Techno-economic performance of heat recovery air handling units for residential buildings in a sub-arctic climate

• This study analysed the final and primary energy savings as well as cost-effectiveness of centralised and semi-centralised heat recovery air handling units (AHUs) configurations for existing and efficient variants of a district heated multi-dwelling building. The AHUs have counter-flow plate or rotary heat exchangers, and their performances for the building variants are analysed considering different economic scenarios and frost conditions. Very few studies have explored the techno-economic implications of such AHU configurations in the context of building retrofitting. The final energy savings is calculated on hourly basis using dynamic simulation modelling approach and is linked to the heat supply to calculate the associated primary energy savings. The cost-effectiveness is calculated considering investment costs as well as net present values of energy cost savings when the AHUs are applied. The results show that the primary energy savings and cost-effectiveness for heat recovery AHUs vary considerably for different contexts. The semi-centralised AHUs with rotary heat exchanger seem slightly more cost-effective among the analysed heat recovery configurations. Frost conditions and defrosting need have significant impact on the primary energy and economic performance of the AHUs.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Maskinteknik -- Energiteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Mechanical Engineering -- Energy Engineering (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Air handling units

ventilation heat recovery

energy efficiency

cost-effectiveness

sub-arctic climate

Bioenergiteknik/Energi- och Miljöteknik

Bioenergy Technology

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)