An Economical Analysis on a Solar Greenhouse Integrated Solar Assisted Geothermal Heat Pump System

Abstract

The main objective in doing the present study is twofold, namely (i) to review briefly the utilization of geothermally heated greenhouses and geothermal heat pumps in Turkey, since the system studied utilizes both renewable energy resources and (ii) to present the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) as a potential decision making method for use in a greenhouse integrated solar assisted geothermal heat pump system (GISAGHPS), which was installed in the Solar Energy Institute of Ege University, Izmir, Turkey. This investigation may also be regarded as the one of the limited studies on the application of the AHP method to GISAGHPs, as no studies on the GISAGHPS have appeared in the literature. In this context, an economic analysis is performed based on the life cycle costing technique first. The results are then evaluated by applying the AHP method to a study, which is a comparative study on the GISAGHPS and split system. The results indicated that the GISAGHPS is economically preferable to the conventional split heating/cooling system under Turkey’s conditions.