Decarbonization of affordable multifamily housing – application of high-efficiency monoblock heat pumps.

Number: 0292

Author(s) : SHENG M., ALLEN Z., SANKARANARAYANAN S.

Summary

Affordable multifamily housing presents one of the hardest residential sectors to decarbonize. Many of these housing units have the bare minimum in terms of HVAC (e.g., swamp coolers + gas wall furnaces, etc.) and are compromised on occupant comfort. A recent innovation in the heat pump retrofit market is the development of monoblock heat pumps which do not have separate indoor-outdoor units and are relatively simple to install. These are also high-efficiency inverter-driven systems that operate on a 120V single phase. The authors were part of a project team that worked with a multifamily affordable housing complex in Fresno, CA to install 140 monoblock heat pumps in 60 living units. The project investigated various aspects of the retrofit process and collected energy use data from all the units to derive insights into the efficacy of these heat pumps for providing comfort while reducing GHG emissions. The results indicate that residents used their heat pumps similar to swamp coolers in the main living areas, and with additional heat pumps in the bedrooms, were able to achieve better cooling while staying within the building’s overall current capacity. In winter, the use of heat pumps significantly reduced energy use consequently reducing the overall GHG emissions from this community. A set of recommendations on applying these heat pumps in utility customer programs to help to decarbonize affordable multifamily housing is developed.

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Pages: 10 p.

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Details

  • Original title: Decarbonization of affordable multifamily housing – application of high-efficiency monoblock heat pumps.
  • Record ID : 30031120
  • Languages: English
  • Subject: Technology
  • Source: 14th IEA Heat Pump Conference 2023, Chicago, Illinois.
  • Publication date: 2023/05/15

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