Study of Different Types of Water Heating Systems - Under Living Lab Conditions

Abstract In Singapore, roughly 20% of the energy consumed by households is used for water heating and almost all the energy consumed by conventional electric water heaters. One of the significant potential energy saving opportunities lies in using energy-efficient water heating appliances. Recently, there has been a move towards energy-saving design and the use of natural refrigerants over fluorocarbons. Unlike conventional electric storage water heaters, which use electricity to heat water directly, heat pump storage water heaters use electricity only to operate a pump that circulates refrigerants around the system. This refrigerant collects heat from the surrounding atmosphere and transfers it to the water. CO2 heat pumps have low global warming potential when compared to other refrigerants based heat pumps, has zero ozone depletion potential, inexpensive, non-flammable, generate high temperature. In this project, a comparative analysis of three different water heater types has been presented based on real-time usage and living-lab conditions under the tropical climate of Singapore. These three types are: 1. Electrical heater storage type 2. Hybrid heat pump with auxiliary electrical heating water heater 3. CO2 heat pump water heater without auxiliary heating Study found significant energy saving using CO2 heat pump compared to other water heating system and also better for environment.