UCC's Western Gateway Building: a Case Study for the Integration of Low Temperature Heating and High Temperature Cooling Systems

This paper deals with the installation of a 1 MW groundwater heat pump for cool ing and heating, a server room heat recovery system and a novel VAV underfloor mechanical ventilation system, in a large third level university building in Cork, Ireland. After describing the building and the mechanical systems the paper presents energy usage and analysis of results for the first year in operation. Such an installation is of interest to engineers and facil ity managers in order to determine how all the systems complement each other, as well as the resultant energy saving potential compared to conventional systems. Large scale groundwater heat pumps with simultaneous heating and cooling capabilities can provide significant operational cost savings, as described in the paper.