This study provides an economic and energy analysis of the implementation of geothermal systems to meet the needs of a typical 130 m2 dwelling of a Canadian individual. The objective is to determine the monetary balance after 22 years, the net present value, the internal return rate, and annual savings for the same system operating under different climatic conditions and in different provinces (legislations, costs of fuel) to determine whether or not an individual should implement such a system in 2014. The geothermal system is used for both space heating and cooling, and to provide for 25% of the total amount of domestic hot water. The simulations are performed with RETScreen® for four Canadian cities: Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver. For the investigated configurations, it appeared that the cost of energy and its sources, which varied greatly according to the location, are the factors that most strongly influenced the economic viability of the proposed geothermal system, while climate was only a secondary impact. The impact of carbon taxes and equivalent monetary subsidies does not significantly modify the economic outcomes for Halifax and Montreal. However, for Toronto and Vancouver, these would need to reach between 280 and 300 Can$/tCO2eq to attain economic balance.
References
1.
Natural Resources Canada, see http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2014/rncan-nrcan/M141-1-2010-eng.pdf for energy efficiency trends in Canada 1990 to 2019 (2013) (last accessed April 10,
2015
).2.
A. L.
Biaou
and M. A.
Bernier
, “Achieving total domestic hot water production with renewable energy
,” Build. Environ.
43
(4
), 651
–660
(2008
).3.
V.
Badescu
, “Economic aspects of using ground thermal energy for passive house heating
,” Renewable Energy
32
, 895
–903
(2007
).4.
G.
Bin
and P.
Parker
, “Measuring buildings for sustainability: Comparing the initial and retrofit ecological footprint of a century home—The REEP house
,” Appl. Energy
93
, 24
–32
(2012
).5.
R.
Peuhkuri
, S.
Pedersen
, R.
Vallentin
, and A.
Tschui
, “Passive- and plus energy row houses in near-Arctic continental climate
,” in Paper Passivhaus Norden, Tronheim, 21–23 October 2012
.6.
J. W.
Lund
, D. H.
Freeston
, and T. L.
Boyd
, “Direct utilization of geothermal energy 2010 worldwide review
,” Geothermics
40
(3
), 159
–180
(2011
).7.
P.
Bayer
, D.
Saner
, S.
Bolay
, L.
Rybach
, and P.
Blum
, “Greenhouse gas emission savings of ground source heat pump systems in Europe: A review
,” Renewable Sustainable Energy Rev.
16
(2
), 1256
–1267
(2012
).8.
Statistic Canada, see http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11-526-s/11-526-s2013002-eng.htm for survey of household energy use 2011, 2013 (last accessed April 10,
2015
).9.
D.
Oliver
and D.
Groulx
, “Thermo-economic assessment of end user value in home and community scale renewable energy systems
,” J. Renewable Sustainable Energy
4
, 023117
(2012
).10.
S. J.
Self
, B. V.
Reddy
, and M. A.
Rosen
, “Geothermal heat pump systems: Status review and comparison with other heating options
,” Appl. Energy
101
, 341
–348
(2013
).11.
L.
Junghans
, “Evaluation of the economic and environmental feasibility of heat pump systems in residential buildings, with varying qualities of the building envelope
,” Renewable Energy
76
, 699
–705
(2015
).12.
Natural Resources Canada, see http://www.retscreen.net/ang/home.php for RETScreen, version 4.0, 2009 (last accessed April 10,
2015
).13.
E.
Mands
and S.
Burkhard
, Shallow Geothermal Energy: UBeG
(Unmwelt Baugrung Geothermie Geotechnik GbR
, Wetzlar, Germany
, 2005
).14.
Natural Resources Canada, see http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/residential/personal/tools/calculators/heatingcalc/compare-current-heating.cfm#step1 for home heating system cost calculator compare your current heating system (last accessed April 10,
2015
).15.
