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Research Highlights, Visualization of the Installation Potential for Ground Source Heat Pump Systems in the Osaka Plain

Electronics and Manufacturing

Energy and Environment

Visualization of the Installation Potential for Ground Source Heat Pump Systems in the Osaka Plain

UCHIDA Youhei
Renewable Energy Research Center
IKAWA Reo
Research Institute for Geo-Resources and Environment

Update(MM/DD/YYYY):12/24/2020

“Visualization” of the installation potential for ground source heat pump systems from groundwater data

By identifying and analyzing relevant data from groundwater data in water environment maps, the researchers have created the first “potential maps for ground source heat pump system” for a region with a demand for cooling, and have published them on the website of AIST.

Left: Potential map showing heat exchanger (HX) length in a closed system (warm colors show short, cold colors show long)
Right: Potential map showing suitable locations for an open system (pink shows suitable locations)

Utilization of shallow geothermal heat for cooling in addition to heating

Ground source heat pump (GSHP) systems utilizing the shallow geothermal energy are attracting attention as energy-saving heating and cooling technologies that use the groundwater flow and underground temperature. Research conducted up to the present has demonstrated power and energy savings of approximately 40 % using these technologies. However, the AIST’s research concerning the evaluation of installation potential for GSHP systems has chiefly been conducted in the Tohoku region, where the demand for heating is high, making its application to western Japan (where the demand for cooling is high) problematic. In addition, the Osaka prefectural government sought indicators helping to promote the introduction of systems for the utilization of shallow geothermal energy as part of its urban planning efforts.

New means of utilization of groundwater as an energy resource

The researchers applied their method for evaluation of installation potential for the first time in the Osaka Plain, where the demand for cooling is high, and “visualized” the results of this evaluation as maps. Using these maps makes it possible to introduce the optimum system in relation to the geological and subterranean environments. The results of this research demonstrated the potential of groundwater as an energy resource from the perspectives of underground temperature and groundwater flow, and indicated the direction for a new, environmentally-friendly urban planning process that makes use of underground water resources.

Selection of the optimum system for utilization of shallow geothermal energy for the specific region

As the cost of introduction and methods of installation of systems for the utilization of shallow geothermal energy can be concretely examined, the maps are expected to promote the design of optimal systems for the geological and groundwater environments of specific regions.

Contact

UCHIDA Youhei
Leader, Team
Shallow Geothermal and Hydrogeology Team, Renewable Energy Research Center

Fukushima Renewable Energy Institute, AIST (FREA), 2-2-9 Machiikedai, Koriyama, Fukushima 963-0298 Japan

E-mail: frea-contact-ml*aist.go.jp (Please convert “*” to “@”)

WEB: https://www.aist.go.jp/fukushima/en/unit/

IKAWA Reo
Senior Researcher
Groundwater Research Group, Research Institute for Geo-Resources and Environment

AIST Tsukuba Central 7, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8567 Japan

E-mail: geore-web-ml*aist.go.jp (Please convert “*” to “@”)

WEB: https://unit.aist.go.jp/georesenv/index_en.html

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