Description – By 2050 New York will need to convert the better part of 6 million buildings from fossil fuel systems to electric heat pumps. Research efforts from academia in collaboration with our national labs can provide us with the tools needed to address building electrification on a large scale. Dr. Spitler will discuss current research and development in automated design of ground heat exchangers. Methods for optimizing borehole placement and spacing within the area available can offer considerable savings in required drilling for larger GSHP systems. These methods can be applied to community-scale systems. Dr. Liu will discuss future opportunities and challenges in designing community-scale ground-source heat pump systems. Hydraulic piping and pumping system design, use of other available heat sources and heat sinks like lakes and sewage systems, ambient loops vs. multi-building distribution of chilled and/or hot water, and other design challenges will be discussed.

• Xiaobing Liu / DOE-ORNL

• Jeffrey Spitler / Oklahoma State University