Energy Efficient Approaches by Retrofitting Heat Pumps Water Heating System for a University Dormitory

With the cost of energy rising, the value of conservation grows. Interest in energy efficiency could be a sound investment or a necessary public policy. Heat pump systems provide economical alternatives of recovering heat from different sources for use in various applications. The objective of this study is to present the strategic approach on the energy efficient analysis of the water heating system retrofitted by applying a heat pump system in the dormitory of a university. Energy savings were determined by comparing field measurements of water consumption, water temperature and power consumption of the overall system before (electric resistance heating system) and after (heat pump heating system) the implementation of this project. Furthermore, the building energy simulation code (eQuest) has been applied to verify and predict the long-term energy consumption for both water heating systems. The results from energy modelling revealed the good agreement for energy simulation and field measurement data and the improvement of energy efficiency and energy savings could be achieved satisfactorily by retrofitting of a heat pump system. The energy conversion efficiency of hot water for energy consumption at 0.63 (Mcal/Mcal) could be achieved after the application of heat pump water heating system. It also presented the annual saving about USD 20,000 (NTD 600,000) for the dorm by using a heat pump heating system under the electrical billing rate of Taiwan.

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