Abstract
A solution to the inordinate amount of energy used for climate control in buildings is of paramount importance if we are to significantly reduce our dependence on fossil fuels in a relatively short time. A large quantity of low-grade energy is available in the earth surrounding a typical residential structure. This energy is often tapped for use in heating and cooling in conjunction with a ground source heat pump. Efficient use of this energy source can be realized without the expense of a heat pump by designing a green system directly integrating the ground source with a dynamic building envelope. This paper explains the concept of the ground-coupled dynamic (GCD) wall, which can be easily retrofitted in some form to most existing structures to capture and use this low-grade energy. It makes use of clean renewable resources without excessive amounts of expensive or high-tech equipment. The paper demonstrates that in conjunction with an exergy management system, the application of this concept could significantly lower residential fossil fuel consumption.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Lowell E. Lingo (Sr.) for his assistance in the funding of this project and to Roy Roher for sharing his eight decades of experience and seemingly inexhaustible energy in helping with the construction. Also thanks to Mark Bomberg for his advice and support. The authors sincerely appreciate Mr. Kai Sun for helping them in revising Figs. 12 and 14.
References
ACEEE (American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy). (2013). 〈http://www.aceee.org/portal/residential〉 (Jun. 2, 2013).
Adam, D., and Markiewicz, R. (2009). “Energy from Earth-coupled structures, foundations, tunnels and sewers.” Geotechnique, 59(3), 229–236.
Booth, D., Clayton, D., and Henninge, B. (1980). “The double shell solar house.” Community Builders, Cantebury, NH, 120.
Brandl, H. (2006). “Energy foundations and other thermo-active ground structures.” Geotechnique, 56(2), 81–122.
Dow Chemical Company. (2016). “Reflective R-value claiming requirements.” Webster, NY, 〈〉 (Mar. 1, 2016).
Hait, J. (1983). “Passive annual heat storage—Improving the design of Earth shelters.” Rocky Mountain Research Center, Chino Valley, AZ.
Lingo, L., Jr., and Roy, U. (2013). “Exergy management between a building and its environment for residential HVAC.” J. Energy Eng., 04013023.
Lingo, L., Jr., and Roy, U. (2014). “Design for implementation strategy for designing a sustainable building using the geosolar exergy storage technology: Case study.” J. Energy Eng., 04014018.
Lingo, L. E., Jr. (2011). “Extending the passive house approach with geosolar exergy storage technology: A vision for reducing purchased energy use in existing and new constructions.” Ph.D. dissertation, Syracuse Univ., Syracuse, NY.
McQuay International. (2002). “Application guide AG31-008 geothermal heat pump design manual.” Staunton, VA, 〈〉 (Jun. 2, 2013).
National Renewable Energy Laboratory. (2011). “National solar radiation database.” 〈〉.
Stephens, D. (2005). “Annualized geo-solar as compared to passive annual heat storage.” Global Sustainable Building Conf., Tokyo.
Sun, M., Xia, C., and Zhang, G. (2013). “Heat transfer model and design method for geothermal heat exchange tubes in diaphragm walls.” Energy Build., 61, 250–259.
The Renewable Resource Data Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory. (2011). 〈http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/old_data/nsrdb/redbook/sum2/14771.txt〉 (Jun. 2, 2013).
Weatherbase. (2015). 〈http://www.weatherbase.com〉 (Jan. 1, 2015).
Wilcox, R. P. (1981). “Monticello an early American prototype for solar architectures.” Proc., Annual Meeting—American Section of the Int. Solar Energy Society, Portland, OR.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 143 • Issue 1 • February 2017
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 30, 2014
Accepted: Jan 15, 2015
Published online: May 10, 2016
Discussion open until: Oct 10, 2016
Published in print: Feb 1, 2017
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Building design
- Buildings
- Continuum mechanics
- Design (by type)
- Dynamics (solid mechanics)
- Energy consumption
- Energy engineering
- Energy sources (by type)
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering mechanics
- Existing buildings
- Housing
- Infrastructure
- Non-renewable energy
- Renewable energy
- Residential buildings
- Solar power
- Solid mechanics
- Structural dynamics
- Structural engineering
- Structures (by type)
- Urban and regional development
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.