Economics
There is a wide range of pricing for underfloor systems based on regional differences, application and project complexity. It is widely adopted in the Nordic, Asian and European communities. Consequently the market is more mature and systems relatively more affordable than North America where market share for fluid based systems remains between 3% to 7% of HVAC systems (ref. Statistics Canada and United States Census Bureau).
In energy efficiency buildings such as Passive House, R-2000 or Net Zero Energy, simple thermostatic radiator valves can be installed along with a single compact circulator and small condensing heater controlled without or with basic hot water reset control. Economical electric resistant based systems also are useful in small zones such as bathrooms and kitchens, but also for entire buildings where heating loads are very low and preferably where photovoltaics, wind or hydro is the generating source of electricity. Larger structures will need more sophisticated systems to deal with cooling and heating needs, and often requiring building management control systems to regulate the energy use and control the overall indoor environment.
Low temperature radiant heating and high temperature radiant cooling systems lend themselves well to district energy systems (community based systems) due to the temperature differentials between the plant and the buildings which allow small diameter insulated distribution networks and low pumping power requirements. The low return temperatures in heating and high return temperatures in cooling enable the district energy plant to achieve maximum efficiency. The principles behind district energy with underfloor systems can also be applied to stand alone multi story buildings with the same benefits. Additionally, underfloor radiant systems are ideally suited to renewable energy sources including geothermal and solar thermal systems or any system where waste heat is recoverable.
In the global drive for sustainability, long term economics supports the need to eliminate where possible, compression for cooling and combustion for heating. It will then be necessary to use low quality heat sources for which radiant underfloor heating and cooling is well suited.
Read more about this topic: Underfloor Heating
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