Energy utilization and Economic Evaluations of the Geothermal Space Heating and Cooling System: (A Review)

A B S T R A C T In recent years, Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) systems have been widely applied in commercial and residential buildings for space heating as well as cooling. GSHP system is a kind of geothermal systems which has the superiority of high energy efficiency and environmental friendliness. Compared to the traditional air conditioning systems, GSHP system can achieve higher energy efficiency. The initial costs for a vertical GSHP systems which depend mainly on the size, length and numbers of Borehole Heat Exchangers (BHE) are, however, even higher than that of air conditioning systems. Therefore, the study of thermal and economic performance of BHE is of crucial importance to optimize the size of GSHP systems. This paper reviews the recent publication on geothermal space heating and cooling systems.