Development of Ground Source Heat Pumps at Home and Abroad

The history of ground source heat pumps can be traced back to a Swiss patent in 1912, and the true commercial application of ground source heat pumps is only a decade old. In the United States, for example, there were 14,000 ground source heat pumps throughout the country as of 1985, and 45,000 units were installed in 1997. So far 400,000 units have been installed, and they have steadily increased at a rate of 10% each year. In 1998, ground source heat pump systems in commercial buildings in the United States accounted for 19% of the total air-conditioning capacity, of which 30% were in new buildings. U.S. ground-source heat pump industry has established U.S. ground-source heat pump associations consisting of the U.S. Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Edison Electric Power Research Institute, and many ground-source heat pump manufacturers. The U.S. Institute will invest 100 million U.S. dollars in development and research in recent years. And promotion work. The United States plans to reach the goal of installing 400,000 ground-source heat pumps each year by 2001. At that time, it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1 million tons, equivalent to reducing the emission of pollutants from 500,000 vehicles or planting 1 million acres of trees, saving energy costs annually. It reached 420 million U.S. dollars. Since then, energy costs have been increased by an additional 170 million U.S. dollars each year.

Different from the development of ground-source heat pumps in the United States, China and Northern Europe, such as Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, and Germany, mainly use shallow geothermal resources and ground-source heat pumps with subsurface buried coils (<400 meters deep). Radiant heating and domestic hot water are provided on the interior floor. According to statistics from 1999, the proportion of ground source heat pumps in domestic heating installations is 96% in Switzerland, 38% in Austria, and 27% in Denmark. The United States is particularly optimistic about the Chinese market. The U.S. Department of Energy and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology signed the Sino-U.S. Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Cooperation Protocol in November 1997. One of the main contents of the U.S. Department of Energy is the “Ground Source Heat Pump,” which is planned to be located in Beijing, China. A commercial building using ground-source heat pump heating and air-conditioning was built in each of the three cities of Hangzhou and Guangzhou to promote the use of this "green technology" to ease China's dependence on coal and petroleum, thereby achieving the goal of diversifying energy resources. At present, these three ground-source heat pump demonstration projects are being implemented, and some have entered the implementation phase. At the same time, Chinese companies commissioned by the Ministry of Science and Technology are brewing to introduce ground-source heat pump technology and equipment from the United States to the Chinese market. This will promote the development of the ground-source heat pump in China and the development of industrialization, and will enable the study of ground-source heat pumps in China. Development will keep up with international trends as soon as possible. China's ground-source heat pump business has started in recent years, and the development momentum is promising. Tianjin University and Tsinghua University jointly formed a ground-source heat pump system of Chinese brands with relevant companies, and have established several demonstration projects. More and more Chinese users have become familiar with ground-source heat pumps and applied them to their applications. With keen interest, it is expected that China's geothermal heat pump market will have a promising future.

The reason why China is optimistic about the development prospect of China's ground-source heat pump market is that it is necessary to save conventional energy and make full use of renewable energy in domestic and international trends; on the other hand, China has a good foundation for heat pump research and application. As early as in the 1950s, Professor Lu Canren of the Institute of Thermal Energy at Tianjin University launched the earliest research on heat pumps in China. In 1965, he successfully developed the first water-cooled heat pump air conditioner in China. Chongqing University of Construction, Tianjing Business School and other organizations also conducted ground-source heat pumps for buried coils for many years. In the Guangzhou Institute of Energy Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences and other units also held many national seminars on the development and application of heat pump technology. We have reason to believe that based on the full study of foreign advanced technologies and operational experience, and with the strong support of governments at all levels, the Chinese scientific and technological community and the business community will work hand in hand and rely on their own strength to be fully capable. During the time, we will develop a ground-source heat pump industry with Chinese characteristics.