Comparison of Three Experimental Studies on Geothermal Heat Pumps at the Turkish Universities

Ground source heat pump (GSHP) or geothermal heat pump (GHP) systems are methods of heating and cooling using the ground as the energy source. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has concluded that GSHP systems are the most energy efficient and environmentally clean of all the heating and cooling options. GSHPs have been put on the Turkish market for about four years. There are no domestic GHPs’ manufacturers yet. The studies performed on GHPs in Turkey can be divided into three groups; (i) university studies, (ii) case studies (heat pump industry), and (iii) standardisation studies. The present study was focused on the former, especially experimental studies at the Turkish universities. These studies carried out at the Turkish universities were summarised first. The three systems installed were then compared to each other in terms of values for coefficient of performance. Finally, the results obtained were evaluated and discussed.