Optimal integration of heat pumps for the decarbonisation of collective housing in Belgium

We are in 2020, the world is constantly growing in terms of technology but also demographically. It needs more and more energy to meet the growing needs not only with regard to the number of people, but also concerning their individual demand. Population growth means an increase in the number of housing units. The housing sector is therefore crucial in terms of energy. In addition, more space is needed to house these people, which encourages the use of collective housing. The biggest demand for a building comes from the thermal need for space heating and domestic hot water. Currently, most of this demand is met by energy carriers such as oil and gas, but these emit greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Electricity now appears to be the most promising energy carrier, provided it is produced and used cleanly and efficiently. A track with potential for heating buildings leads us to heat pumps, which have unrivalled efficiency in heat generation. Combined with a clean and renewable electricity generation facility, this could be the solution of the future. It is therefore interesting to investigate the integration of heat pumps in collective buildings. The aim of this research will be to create a model to simulate a standardised Belgian collective building based on a few characteristics such as its size, insulation, number of floors, etc. in order to analyse its needs. Then, different heat pump heating systems are added, including heat distribution system and a control, in order to fulfill the heating needs for space heating of the building and domestic hot water. An analysis will then be carried out to find the parameters influencing the heating performances and examine the efficiency on different configurations. The idea is to find the most advantageous system according to the characteristics of the building. A study on the installation of photovoltaic panels in combination with a heat pump will also be carried out. The subject of this thesis was entrusted to me by ENGIE Laborelec in anticipation of the potential deployment of this technology.