Regional application of ground source heat pump in China: A case of Shenyang

Abstract

Rapid industrialization, increasing population urbanization, and improved living standards have all contributed to greatly increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in urban areas of developing countries. This situation is especially true for China, where fossil fuel depletion is a critical issue from its contribution to GHG emissions, and in terms of resources being consumed. To address these issues the Chinese government has supported application of ground source heat pumps (GSHP) technology. This focus is meant to alleviate the dependence on fossil fuels and improve the country's energy structure. Several Chinese cities have embraced GSHP technology, and currently achieved some results. Shenyang, in Liaoning province, is one pioneering municipality. The city has become a champion of GSHP projects. However, the international energy research community has not been made aware of this important regional effort. The aim of this paper is to introduce and review the progress of GSHP technology diffusion within this region of China. This practical review will include policies, benefits and challenges facing the region and their adoption of GSHP technology. Recommendations for improvement of regional application on GSHP technologies given regional conditions are also made. These recommendations include strong leadership, appropriate policy incentives, effective enforcement mechanisms, and roundtable-based management. Relevant experience and lessons learned can be shared by other, globally locations, to help in GSHP technology diffusion.

Introduction

China's rapid industrialization has caused many socio-economic and environmental challenges such as resource depletion, water pollution, sandstorms, soil erosion, deforestation, desertification, and recently, climate change [1], [2]. In particular, China has doubled its emissions since the Kyoto protocol adoption in 1997. China is now the largest contributor of energy-related CO₂ emissions [3], [4].

In response to these climate change concerns, the Chinese government has announced that China will reduce carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 40–45% in 2020 when compared to a 2005 baseline. They also have announced an increase of non-fossil fuels energy consumption to approximately 15% of all energy consumption by 2020 [5]. These voluntary actions are taken by the Chinese government because of national conditions and contributing to the global effort of tackling climate change concerns.

Concrete and practical action plans have been developed to practically achieve these targets. For instance, the National Development and Reform Committee (NDRC), a ministry level agency in charge of all planning issues in China, initiated the first national low carbon demonstration project in August 2010. Five provinces (Liaoning, Hubei, Yunnan, Shaanxi, and Guangdong) and eight cities (Baoding, Tianjin, Chongqing, Guiyang, Xiamen, Shenzhen, Nanchang, and Hangzhou) were chosen for pilot studies. These pilot studies are meant to aid government policy makers collect relevant experiences and lessons, and learn from implementation [6]. They will also facilitate development of a national regulations and standards to help promote the concept of low carbon development to various industrial sectors and regions.

A number of initiatives have been proposed for reducing CO₂ emissions in China. These initiatives include increasing forest carbon sinks, reducing the total consumption of fossil fuels, increasing the total consumption of renewable and clean energy (such as wind power, solar energy, geothermal energy, and natural gas), and increasing energy efficiency. Among these initiatives, the ground-source heat pump (GSHP) technology has been promoted by the Chinese Government as an effective geothermal energy technology.

A GSHP system is mainly comprised of a heat pump and a sub-system for ground heat exchange. GSHP systems utilize electricity, and less frequently gas, to operate their heat pumps. The ratio between output heat to supplied energy of GSHP is defined as the Coefficient of Performance (COP). A typical heat pump has a COP of around 4, indicating that the heat pump produces four units of heating energy for every unit of electrical energy input [7]. GSHP's major advantage is that it can substitute fossil fuel usage by using stored heat or cold that would otherwise be wasted.

GSHP systems are suitable for a wide variety of building types and are particularly appropriate for low environmental impact projects. They do not require hot rocks (geothermal energy), can be installed throughout many global regions using a borehole, shallow trenches or, by extracting heat from small bodies of water. Heat collecting pipes in a closed loop, containing water with a little antifreeze, are used to extract this stored energy. The energy can then be used to provide space heating and domestic hot water. In some applications, the pump can be reversed in summer for cooling purposes. Given these advantages, GSHP systems have been widely adopted throughout the world in such location as the UK [7], Germany [8], Korea [9], Poland [10], and Turkey [11].

China, with its vast territory and differentiated climatic zones, provides significant opportunities for the application of this technology, especially in colder regions such as Northeast China and Northwest China. In these regions winter heat demand is extreme with coal as the main energy source.

The first Chinese GSHP technology application occurred in the early 1980s, with increased promotion and adoption in the1990s [12]. Since that period several studies reviewing national GSHP adoption have been undertaken [12], [13], [14]. Currently, there is over140 million m² total building floor space energized by the GSHP technology. Over 80% of these projects are located in North or Northeast China.

The adoption of GSHP technology has resulted in an estimated CO₂ emission reduction of 22 million tons per year [14]. Detailed China-based case studies on individual buildings or projects, especially from a technical perspective, have also been conducted. For instance, studies have been performed on solar-ground source heat pumping systems with a vertical double-spiral coil (VDSC) ground heat exchanger (GHX) [15]; techno-economic comparisons of direct expansion ground sources and a secondary loop coupled heat pump systems for cooling in Chinese residential buildings [16]; design and installation of constant temperature and humidity air-conditioning systems driven by ground source heat pumps in Shanghai, [17]; and evaluation of shallow groundwater heat pumps performance in Beijing [18]. However, studies on how regional government can better promote the application of GSHP technology are rare, we have found no outstanding publication on this issue. This type of analysis is needed for investigation of appropriate management policies that can help in greater understanding and potential adoption of these technologies. Thus, this study is meant to address this gap and help build further policy knowledge associated with GSHP.

The city of Shenyang is selected as our case study region for several reasons. First, Shenyang is located in central Liaoning province in northeast China. On average this region is one of the coldest in China. A significant heat supply is needed in the cold of winter providing substantial potential demand for GSHP. Second, this city has been at the leading edge of GSHP adoption within China primarily due to robust support from local governmental officials. This governmental support was evident through financial subsidy programs and preferable zoning and building policies for facilitating the implementation of GSHP. Third, this city is also emblematic of continued rapid urbanization within China. It has major socio-economic conflicting forces at play from its situation as a modern city characteristics while being a refuge to a large poorly educated and recently urbanized (migrant) workforce. This microcosm of China offers a unique opportunity to further encourage the use of GSHP, if both demographic urban characteristics can function with this technology. Consequently, it is a good representation of most large cities in China and the experiences and lessons from this city can be shared and promoted in many other Chinese cities. By extension, many rapidly developing and emergent nations and their urban regions can learn from the study presented here.

In the next section we present an overview of the current GSHP practices in Shenyang. We then detail some of the major policies that promote regional application of GSHP. On the basis of this analysis, barriers and challenges are discussed. Finally, we provide our recommendations for further GSHP technology diffusion throughout the regional level before drawing our conclusions.

The data and information sources in this paper include unpublished city government reports, published papers, and numerous interviews with key informants within the city. This triangulation of data sources ensures the credibility of our study. Information from city key informants was gathered through semi-structured interviews. Before these interviews several formal workshops and small group sessions were hosted by the authors. These sessions and workshops allowed for background discussion of the technology and the study. Thus interview session were completed with clearer answers and consistency with the objectives of the study. The whole investigation process was administered with the endorsement and support of the Shenyang Development and Reform Commission (SDRC). This support is needed to be able to overcome barriers associated with interviewing government officials in China. Local officials are apprehensive because they might feel that interview study results may be used as a basis for criticizing the local government. Consequently, such interviews represent a rare opportunity for examining the attitudes of various officials in Shenyang, as well as identifying the key barriers to GSHP management.