Abstract
This study investigates the economic feasibility of a hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) that uses geothermal and solar heat sources for water heating, space heating, and space cooling in a residential building in Korea. A small-scale HRES consists of a geothermal heat pump for heating and cooling, solar collectors for hot water, a gas-fired backup boiler, and incidental facilities. To determine whether the HRES will produce any economic benefits for homeowners, an economic analysis is conducted to compare the HRES with conventional methods of space heating and cooling in Korea. The payback period of a small-scale HRES is predicted as a maximum of 9 yrs by life cycle costing based on a performance index compared with conventional systems. However, the payback period of large-scale HRES above 400 RT is 6 yrs to 7 yrs.
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Nam-Sub Woo received a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Sungkyunkwan University in 1997. He obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Sungkyunkwan University in 1999 and 2007, respectively. Dr. Woo is currently a Senior Researcher at the Exploration Geophysics and Mining Engineering Department of the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources. His research interests include fluid dynamics, geothermal heat pumps, energy systems, and marine plant engineering.
Young-Ju Kim received a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Hankyung University in 1997. He obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Sungkyunkwan University in 1999 and 2003, respectively. Dr. Kim is currently a Principal Researcher at the Exploration Geophysics and Mining Engineering Department of the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources. His research interests are fluid dynamics and marine plant engineering.
Sung-Cheol Jang received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Kyungil University in 2000. He obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Kyungnam University in 2000 and 2004, respectively. Dr Jang is currently an Assistant Professor at the Mechatronics Department of the Korea Aviation Polytechnic College. His research interests include fluid dynamics, aviation mechatronics, industrial machine, and offshore plant.
Jeong-Ju Choi received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from Dong-A University in 1997. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. in mechanical and intelligent systems engineering from Pusan National University in 2001 and 2006, respectively. He is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. His research interests include dynamics and control of field robot and Marine plant engineering.
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Kim, YJ., Woo, NS., Jang, SC. et al. Feasibility study of a hybrid renewable energy system with geothermal and solar heat sources for residential buildings in South Korea. J Mech Sci Technol 27, 2513–2521 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-013-0634-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-013-0634-5