Energy and economic analysis of an integrated multi-source heat pump system for a school building

In 2009 a new school building was built up in Agordo town, located in northern Italy. The main design features of the building incorporate a well insulated envelope and a space heating and ventilation system driven by an innovative multisource heat pump system. The latter incorporates outdoor air, ground heat, solar heat, and heat recovery, so enhancing the performance of the heat pumps, both in terms of heating capacity and overall efficiency. However the use of different sources requires additional investment costs, so it is worth to investigate the economic advantage of such a solution. This paper presents a study conducted on the base of both energy and economic side: a period of approximately four heating seasons was considered and the behaviour of the system was assessed and the incorrect settings and operation of the plant were identified. The economic balance of the multisource heat pump system is evaluated with respect to a single source heat pump HVAC plant.