a relatively narrow temperature range it could be useful heat transfer fluid. In this project the economic benefits and greenhouse gas emissions of a heat pump system for a building in NE Illinois are analyzed. Heating and cooling requirements for a hypothetical a 1000 m2 space at a drinking water treatment plant are considered. The analysis includes initial, operating and maintenance costs as well as greenhouse gas emissions, between a heat pump system and a conventional natural gas furnace and air-conditioner. The cost savings in this project for the heat pump system were from $39900 to $41511 over the life cycle of the system depending on the different efficiency level of the heat pump system. Surprisingly the initial cost of the standard efficiency heat pump system is lower than the conventional NGAC system. There is no need to take time to make up the additional initial cost. Surface water heat pumps operating at different efficiency level produce less greenhouse gas than the conventional NGAC system. The CO2 emission reduction could be as high as 73%. M.S. in Environmental Engineering, July 2012 Show less
