Performance Assessment of Horizontal Ground Heat Exchangers under a Greenhouse in Quebec, Canada

Among the various approaches to agriculture, urban greenhouse farming has gained attention for its ability to address food security and disruptions to global food supply chains. However, the increasing impact of climate change and global warming necessitates sustainable methods for heating and cooli...

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Main Authors: Xavier Léveillée-Dallaire, Jasmin Raymond, Jónas Þór Snæbjörnsson, Hikari Fujii, Hubert Langevin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-07-01
Series:Energies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/15/5596
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author Xavier Léveillée-Dallaire
Jasmin Raymond
Jónas Þór Snæbjörnsson
Hikari Fujii
Hubert Langevin
author_facet Xavier Léveillée-Dallaire
Jasmin Raymond
Jónas Þór Snæbjörnsson
Hikari Fujii
Hubert Langevin
author_sort Xavier Léveillée-Dallaire
collection DOAJ
description Among the various approaches to agriculture, urban greenhouse farming has gained attention for its ability to address food security and disruptions to global food supply chains. However, the increasing impact of climate change and global warming necessitates sustainable methods for heating and cooling these greenhouses. In this study, we focused on the potential of slinky-coil horizontal ground heat exchangers (HGHEs) to meet the energy demands of urban greenhouses, assuming they are installed beneath the greenhouse to optimize space utilization. Climate data, an energy consumption profile for a greenhouse being designed in La Pocatière (Québec, Canada) and in-situ ground thermal properties assessments were used to build numerical models using FEFLOW and to evaluate the performance of the HGHEs simulated. Four scenarios were simulated and compared to a base case, considering the greenhouse’s maintenance of a constant temperature above an HGHE limited to the greenhouse’s dimensions. Our findings reveal that a minimum of 7.1% and 26.5% of the total heating and cooling loads of a small greenhouse (133 m<sup>2</sup> area) can be covered by HGHEs installed at a 1.5 m depth when there is no greenhouse above. When installed under a greenhouse with a constant inside temperature of 21 °C, the coverage for heating loads increases to 22.8%, while cooling loads decrease to 24.2%. Sensitivity analysis demonstrates that the constant temperature in the greenhouse reduces the system’s reliance on surface temperature fluctuations for both heating and cooling, albeit with reduced efficiency for cooling.
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spelling doaj.art-1ed771321da84cd9ad57bda45f3584782023-11-18T22:50:17ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732023-07-011615559610.3390/en16155596Performance Assessment of Horizontal Ground Heat Exchangers under a Greenhouse in Quebec, CanadaXavier Léveillée-Dallaire0Jasmin Raymond1Jónas Þór Snæbjörnsson2Hikari Fujii3Hubert Langevin4Centre Eau Terre Environnement, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, 490 rue de la Couronne, Québec, QC G1K 9A9, CanadaCentre Eau Terre Environnement, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, 490 rue de la Couronne, Québec, QC G1K 9A9, CanadaIceland School of Energy, Reykjavik University, 102 Reykjavík, IcelandGraduate School of International Resource Sciences, Akita University, Akita 010-8502, JapanGéotherma Solutions Inc., Québec, QC G1K 9A9, CanadaAmong the various approaches to agriculture, urban greenhouse farming has gained attention for its ability to address food security and disruptions to global food supply chains. However, the increasing impact of climate change and global warming necessitates sustainable methods for heating and cooling these greenhouses. In this study, we focused on the potential of slinky-coil horizontal ground heat exchangers (HGHEs) to meet the energy demands of urban greenhouses, assuming they are installed beneath the greenhouse to optimize space utilization. Climate data, an energy consumption profile for a greenhouse being designed in La Pocatière (Québec, Canada) and in-situ ground thermal properties assessments were used to build numerical models using FEFLOW and to evaluate the performance of the HGHEs simulated. Four scenarios were simulated and compared to a base case, considering the greenhouse’s maintenance of a constant temperature above an HGHE limited to the greenhouse’s dimensions. Our findings reveal that a minimum of 7.1% and 26.5% of the total heating and cooling loads of a small greenhouse (133 m<sup>2</sup> area) can be covered by HGHEs installed at a 1.5 m depth when there is no greenhouse above. When installed under a greenhouse with a constant inside temperature of 21 °C, the coverage for heating loads increases to 22.8%, while cooling loads decrease to 24.2%. Sensitivity analysis demonstrates that the constant temperature in the greenhouse reduces the system’s reliance on surface temperature fluctuations for both heating and cooling, albeit with reduced efficiency for cooling.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/15/5596ground-source heat pumphorizontal ground heat exchangerssustainable energynumerical simulationgreenhouse heating systemsenergy efficiency
spellingShingle Xavier Léveillée-Dallaire
Jasmin Raymond
Jónas Þór Snæbjörnsson
Hikari Fujii
Hubert Langevin
Performance Assessment of Horizontal Ground Heat Exchangers under a Greenhouse in Quebec, Canada
Energies
ground-source heat pump
horizontal ground heat exchangers
sustainable energy
numerical simulation
greenhouse heating systems
energy efficiency
title Performance Assessment of Horizontal Ground Heat Exchangers under a Greenhouse in Quebec, Canada
title_full Performance Assessment of Horizontal Ground Heat Exchangers under a Greenhouse in Quebec, Canada
title_fullStr Performance Assessment of Horizontal Ground Heat Exchangers under a Greenhouse in Quebec, Canada
title_full_unstemmed Performance Assessment of Horizontal Ground Heat Exchangers under a Greenhouse in Quebec, Canada
title_short Performance Assessment of Horizontal Ground Heat Exchangers under a Greenhouse in Quebec, Canada
title_sort performance assessment of horizontal ground heat exchangers under a greenhouse in quebec canada
topic ground-source heat pump
horizontal ground heat exchangers
sustainable energy
numerical simulation
greenhouse heating systems
energy efficiency
url https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/15/5596
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