Energy security is mission critical on all military installations. Ground source heat pump (GSHP) technology is an energy efficiency technology which reduces energy consumption during operations compared to traditional heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. This allows more energy to go to mission critical assets, especially microgrids during alert conditions. But current GSHP systems require a large initial capital expense for excavating acres of land to drill wells or bury heat exchange coils. Excavating and burying heat exchange coils restricts the use of current GSHP systems to areas such as parade grounds, athletic fields, or open space recreation. For main cantonment areas or federal buildings in urban areas, dedicated open space is rarely available for GSHP development. 

The objective of this project is to demonstrate a novel GSHP system that will provide the same benefits of a traditional GSHP technology while having a small footprint that only requires a minor modification of the existing building’s HVAC condenser ducting or piping.

The capabilities of this system will be tested on an installation. The GSHP system will be installed on a server room with a 24/7 heat load to reduce the load on the existing HVAC system and demonstrate the economics.  

The system design will be a function of the size, location and layout of the server room. Electric meters will be installed to monitor the parasitic electric consumption of the GSHP system. In addition, British thermal unitsmeters would be installed to monitor the amount of heat removed using the GSHP. These and other relevant operational parameters will be recorded on a data logging system and available to installation managers and the project team.

This GSHP system uses the existing underground potable water pipe distribution network, avoiding the need to drill deep wells or excavate several acres of land to bury heat exchange coils, allowing geothermal efficiencies to be provided to dense cantonment and urban sites. The GSHP system only uses the thermal capacity of the existing underground pipe distribution network to provide this efficiency and does not consume any potable water. 

Demonstrating an actual system on a military installation and using the actual capital and operating costs will help the project team to develop a Utility Energy Service Contract template blending multiple credits and programs to fund the implementation at all military installations, allowing for potential scalability. (Anticipated Project Completion - 2028)