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18 / Jan / 2008
1. Concrete Core Cooling and Heating

AUTHOR: Tim Weber, Dietrich Schmidt Gudni Jóhannesson

| Weber_paper_Concrete_Core_Conditioning.pdf

The thermal performance of building envelopes in the northern European countries has steadily improved over the last decades. Especially the level of insulation and the quality of window glazing have been improved. In the same time the development of HVAC systems headed in the same direction. The total heat loss has been dramatically diminished.

Due to the resulting heat loss reduction the supply temperatures for heating can be reduced in the same manner. This makes it possible to effectively use alternative environmentally feasible energy sources, such as ground storage (low exergy sources). The necessary heat exchange area to warm or cool a room has to be increased for such applications. Cost effective commercial solutions such as radiant floor and ceiling heating exist. For future buildings a minimum of energy at a still lower level of temperature difference between the system and the room should be used for thermal conditioning. In this way a maximum of exergy will be saved. A possible system for low exergy heating and cooling is the Concrete Core Conditioning (CCC), which is presented in this paper.