Feasibility Study of Geothermal Heat Pump Utilization in Shiraz Buildings

Recently, renewable energies have attracted attentions among different societies due to the reduction of fossil fuels resources and environmental problems. Geothermal energy has taken a particular consideration due to its permanent potential, as well as low operating costs and high efficiency. Nowadays, one of the most useful applications of geothermal energy is the geothermal heat pumps that use electricity to provide the cooling and heating demand of buildings. This system reduces the fossil fuel consumption, decrease external costs and government subsidies on fossil fuels. In this paper, Shiraz under construction building in 2015 is considered to evaluate the replacement of geothermal heat pumps with conventional systems. The result showed that by this method, annually 25’997’236 m3 of natural gas is saved, and approximately 8.7 million dollars is obtained by exportation, as well as the release of 208.5 thousand tons of pollutants to the environment is prevented. It was also observed that if the government allocates citizens 30 percent of heat pump costs as a subsidy, the government capital will return in 5 years.