Economic comparison between adsorption and compression heat pumps

Adsorption and electric heat pumps have been compared for domestic heating and cooling for three Italian cities: Messina, Rome and Milan. The daily energy needs based on the characteristics of a flat and on the meteorological data of the cities have been calculated. From heating and cooling efficiencies of the electric and adsorption heat pumps the electric and gas energy consumption have been evaluated and compared. Finally, the annual cost of the electric heat pump has been estimated and from this, the maximum available cost of the adsorption machine is presented for each city. The final results show that adsorption heat pumps represent an energy saving machine with a good economic competitivity with respect to the traditional system. © 1990.