Objective To test the efficiency of houses equipped with a heating system powered by heat pump developed by Elf France.The aim is to save 65% of the energy consumed using electric heaters, i.e. some 2.1 toe annually per house.The payback period for the extra investment was originally estimated at 13 to 15 years.The monitoring programme has been carried out as follows:Winter 82/83. Heating and sanitary hot water: 5 houses.Summer 83. Sanitary hot water: 4 houses.Winter 83/84. Heating and sanitary hot water: 1 house.During the measurements programme, the contractor encountered major difficulties as to the reliability of the meters and the technical development of the heat pump system.Only one plant was monitored during 2 heating seasons, showing a cop of 2.6 and a coe of 2.2.45% of the energy come from the electricity network. 30% to 25% come from the solar pannels and 25% to 30% come from the soil. The electricity consumption is therefore reduced by 55% compared with a direct electrical heating. The soil may be used not only for the heat storage but also as a heating source. That was confirmed by partial monitoring on other plants of the project.The summer monitoring (solar roof for preparation of sanitary hot water) did not teach anything new with respect to that well known problem.For individual houses equipped with a heat pump, measurement of the energy consumption and analysis of these figures on the basis of meteorological data and the dimensions of the heating system.The plan provided for 15 houses, but the figure was reduced to 5.The sites were distributed in different climatic areas in France: the Paris region (Melun and Gargenville), the south-east (Morestel Isere), the centre (Clermont-Ferrand, Puy de Dome) and the west (St Nazaire, Loire Atlantique).These houses were exclusively heated by a heat pump associated with an external source of roof-mounted uncovered solar panels with buried pipes. The heat captured in the roof is either directly used for heating the house (transferred via the heat pump), or stored in the ground if there is a surplus. The ground-stored heat is used (transferred via the heat pump) when the energy tapped by the roof panel would no longer suffice to heat the house.The houses are heated by underfloor heating.During the summer, the roof-mounted solar panels are also used for domestic hot water production. One feature of the system is that the solar panels (alluminium panels of the roll-band type) are covered by tarred shingles of normal aspects. Programme(s) ENG-ENALT 1C - Programme (EEC) of financial support for projects to exploit alternative energy sources, 1979-1984 Topic(s) 1.2 - BUILDINGS Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme DEM - Demonstration contracts Coordinator CENTRE DE RECHERCHE ELF DE SOLAIZE EU contribution No data Address CHEMIN DU CANAL BP 22 69360 ST SYMPHORIEN D'OZON France See on map Total cost No data
