Life-cycle assessment of an innovative ground-source heat pump system with upstream thermal storage

An innovative space-conditioning system is proposed and a life-cycle assessment (LCA) is presented. The layout is obtained starting from a ground-source heat pump system (GSHP) and includes upstream thermal storage (TS). A prototype of the system, implemented following this new approach, is currently in use for space heating and cooling of an industrial building. As a result of the TS designed to decouple the geothermal side from the heat-pump side, the system is able to provide the required thermal energy to the building with a reduced-size geothermal installation (i.e., shorter/fewer boreholes (BHs)). The performance was monitored for over 2 years, both in cooling and heating modes. A LCA study of this system is performed on the basis of specific data for implementation and operation phases. The results are given in terms of the comprehensive ReCiPe midpoint and endpoint indicator suite and are compared with literature studies of other conventional technologies for space conditioning.