Renewable Energy · 9 Heat pumps

This chapter talks about heat pumps, which represent one of the most practicable solutions of the greenhouse effect as the only known process that recirculates environmental and waste heat back into a heat production process offering energy-efficient and environmentally friendly heating and cooling in applications ranging from domestic and commercial buildings to process industries. Heat pumps for heating and cooling can be divided into three main categories: Heating-only heat pumps, providing space heating with or without water heating; Heating and cooling heat pumps, providing both space heating and cooling; Heat pump water heater only. The major types of industrial heat pumps are closed-cycle compression heat pumps, mechanical vapor recompression systems (MVR), thermal vapor recompression systems (TVR), absorption heat pumps and heat transformers. The economy of a heat pump is a function of a number of different parameters like the COP, the annual plant utilization period, investment cost, fuel cost or electricity price, plant life time and others. It has been shown that heat pumps offer the most efficient way to provide heating and cooling in many residential, commercial and industrial applications as they use ambient (= renewable) and waste heat. Through this unique ability, heat pumps can radically improve the energy efficiency and environmental impact compared to any heating system that is driven by primary energy sources such as fuel or power.