With the heightened importance of green engineering in today’s society,
harnessing the Earth’s internal energy has become ever more important. Specifically, the
use of geothermal heat pumps as a means of heating and cooling homes and municipal
buildings is on the rise. However, due to the high cost of installation and limited amount
of research conducted, geothermal systems in the State of Florida have yet to meet their
potential as an alternative heating and cooling source. With Florida’s relatively constant
ground temperature of 72 °F, an above average temperature gradient for both heating and
cooling of indoor areas is provided. To this end, this thesis investigates different
geothermal systems and their ability to utilize ground energy storage.
To conduct this research, four different geothermal systems were installed and
monitored over a period of one year. Testing of the installed systems monitored not only
overall efficiency, but also the soils reaction to heightened energy input. Conclusions
and recommendations are made as general design parameters for vertical column
geothermal well systems in the state of Florida.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:USF/oai:scholarcommons.usf.edu:etd-4815 |
| Date | 22 October 2010 |
| Creators | Maynard, Whitney E. |
| Publisher | Scholar Commons |
| Source Sets | University of South Flordia |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Graduate Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | default |
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