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.
Every location on Earth has its own unique set of natural resources to draw upon for sustainable energy production. As these resources are generally of an intermittent nature, hybrid systems will be necessary in many situations to achieve economical energy independence while meeting our inconsistent demands for electricity with minimal or no energy storage. Wind and solar resources often have complimentary attributes that combined can more closely match energy load requirements. This match can be customized for optimum economy by adjusting the orientation and design of the PV system as well as the rotor length and generator size of the wind turbine system. Different load requirements and electricity rate structures require a different design approach in order to achieve optimum cost savings. Using the Penn State SURFRAD wind speed and solar radiation data set the design process for solar-wind hybrid renewable energy systems is explored for the case of a grid-tied residential scale application with a time of use electricity rate structure.
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