[en] Highlights: • Evaluate the geothermal energy in Tunisia. • Study of the performance of GSHP system for cooling space. • GSHP is a promising alternative for building cooling in Tunisia. - Abstract: The main purpose of this paper is to study the energetic potential of the deployment in Tunisia of the Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) system for cooling mode application. Therefore, a pilot GSHP system using horizontal Ground Heat Exchanger (GHE) was installed and experimented in the Research and Technology Center of Energy (CRTEn), Borj Cédria. The experiment is conducted in a test room with a floor area of about 12 m². In the floor of the tested room is integrated a polyethylene exchanger (PEX) used as a radiant floor cooling (RFC) system. The experimental setup mainly includes the ground temperature, the temperature and flow rate of water circulating in the heat pump and the GHE, as well as the power consumption of the heat pump and circulating pumps. These experimental data are essentially used to evaluate the coefficient of performance of the heat pump (COP_hp) and the overall system (COP_sys) for continuous operation mode. The COP_hp and the COP_sys were found to be 4.25 and 2.88, respectively. These results reveal that the use of the ground source heat pump is very appropriate for Tunisian building cooling

[en] Highlights: • The study of a Solar Heating Prototype to prevail the buildings air-heating needs. • A parametric study of the system was achieved by means of the TRNSYS program. • The monthly internal temperature during cold months ranges between 22 and 25 °C. • The results shows that the relative humidity inside the monozone room of about 40%. - Abstract: This paper deals with the energetic performances of a Solar Heating Prototype (SHP) conceived in our laboratory to prevail the Tunisian households’ air-heating needs. The conceived SHP mainly consists of a flat-plate solar collector, solar hot water tank and an active layer integrated inside a single room. Firstly, a complete model is formulated taking into account various modes of heat transfer in the SHP by means of the TRNSYS simulation program. To validate the TRNSYS model, experimental tests under local weather conditions were performed for 2 days spread over 2 months (March and April 2013). Predicted results were compared to the measurements in order to determine the accuracy of the simulation program. A parametric study was then achieved by means of the TRNSYS program in order to optimize SHP design parameters (Collector area, collector mass flow rate, floor mass flow rate, storage tank volume and thickness of the active layer). The optimization of all design parameters shows that to achieve a maximum performances from the SHP it is essential to use a solar collector with an area equal to 6 m² area, a collector mass flow rate equal to 100 kg h⁻¹ and a hot water storage tank with a capacity equal to 450 l. Concerning the floor heating, the optimal values of mass flow rate and the active layer thickness are 200 kg h⁻¹ and 0.06 m, respectively. The long-term SHP performances were afterward evaluated by means of the Typical Meteorological Year (TMY) data relative to Tunis, Tunisia. Results showed that for an annual total solar insolation of about 6493.37 MJ m⁻² the average solar fraction obtained is about 84%. The results show also that the request of auxiliary energy is limited to the cold months of the year chiefly from December to March. The results show also that the SHP reduce the relative humidity inside the monozone room of about 40%

[en] The endeavor of this paper is to study the potential offered by the expenditure of a PV/T (photovoltaic thermal) solar system in Tunisian households. This investigation is performed according to two-folded approaches. Firstly, outdoor experiments were carried out during July 2014 for both passive and active mode. An exhaustive energy and exergy analysis was then performed to evaluate the instantaneous thermal and the electrical exergy outputs of the PV/T solar system. The results showed that the maximum instantaneous thermal and electric energy efficiency in active mode are about 50 and 15%, respectively. It was found also that the maximum thermal and electric exergy efficiencies were about 50 and 14.8%, respectively. The second approach is the evaluation of the monthly/annual performances of the PV/T solar system under typical climate area of Tunisia by using TRNSYS program. The results showed that the active mode enhances the electric efficiency and the exergy of the PV/T system by 3 and 2.5% points, respectively. The results showed that the optimized PV/T solar system covert the major part of the hot water and the electric needs of Tunisian household's with an expected annual average gain of about 14.60 and 5.33%, respectively. An economic appraisal was performed. - Highlights: • The present work studies the potential of using PV/T solar collector in Tunisian. • The maximum thermal and electric efficiencies are 50 and 15%, respectively. • The maximum thermal and electric exergy efficiencies were 50 and 14.8%. • The results showed that the expected annual gain are 14.60 and 5.33%. • The PV/T is compared to a high quality commercial solar collectors and a PV panel.

