Heating and cooling with geothermal energy for residential buildings inLatvia

In the recent years in Latvia is rapidlydeveloping construction sector of residentialbuildings. Engineers have to give moreattention to heating and cooling system'stechnology in the buildings to stay competitivein the realty's market. Every year is increasingpart of geothermal heat pump's use. Anincreasingly important econoinic factor and parameter in calculating the economic feasibility of geothermal heat pumps, is the extent to which a market exists for COz emissions in the country of operation. Just few years ago because of economical situation and climate in Latvia cooling systems in the residential buildings weren't common, but nowit is getting more popular. The latest version of geothermal heat pump's use is implementation combined heatinglcooling systems for residential buildings that can provide heating during the winter and cooling during the summer, which is very suitable for Latvian climate. In l00m depth where the temperature of the earth is constantly around 12"C, is possible to put pipes filled with a cooling agent and bring it up to the heat pump. In heating mode the heat pump compresses cooling agent pushes its temperature up to 55C or even 70C for the heating system. In cooling mode during the summer the heat pump only "heats up" the liquid up-to around 20C and circulates it through the heating system and absorbs the heat from the rooms and brings it down to the earth again. The effect is that residential building will alwayshave a delta of 10C to the outside temperature.Special attention has to be given to theconstruction of heatinglcooling system insidethe building and its automatic regulation. Alsoground heat exchanger type, its geometry andits efficiency has to be considered for eachspecial case.