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Ground Source Heat Pump and Renewable Energy Hybridization

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2025 | Viewed by 1293

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Institute for Sustainable Energy, University of Malta, Barrakki Street, MXK 1531 Marsaxlokk, Malta
Interests: energy performance of buildings; solar photovoltaic systems; solar heating systems; heat pumps for heating & cooling; shallow-ground geothermal systems; solar and UV radiation monitoring
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Guest Editor
Mechanical Engineering, Thermal Engines and Fluid Mechanics Department, University of Malaga, Malaga, Spain
Interests: zero energy buildings; HVAC; IAQ; zero carbon buildings; renewable energy systems in buildings; geothermal recovery systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Although research on geothermal energy has progressed over the years, the coupling of this renewable energy resource to energy systems, such as heat pumps, continues to develop. This is further stimulated by the drive to achieve decarbonization while meeting the heating and cooling demands of buildings and other structures. This open access Special Issue aims to provide an effective channel for scholars to share their innovative research work, focusing on coupling ground-source heat pumps to the geothermal field, as well as their integration to other renewable energy sources and systems to facilitate the hybridization of heating and cooling processes and to achieve overall very low, or zero, carbon emissions.

Some of the suggested themes may include, but are not limited to, the following:

  1. Small-scale shallow-ground heat pump systems for the space heating and cooling of buildings;
  2. Hybrid solar/geothermal systems for industrial processes;
  3. Centralized and decentralized district heating and cooling using ground-source heat pumps;
  4. Long-term performance analysis of geothermal heat pump systems;
  5. Environmental and cost/benefit analysis of ground-source heat pump systems.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Charles Yousif
Prof. Dr. Javier M Rey Hernandez
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • ground source heat pump
  • hybrid heat pump energy systems
  • geothermal energy
  • renewable energy integration
  • energy efficiency
  • thermal energy storage
  • system optimization
  • environmental impact assessment
  • economic feasibility
  • energy sustainability

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

21 pages, 8112 KiB  
Article
Performance Evaluation of an Innovative Photovoltaic–Thermal Flash-Tank Vapor Injection Heat Pump for Simultaneous Heating and Power Generation
by Guangjian Li, Zhen Hou, Hongkai Wang and Jiaheng Chen
Sustainability 2025, 17(5), 2272; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17052272 - 5 Mar 2025
Viewed by 293
Abstract
Amid escalating global energy demand and heightened environmental concern, this study presents an innovative photovoltaic–thermal flash-tank vapor injection heat pump (PFVHP). This system integrates a photovoltaic–thermal (PVT) module into a conventional flash-tank vapor injection heat pump (FVHP) to realize simultaneous heating and power [...] Read more.
Amid escalating global energy demand and heightened environmental concern, this study presents an innovative photovoltaic–thermal flash-tank vapor injection heat pump (PFVHP). This system integrates a photovoltaic–thermal (PVT) module into a conventional flash-tank vapor injection heat pump (FVHP) to realize simultaneous heating and power generation. Two distinct operation modes are designed for the PFVHP: TS-mode (two-source mode) for most solar radiation conditions and AS-mode (air-source mode) for low- or no-solar-radiation conditions. The energy, exergy, economic, and operational emission performance of the PFVHP are theoretically analyzed and compared with those of the FVHP. The findings reveal that the PFVHP can achieve a maximum cycle and system coefficient of performance (COP) at the respective optimal intermediate pressures. Exergy analysis indicates that enhancing solar radiation helps the PFVHP produce more heat exergy and electricity, but reduces the system exergy efficiency. As the evaporating temperature ranges from −20 °C to 5 °C, the cycle COP and system COP of the PFVHP are, respectively, 8.5% to 6.3% and 50.0% to 35.2% higher than the COP of the FVHP. The exergy flow comparison demonstrates that the PFVHP significantly enhances the system performance by reducing the overall exergy loss in devices excluding a PVT module, benefiting from the absorption of solar exergy by the PVT module. Economic and operational emission analyses indicate that the PFVHP offers a payback period of 9.38 years and substantially reduces the air pollution emissions compared to the FVHP. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ground Source Heat Pump and Renewable Energy Hybridization)
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