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Ground-source heat pump cooling systems in temperate cities. Case study: Mexico City

Abstract:

This paper addresses the viability analysis of using a groundsource heat pump (GSHP) system to supply part of the cooling requirements in an office building located in a city with temperate climate. The analysis includes the technical and economic feasibility, as well as the greenhouse gases emission reduction achieved by implementing this technology. The building used in this study has an annual electricity consumption of 2.7 GWh and a cooling space of 18000 m2. The proposed system consists on the installation of a GSHP to complement the existent HVAC system. Total initial cost for this particular project implementation is around 1,193,000 MXN with an IRR on equity of 20%, a payback period of less than 8 years and a NPV of almost 4 million MXN. Moreover, annual savings were calculated to be over 2 million MXN with a Benefit-Cost ratio of 6.11. The cost of electricity has the greatest impact on the estimation of the NPV according to the risk analysis. Other benefits of implementing this system also include an annual greenhouse gas emission reduction of almost 61 tonnes of carbon dioxide, equivalent to savings of more than 26,000 litres of gasoline that would not be consumed.