Three heating seasons monitoring of thermo-economic parameters of a prototype EAHE system for technological forecasting and evaluating low grade geothermal resources in Turkey

The design and analysis of EAHE (earth to air heat exchanger) systems are based upon well established engineering knowledge. This paper performs monitoring thermo-economic parameters of a prototype EAHE system. The relations between capital costs and thermodynamic losses for the devices in the system are investigated and presented results for decision makers and readers. The concept of EAHE is not new. However, the utilization of EAHEs in residential and agricultural buildings is new in Turkey, although they have been in use for years in developed countries and the performance of the components is well documented. According to authors' foresight, the majority of the installations can be applied in the all regions of Turkey for evaluating low grade geothermal resources. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.