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ABSTRACT
The characteristics of health facilities e.g. the need to operate 24 h a day, strict cleaning procedures and indoor environmental parameters made these building-type energy-intensive. The huge potential that can be exploited in terms of energy savings is evident, mainly regarding the HVAC system refurbishment. From literature emerges that there are poor systematic analyses concerning all the possible HVAC retrofit scenarios, considering solutions currently on the market or renewable sources. To fill the research gap pointed out, the present paper proposes a rigorous analysis of the possible generation subsystems available on the market that can be implemented in an HVAC retrofit for a hospital. A real case study of 88,000 m3, represented by a hospital in southern Italy, has been used. Different technologies, such as the photovoltaic system, electric heat pump, absorption heat pump driven by solar energy, cogeneration are analysed from the energy and environmental point of view, with the introduction of the Imported Energy Level Index (IELI). The best retrofit measures is the installation of an absorption heat pump driven by solar thermal collectors and cogeneration, with a primary energy saving of 20%. Considering the installation of a heat recovery unit, the saving is up to 43%.
| Nomenclature | ||
| CO2 | = | Carbon dioxide emission [kgCO2/y] |
| E | = | Energy [GWh/y] |
| IELI | = | Imported Energy Level Index [%] |
| PES | = | Primary Energy Saving [%] |
| Greek symbols | ||
| α | = | Emission factor for electricity generation [gCO2/kWhel] |
| β | = | Emission factors for natural gas [kgCO2/kWhEp] |
| η | = | Efficiency [-], [%] |
| Δ | = | Percent variation with respect to base case [%] |
| Superscript | ||
| AHP | = | Absorption Heat Pump |
| AHU | = | Air Handling Unit |
| B | = | Boiler |
| BMS | = | Building Management System |
| BS | = | Base Case |
| CHP | = | Combined Heat and Power |
| DHW | = | Domestic Hot Water |
| EHP | = | Electric Heat Pump |
| E-L | = | Electric Loads |
| FC | = | Fan-coil |
| fg | = | fed into the grid |
| HWST | = | Hot Water Storage Tank |
| ISPRA | = | Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale |
| PAC | = | Proposed Alternative Case |
| PP | = | Power Plant |
| PV | = | Photovoltaic system |
| R | = | Radiators |
| STC | = | Solar Thermal Collectors |
| uos | = | Used on-site |
| Subscript | ||
| co | = | Cooling |
| el | = | Electric |
| p | = | Primary energy |
| th | = | Thermal |
| Acronyms | ||
| AHP | = | Absorption Heat Pump |
| AHU | = | Air Handling Unit |
| B | = | Boiler |
| BS | = | Base Case |
| CHP | = | Combined Heat and Power |
| DHW | = | Domestic Hot Water |
| EHP | = | Electric Heat Pump |
| FC | = | Fan-coil |
| HWST | = | Hot Water Storage Tank |
| PP | = | Power Plant |
| PV | = | Photovoltaic system |
| R | = | Radiators |
| STC | = | Solar Thermal Collectors |
| VFD | = | Variable Frequency Drive |
| VP | = | Variable Pitch |
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).