Geothermal or Ground-Source Heat Pumps (GHPs)

A growing number of federal agency sites are turning to geothermal heat pumps (GHPs, or ground-source heat pumps) to improve their facilities, reduce energy and maintenance costs, and meet energy goals. The Department of Defense alone has invested more than $400 million to install an estimated 21,000 GHP units in their facilities, the majority in military family housing.

Replacing conventional heating and cooling equipment with GHPs typically saves up to 25% of total building energy use in nonresidential buildings and up to 40% in residential buildings. GHPs can significantly reduce peak electrical demand as well. Low maintenance cost, owing to their simpler technology and indoor placement, is another important advantage of GHPs.

ORNL’s unsurpassed expertise has helped many agencies develop and implement GHP projects that are delivering maximum value and long-term savings to their facilities. The ORNL GHP team provides authoritative, objective technical assistance at any level — from initial feasibility screenings, to ensuring that contractor-designed GHP systems are priced right and perform as expected.

FEMP’s GHP Core Team
ORNL’s GHP team also supports DOE as the Federal Energy Management Program’s (FEMP’s) GHP Core Team, providing technical expertise and assistance with GHP projects and technologies to FEMP’s customers in the federal sector. The following are FEMP publications describing FEMP’s GHP program, how to do preliminary screening for GHP feasibility, and information on buying GHP equipment.
- Geothermal Heat Pump Program Overview
- Preliminary Screening for Project Feasibility and Apps for GHP Retrofit Projects
- How to Buy an Energy-Efficient Ground Sourse Heat Pump

For FEMP and other customers, ORNL provides the following kinds of technical assistance for GHP retrofits or new construction:

• Feasibility studies
• Life-cycle-cost studies
• Review of technical and price proposals
• Review of system design
• Interpretation of thermal properties tests
• Review of bore field sizing
• Baseline and energy savings estimates/ calculations
• Review of pricing
• Development of building simulation models
• Development of measurement and verification plans
Fightertown, SC
ORNL's timely independent design review and simulation modeling for residential GHP systems for Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina ("Fightertown") contributed to the successs of the project.

GHP Publications and Resources
• Assessment of National Benefits from Retrofitting Existing Single-Family Hones with Ground Source Heat Pump Systems - August 2010
• Ground-Source Heat Pump Report - December 2008

Geothermal Heat Pumps in K-12 Schools
• A Case Study of the Lincoln Nebraska Schools
• GHP for Schools presentation by John A. Shonder of ORNL
(Rebuild America Geothermal Workshop, March 5, 2002, Concord, NH
• Comparative Analysis of the Life Cycle Costs of Geothermal Heat Pumps and Three Conventional HVAC Systems for an Elementary School in Lincoln, Nebraska
• Presentation by J.A. Shonder for Indian GHP Workshops in India, January 2009

Evaluation of Fort Polk GHP Installation
• Big Savings from the World's Largest Installation of Geothermal Heat Pumps
• Ft. Polk Final Report ORNL/CON-460
• Ft. Polk Methodology ORNL/CON-462

For GHP Designers/Installers
• HVAC Construction & Maintenance Cost Database
• Generic Guide Specifications for Geothermal Heat Pump System Installation
• A New Method to Determine the Thermal Properties of Soil Formations from In Situ Field Tests
• Geothermal Properties Measurement Model (Exe. file - Use the Installation Instructions to open file)
— Installation instructions

GHP Organizations
• International Ground Source Heat Pump Association (IGSHPA)
• Geothermal Heat Pump Consortium