Statistics Canada, see http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/econ154c-eng.htm for gasoline and fuel oil, average retail prices by urban centre (household heating fuel), 2014 (last accessed April 10,
2015
).16.
Hydro-Québec, see http://www.hydroquebec.com/publications/en/docs/comparaison-electricity-prices/comp_2014_en.pdf for comparison of electricity prices in major North American Cities: Rates in effect, April 1, 2014 (last accessed April 10,
2015
).17.
Ontario Energy Board, see http://www.ontarioenergyboard.ca/OEB/Consumers/Natural%20Gas/Your%20Natural%20Gas%20Utility/Your%20Natural%20Gas%20Utility for your natural gas utility: For residential consumers (last accessed April 10,
2015
).18.
Fortis BC, see http://www.fortisbc.com/NaturalGas/Homes/Rates/Pages/Lower-Mainland.aspx for natural gas: For Homes: Lower Mainland, 2014 (last accessed April 10,
2015
).19.
Statistics Canada, see http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/a26?lang=eng&retrLang=eng&id=3260021&pattern=326-0020.326-0022 for consumer price index (last accessed April 10,
2015
).20.
Nova Scotia Power for 2013, see https://www.nspower.ca/en/home/about-us/environmental-commitment/air-emissions-reporting/total-system-emissions-all-plants.aspx (last accessed April 10,
2015
).21.
BC Hydro for 2013, see http://www.bchydro.com/about/sustainability/climate_action/greenhouse_gases.html (last accessed April 10,
2015
).22.
Ontario Power Authority Estimated for 2014, see http://www.powerauthority.on.ca/power-planning/long-term-energy-plan-2013 (last accessed April 10,
2015
).23.
Bank of Canada, see http://credit.bankofcanada.ca/financialconditions for financial conditions (last accessed April 10,
2015
).24.
Private communication from the heat pump retaillers Réfrigération Morin and Climco Réfrigération, Chauffage (
2012
).25.
Ressources naturelles Québec 2008, see http://www.efficaciteenergetique.mrnf.gouv.qc.ca/en/my-home/helpful-advice/heat-pumps/ for heat pumps, 2008 (last accessed April 10,
2015
).26.
Natural Resources Canada, En ligne: http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/publications/residential/heating-heat-pump/7158 for ground-source heat pumps (earth-energy systems), 2009 (last accessed April 10,
2015
).27.
Natural Resources Canada, Introduction to Clean Energy Project Analysis (
2005
), ISBN: 0-662-39191-8; available at http://www.retscreen.net/ang/printable_version_textbook.html.28.
British Columbia Government, see http://www.fin.gov.bc.ca/tbs/tp/climate/A4.htm for ≪ How the Carbon Tax Works≫ (last accessed April 10,
2015
).29.
P. F.
Healy
and V. I.
Ugursal
, “Performance and economic feasibility of ground source heat pumps in cold climate
,” Int. J. Energy Res.
21
(10
), 857
–870
(1997
).30.
E.
Kikuchi
, D.
Bristow
, and C. A.
Kennedy
, “Evaluation of region-specific residential energy systems for GHG reductions: Case studies in Canadian cities
,” Energy Policy
37
(4
), 1257
–1266
(2009
).31.
H. V.
Nguyen
, Y. L. E.
Law
, M.
Alavy
, P. R.
Walsh
, W. H.
Leong
, and S. B.
Dworkin
, “An analysis of the factors affecting hybrid ground-source heat pump installation potential in North America
,” Appl. Energy
125
, 28
–38
(2014
).32.
J.
Hanova
and H.
Dowlatabadi
, “Strategic GHG reduction through the use of ground source heat pump technology
,” Environ. Res. Lett.
2
(4
), 044001
(2007
).33.
P.
Blum
, G.
Campillo
, and T.
Kölbel
, “Techno-economic and spatial analysis of vertical ground source heat pump systems in Germany
,” Energy
36
(5
), 3002
–3011
(2011
).© 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.
2015
AIP Publishing LLC
You do not currently have access to this content.
