Energy Assessment and Economic Study of Solar Floor Heating System in Different Climates in Morocco

Abstract

Currently, the development of energy production projects in the building sector using alternative energy sources such as solar energy are growing rapidly. This increasing technological progress to achieve the needs of comfort and safety can be considered a major priority, particularly with concerns about energy shortages and current environmental issues threatening not only human well-being but ecosystems as well. The present research aims to provide a comprehensive model for enhancing the energetic performance of rural Moroccan houses. The evaluation of the solar floor heating system is carried out by TRNSYS to evidence the effect of various design parameters on performance indexes of the system concerning six Moroccan cities, which representatively correspond to the Moroccan climatic zoning. The examined analyses cover the effect of the collector area, storage tank volume, mass flow rate in the solar loop and the building loop, thickness and piping material. The major finding of this work is optimizing the system performance gives the possibility to meet adequately the heating load. The energetic analysis shows the system's adaptability to the Moroccan climate, whose solar fraction is around 65% and 87%. For most of examined sites, it was observed that the demand for auxiliary energy is limited from October to May. The economic investigations revealed that payback periods of the examined system ranged between 7 and 13 years. Besides, the energy and economic outcomes of such systems in Morocco, they are capable to mitigate huge amount CO2 emissions as compared to conventional heating systems.

Thermal evaluation and optimization of a building heating system: radiant floor coupled with a solar system

“…The same result of the variation of SF in the climate of the city of Fez was found by Oubenmoh et al [4], the SF increases to a maximum value between 10 and 30 kg. h −1 .…”

“…The findings show that between April and October, there is no heating requirements, the system is turned off, and therefore the solar fraction equals to 0. This result was also highlighted by Oubenmoh et al [4] and Mehdaoui et al [25]. The solar fraction decreases for March because the irradiation decreases and the heating requirement decreases.…”

“…Most of the energy consumption for heating buildings in Morocco is based on electric, gas, or wood heater [4] and heat pump. As long as Morocco benefits from a significant solar potential with more than 3000 hours (h) of sunshine per year and a total irradiation of 5 kWh/m 2 /year [5],…”

“…Concerning the works carried out in Morocco, most floor heating system studied is mainly used in residential buildings. A numerical study of the energy and economic performance of RFHS in six Moroccan climatic zones was carried out by Oubenmoh et al [4] using TRNSYS software.…”

Thermal Performance Analysis of Functional Parameters of the Floor Heating System in Africa

“…Several studies examined the effect of design and operating conditions on the thermal performance of floor heating systems. In six Moroccan climatic zones, S.Oubenmoh et al [4] provide a comprehensive model of the solar radiant heating systems. The research proves that the system can adjust to Morocco's environment, which has a solar fraction ranging from 65% to 87%.…”