Solar and geothermal energy for low-carbon space heating and energy independence.

In developed countries, space heating is highly dependent on fossil fuels consumption. Also, the non-renewable fuels combustion emits CO2 which is claimed to impact the most on greenhouse effect. The utilization of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) for space heating, instead of fossil fuels, has been found to be feasible for systems’ greater energy independence and reduction in CO2 emissions. Solar Assisted Ground Source Heat Pump (SAGSHP) systems are a promising technology which can be used to accomplish the above framed target. A mathematic model of a SAGSHP system was built and a parametric analysis for Birmingham which is a city located in the UK’s West Midlands was conducted. Two scenarios based on two different dwellings were investigated, the one was a house recently erected and the other was a refurbished house. As regards the new house, simulation results showed that the utilized energy for space heating and Domestic Hot Water (DHW) can vary from 33% up to 73% RES dependent and, at the same time, electricity generation can be 2.21 times higher than the system’s demand. As regards the energy renovated dwelling, the RES contribution to the delivered heat was found to be between the 33% and 63%, while the electricity generation did not result in any surplus energy from the consumed. Finally, by making use of SAGSHP system instead of a natural Gas boiler, the reduction of CO2 emissions was found to be between 300kg/year and 2,170kg/year for the new building and from 245kg/year up to 3,221kg/year for the refurbished house, respectively. In both cases, SAGSHP systems proved to be a feasible practice for greater energy independence from non-renewable energy sources with substantial positive impact on the greenhouse gasses emissions