| Title | Geothermal Earth-Air Heat Exchanger, a solution for reducing greenhouses energy consumption in Iran |
|---|---|
| Authors | Davar Ebrahimi, Javad Nouraliee |
| Year | 2023 |
| Conference | World Geothermal Congress |
| Keywords | Space heating, Space cooling, Heat exchanger, Greenhouses, Geothermal |
| Abstract | Using renewable energy for space heating and space cooling has been considered in many countries, but due to low energy prices in Iran, these kinds of energy resources are not very attractive to consumers. Increasing the area of greenhouses in Iran leads to an increasing amount of consumed energy. One of the low-cost methods that can reduce energy consumption in greenhouses is geothermal Earth-Air Heat Exchangers (EAHE), which save a substantial amount of energy in both heating and cooling modes. It is a renewable technique based on a geothermal source used for space heating and space cooling by exchanging heat with the ground. The working fluid is air and the ground works as a heat source due to its heat storage capacity. The annual temperature of the soil at a certain depth t is nearly constant. This constant temperature in the earth is cooler than the ambient air in the summer and warmer than the ambient air in the winter. It is essential to devise strategies for their development in Iran because the implementation of these systems does not require advanced technologies and it is possible to use them throughout the country. At the moment in 14 greenhouses of the country, with a total area of 12 hectares, EAHEs are being used. The area of the country's greenhouses is currently about 16,000 hectares, with annual electricity consumption of around 2,000Mw. Also, the amount of natural gas consumed by these greenhouses is more than 4 billion m3 per year. The development plan for greenhouses for the next 10 years is about 30,000 hectares which required a huge amount of energy supply for them. This study examines how to supply 30% of the energy required by greenhouses with EAHE. |