Cooling Potential Evaluation of a Ground Heat Exchanger in a Tropical Climate: A Case Study of an Office Building

The main implications of the hot-humid climate characteristics stipulate the need for cooling indoor environments. Ground thermal characteristics can be exploited in the search for sustainable ways to cool the indoor environment. Thus, this work aims to assess the cooling potential of the ground thermal characteristics through a vertical ground heat exchanger (VGHE) in a tropical climate such as Panama City via dynamic simulation. This potential is evaluated in a two-stories office building complying with Panama’s building regulation requirements, where a VGHE system is designed to cover the cooling needs. Since underground temperature data are unavailable, parametric and sensitivity analyses are carried out. For sizing the VGHE, a vertical ground system is chosen since this allows a better configuration in the installation for a building with large cooling demands and eliminates the need for large amounts of land. A difference of 33.52% (4481.4 kWh) in the electricity consumption for cooling was obtained compared to a conventional air conditioning system, which translates into a 770.80$ saving (0.172$/kWh). These results confirm that the system studied for air conditioning is feasible since it could provide positive results in thermal comfort and energy savings for the user.