[en] Highlights: • The present work studies the potential of using Domestic Solar Water Heating systems. • The payback period is between 8 and 7.5 years. • The annual savings in electrical energy is between 1316 and 1459 kW h/year. • The savings by using the solar systems is about 3969–4400.34 $. • The annual GHG emission per house is reduced by 27,800 tCO₂. - Abstract: The main goal of the present work is to study the energetic and the economic potential of the deployment of Domestic Solar Water Heating systems (DSWHs) instead of using electric/gas/town gas water heaters. A case study related to Tunisian scenario was performed according to a typical Tunisian households composed of 4–5 persons. In this scenario we evaluated the performance and the life cycle perspective of the two most popular DSWHs over the recent years (i.e. DSWH with flat-plate solar collector, FPC, and DSWHs with evacuated-tube solar collector, ETC). The dynamic behavior of DSWHs according to Tunisian data weather was achieved by means of TRNSYS simulation. The Results showed that the FPC and ETC provide about 8118 and 12032 kW h/year of thermal energy. The economic potential of DSWHs in saving electricity and reducing carbon dioxide emissions was also investigated. Results showed that the annual savings in electrical energy relatively to the FPC and ETC are about 1316 and 1459 kW h/year, with a payback period of around 8 and 10 years, respectively. Based on gas/town gas water heater, the FPC and ETC save about 306 m³ and 410 m³ of gas/town gas with a payback period about 6 and 7.5 years, respectively. We found that the life cycle savings by installing the solar system instead of buying electricity to satisfy hot water needs are about $3969 (FPC) and $4400 (ETC). We establish also that the use of the DSWHs instead of installing gas/town gas water heaters save about $1518 (FPC) and $2035 (ETC). From an environmental point of view the annual GHG emission per house is reduced by 27800 tCO₂

[en] A thermal model has been developed to investigate the potential of using the stored thermal energy of the ground for greenhouse heating and cooling with the help of a ground heat storage system (GHSS) integrated with the greenhouse located in the premises of CRTEn, Tunis, Tunisia. Experiments were conducted extensively throughout the years 2006-2007, and the developed model was validated against several consecutive arbitrary days experiments. The predicted and measured values of the greenhouse air temperatures and humidities that were verified, in terms of root mean square deviation and correlation coefficient, exhibited fair agreement. The results of this study showed that the GHS system kept the inside air temperature 1-3 degree higher than that of outside air at nighttime. The main reason for this low efficiency is due to the weak heat transfer area of the water-air heat exchanger. The simulation results indicate that the GHSS does not yield any significant effect for cooling greenhouses during sunny daytime. The GHSS fulfils its full potential for a heat transfer area of 150 m². With this area, there occurs 4-6 degree rise of temperature in greenhouse as compared to the temperatures without GHSS and respectively 5-7.5 degree rise in greenhouse as compared to outside air

[en] This paper deals with an experimental study of an inexpensive integrated solar storage collector (ISSC) of total aperture area of 2 m², used for the providing of domestic hot water. The ISSC is characterised by an absorber matrix made up of a thin cement concrete slab which performs the function of both absorbing and storing of the solar thermal energy. Inside the concrete absorber was embedded a cooper pipe network. Outdoor experiments were carried out under varied environmental conditions for several days during three consecutive months (from November 2007 to February 2008). The experiments were carried out by measuring the climatic variables, temperatures in different parts of the collectors, and mass flow rates of water, during the test days. Based on these measurements, the behavior of the systems was analyzed by comparing exit temperatures, heat losses, and delivered useful energy. A detailed energy and exergy analysis was carried out for evaluating the thermal and optical performance, exergy losses as well as exergetic efficiency for ISSC under given operating conditions. Results shows that the integrated solar storage collector, having energetic and exergetic efficiencies of 32% and 23.5% respectively, provides acceptable stored thermal heat rate by supplying approximately 80% in domestic hot water requirements for a family composed of 5-6 persons. An economic evaluation was made considering the investment time recovery through the system. The results obtained from the ISSC system were compared with the results obtained from a high quality thermosyphon solar system composed of a flat-plate collector (with a total aperture area of 2 m²) and its corresponding insulated storage tank (200 l), tested at the same time.

[en] Highlights: • The present work studies the potential of using innovative SCS in Tunisia. • In cold months the SCS provide about 50–75% of the total exergy provides. • The SCS produces between 70–150% of electric energy needs. • The SCS payback period (Pb) based on electric water heater was 10.2 years. • The SCS payback period (Pb) based on gas/gas town was about and 8.7 years. - Abstract: The endeavor of this paper is to study of the potential offered by the expenditure of an innovative Solar CombiSystem, SCS, used for the space heating load, the domestic hot water supply and the electric energy production. The investigation achieved in this work was based on an experimental and a simulation studies. A TRNSYS simulation program was achieved in order to evaluate the SCS monthly/annual thermal and electric performances. It was found that the proposed SCS covered between 20 and 45% of the SH energy needs by considering only solar energy. The result shows also that the SCS provided from 40 to 70% of the total DHW needs. It was also found that the SCS electric production ranged between 32 and 225 MJ/m"2 with a gain factor varying between 49 and 125%. An economic appraisal was also achieved to appraise the SCS feasibility. The results of the economic analysis show that the annual energy saved (ARE) and the payback period (Pb) based on electric water heater were respectively equal to 7618.3 kW h/year and 10.2 years. It was found that ARE and Pb based on gas/gas town were about 5825 m"3 and 8.7 years, respectively. The results of the economic analysis shows that the adoption of the SCS saves about 48% of electric energy and about 46% of gas/gas town kept back by the conventional system.