• Journal of the Korean Society for Geothermal and Hydrothermal Energy
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.30-40
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• 2021

This paper compares the annual energy performance of four different types of air-conditioning systems in a medium-sized office building. Chiller and boiler, air-cooled VRF, ground-source VRF, and ground-source heat pump systems were selected as the systems to be compared. Specifically, the energy performance of the GSHP system and the ground-source VRF system were compared with each other and also with conventional HVAC systems including the chiller and boiler system and air-cooled VRF system. In order to evaluate and compare the energy performances of four systems for the office building, EnergyPlus, a whole-building energy simulation program, was used. The EnergyPlus simulation results show that both the GSHP and the ground-source VRF systems not only save more energy than the other two systems but also significantly reduce the electric peak demand. These make the GSHP and the VRF systems more desirable energy-efficient HVAC technologies for the utility companies and their clients. It is necessary to analyze the impact of partial load performance of ground-source heat pump and ground-source VRF on the long-term (more than 20 years) performance of ground heat exchangers and entire systems.

• Korea Journal of Geothermal Energy
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.52-58
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• 2008