IEA Heat Pump Programme Annex 32 - Economical Heating and Cooling systems for low energy houses

Switzerland has a strong growth in low energy houses since the introduction of the voluntary MINERGIE^® label in 1998. Presently, about 15% of the new buildings are certified according to MINERGIE^® and about further 15% are not certified, but comply with the MINERGIE^® requirements.
In 2002, the MINERGIE-P^® label, defining an ultra-low energy house, has been introduced, and in 2006, the MINERGIE-ECO^® label followed, which considers besides energy and comfort as well health and sustainablility aspects of the building materials.
In Switzerland heat pumps are the market leading heating system in new single family dwellings, reaching a share of about 70% in 2005 and 2006. (Fig. 1).

standard hydronic layout for ground-coupled heat pump

Fig.1 standard hydronic layout for a ground-coupled heat pump system with passive cooling option and simultaneous space cooling - DHW production

The Swiss national project is dedicated to the evaluation of integrated heat pump system solutions for low and ultra-low energy houses including the function space heating, DHW and space cooling and an evaluation of the coupling the heat pump to the required mechanical ventilation system. The integration of the space cooling function is in focus, including passive cooling methods, as well, e.g. a direct cooling by ground coupling. The assessment will evaluate the energy consumption, operation limits and reachable comfort as well as robustness of the hydraulic configuration and design values.
Moreover, field testing of systems will be performed. In 2007, a ground-coupled heat pump system for space heating, space cooling and DHW installed in the first MINERGIE-P® multi-family dwelling in the canton Basel has been instrumented with monitoring equipment and will be measured for at least one year. The system evaluation will yield an evaluation of the functionality and optimisation potentials.

Results shall yield:

standardised system configurations for the application in low energy houses
respective design guidelines
field monitored best practice system

The Swiss activities are supported by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE)