Study of thermal performance of air-source heat-pump heating for suburban residential buildings in Beijing

In recent years, severe and persistent winter haze has appeared more frequently due to coal-combustion heating for residential buildings in the winter in northern China. To solve the problem, the Chinese government proposes to replace coal-combustion heating with electricity-driven air-source heat-pump heating. In this article, the performance of an air-source heat pump was studied for suburban residential building heating in the winter in Beijing, China. The heating load of a typical suburban residential building was evaluated using a building energy simulation program according to real weather data. The performance of the heat pump was then evaluated, and the electrical load for such building heating was analyzed based on the hourly ambient temperature and heating load of the studied building. Results showed that the highest electrical load occurred between 3:00 and 7:00 and the lowest electrical load appeared between 13:00 and 15:00. These results are helpful in guiding electrical load transfer in the power grid. Compared with coal-combustion heating, heat-pump heating could save 59% of annual operating cost and reduce the emission of CO₂, SO₂, and NO_x by 54%, 78%, and 74%, respectively. This study is significant for wide applications of air-source heat-pump heating for suburban residential buildings in cities with weather like Beijing, China.