Global optimization of the production and the distribution system for typical European HVAC systems

European countries have agreed on a new 2030 Framework with a 30% improvement in energy efficiency compared to projection and a 40% cut in greenhouse gas emissions compared to 1990 levels. With an estimated 11% of all the electrical energy used in Europe consumed by HVAC systems, the improvement of their efficiency is a key element to reach these targets. When looking at the energy flow in typical European HVAC systems, one can observe important degradation in efficiency associated to heating and cooling energy transportation systems together with a non-optimal use of the production plant. These inefficiencies are direct consequences of the system design with, quite often, a lack of consideration of the system part load or its off-design operation. This research attempts to identify the sensitivity of both cooling and heating HVAC systems to these conditions and to propose an approach to optimize the design and the operation of HVAC systems integrated in buildings considering trade-off between primary systems efficiency, distribution losses and auxiliaries consumption.