Sustainable groundwater-source cooling systems for buildings

Groundwater, abstracted from aquifers beneath buildings, can be used as a heat-rejection medium as part of a building cooling system. Such systems have the potential to reduce carbon emissions and provide cost savings, relative to traditional cooling systems that reject heat to air. Three principal configurations of groundwater-source cooling system are used: open-loop systems where the groundwater is discharged to sewer or surface watercourse; open-loop systems where the water is reinjected back into the aquifer; and standing-column boreholes. To date there have been relatively few large-scale applications of groundwater-source cooling systems in the UK. Clear definitions of sustainability targets for such systems do not exist. The current paper identifies characteristics of sustainable groundwater-source cooling systems. A series of tests to determine whether a groundwater-source cooling system can be considered ‘sustainable’ are identified.