Simulation of Heating and Cooling Processes of a Green Building

Abstract

In this study, Google Sketch-Up (CAD for building design) and TRNSYS-3D (Energy Simulation) software were used to calculate the heating and the cooling energy requirements of a building with a ground source heat pump. The basic output of the simulated model is the hourly primary energy requirements of the heat pump used. Without being overwhelmed by classical mathematical formulas, how to make building heating and cooling load calculations in visual environment and how to use them in Energy Simulation software has been practically tested. The annual operating cost of the heat pump shows how many kilowatts of electricity energy should be converted to thermal energy at all hours of the year. Ground sourced heat pumps have at least 5 times more performance increase compared to conventional electrical heating (The COP value is more than 5). This means that by using the ground source heat pump, 4300(5x860) kcal thermal energy is obtained with 1kW electric energy instead of 860 kcal. Although ground-sourced heat pumps have low operating costs even from natural gas, they are not mostly preferred due to their installation costs. However, as in our work, the cost of installation can be reduced with the unique heat pump design according to the building parameters and requirements. For this purpose, it can be estimated in the simulated environment how much electricity energy consumption will take place considering the hourly outdoor temperatures at all year where the building application will be built. Once the electricity energy requirement is determined for each month, it can be benefited from the sun for the required primary energy from heat pump by using the solar panel application on the building. By integrating two renewable energy sources optimally, it is possible to pay no bills at the end of the year. Thus, at the end of the year, the concept of "Green Building" with an energy consumption of 0 kW / h is realized.

Keywords: Green Building, Heat Pump, Modelling and Simulation, Heating and Cooling, Annual Operating Cost, Google Sketch-Up, TRNSYS-3D.