Heat pumping and reversible air conditioning : how to make the best use of HVAC equipment ?

Substituting a heat pump to a boiler may save more than 50% of primary energy, if electricity is produced by a modern combined cycle power plant (and even more if a part of that electricity is produced using renewable sources). Two of the most attractive heat pumps applications consist in recovering the heat rejected by the condenser of an existing chiller and in using this chiller in reversible mode.
This is the topic of the IEA-ECBCS Annex 48 project (“Heat pumping and reversible air conditioning”). An overview of the project is presented and the work of the different participants is briefly explained. Case studies are also briefly presented and more details are given on one of them.