EINSTEIN: Effective Integration of Seasonal Thermal Energy Storage Systems in Existing Buildings

The overall objective of the project is the development, evaluation and demonstration of a low energy heating system based on Seasonal Thermal Energy Storage (STES) systems in combination with Heat Pumps for space heating and domestic hot water (DHW) requirements for existing buildings to drastically reduce energy consumption in buildings.
The integration between STES system and heat pumps is one of the main breakthroughs of the EINSTEIN project. STES systems are known in northern Europe and heat pump technology is known and used all over the world, but the integration between these two systems is not optimized. An appropriate heat pump does not exist, neither an evaluation tool for this integration design. Within the EINSTEIN project, both barriers will be overcome.
Main objectives of the EINSTEIN project:
To make STES systems cost-effective and to adapt this technology to be applied in existing buildings.
To develop a novel, high efficiency, cost-effective and compact heat pump optimized for STES systems.
To develop a Decision Support Tool (DST) for selection, design and evaluation of STES integrated system suitable for existing buildings. It will be a user-friendly analysis tool that will allow engineers to select the most suitable technologies to install according to particular specifications of the retrofitting project, to design the heating system based on the STES concept and to evaluate the expected impact of the innovative solar heating plant.
Two pilot plants will be realized and monitored:
In Spain, at building level.
In Poland, at district level.
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