Geothermal Heat Pump System for New Student Housing Project at the University at Albany Main Campus

Technical Report · Thu Aug 27 04:00:00 EDT 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1255247· OSTI ID:1255247

Lnu, Indumathi ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Albany, NY (United States); University at Albany

University at Albany successfully designed, constructed and is operating a new student housing building that utilizes ground source heat pump (GSHP) for heating and cooling the entire 191,500SF building. The installed system consists of a well field with 150 bores, 450 feet deep and (189) terminal heat pump units for a total capacity of 358 Tons cooling and 4,300 MBtu/h heating. The building opened in Fall 2012. The annual energy use and cost intensity of the building, after the changes made during the first 2 years’ of operation is 57kBtu/SF/Year and $1.30/SF/Year respectively. This is approximately 50% lower than the other residential quads on campus, despite the fact that the quads are not air-conditioned. The total project cost from design through 3-years of operations is approximately $6 Million, out of which $5.7 Million is for construction of the GSHP system including the well field. The University received a $2.78 Million grant from the Department of Energy. The estimated utility cost savings, compared to a baseline building with conventional HVAC system, is approximately $185,000. The estimated simple payback, after grant incentives, is 15 years. Additionally, the project has created 8.5FTE equivalent jobs.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Albany, NY (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Building Technologies Office (EE-5B)
• DOE Contract Number: EE0003009
• OSTI ID: 1255247
• Report Number(s): DOE-UA--3009
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
Building Performance
GHPS
Ground Source Heat Pump
Monitoring Based Commissioning
University at Albany
feasibility