Investigation of heating and cooling potential of a modular housing system for fattening pigs with integrated geothermal heat exchanger

Against the backdrop of global reductions in fossil fuel reserves and rising energy prices, there is increasing interest in the use of geothermal heat exchangers (GHEs) in farm animal production. The modular housing concept is a housing system with an integrated GHE area where fresh air is led through a space between slurry pit and soil to condition the supply air. This modular housing system was investigated for the first time over a one-year experimental period in Warendorf (in western Germany). During this period, the temperature of outdoor, fresh, supply and section air were recorded continuously, along with the relevant air flow volume, electricity and gas consumption. The aim of the study was to quantify the heating and cooling performance of this system under practical conditions over an extended period. This kind of housing is characterised in particular by the fact that the incoming air into the sections is subject to year-round conditioning depending of the outdoor temperature (pre-heating and pre-cooling of supply air). During the investigation period, the modular housing for 1280 fattening pigs effectively provides a heat quantity of 489,820 kWh at a mean performance of 59.7 kW as well as a cooling quantity of 18,455 kWh at a Mean performance of 33.3 kW. This means that there is great potential for saving fossil fuel and energy costs as well as avoiding CO2 emissions. In contrast, the investment costs are higher than for comparable conventional pig houses. (C) 2014 IAgrE. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.