Absorption solar-ground source heat pump: Life cycle environmental profile and comparisons

The developing and utilizing of the renewable energy in the field of the building air conditioning is one of the effective environmental protection ways. This paper conducts the comprehensive environmental impact assessment of an absorption solar-ground source heat pump(ASGSHP) and a vapor compression ground source heat pump(VGSHP) using the life cycle assessment (LCA) method. The three stages in the whole life cycle, i.e., the manufacturing, transportation/installation and operation phase of these two systems which meet the cooling demand of an office building in Beijing are analyzed, respectively. The comprehensive environmental assessment indexes including the pollutant emissions, the global warming potential(GWP), the acidification potential (AP), the dust potential and the environmental impact load(EIL) in the whole life cycle of the two systems are calculated and compared with each other. The environmental impact load, GWP, AP and the dust potential of the ASGSHP can be reduced by 42.20 %, 38.66 %, 45.73 %, 42.71 % compared with the VGSHP, respectively. The research results can provide the basic data and theoretical guidance for the further development and utilization of the GSHP system.