[Equest-users] Why Water Source Heat Pump is not considered as Renewable Energy in LEED rating system?

[Aaron Smith]

Mo,

I've always  assumed it was because they require the use of a compressor so with a COP of 3-4 they're  only 65-75% renewable.  Deep earth geothermal (that doesn't use a heat pump) ‎is considered renewable.  

Looking at the reference guide, they state that ground-source heat pumps use vapor compression systems for heat transfer and they do not obtain significant quantities of deep earth heat.  

Aaron Smith, P.Eng
M&R Engineering Ltd.

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone on the TELUS network.
  Original Message  
From: YangMo
Sent: Monday, December 29, 2014 23:14
To: equest-users at lists.onebuilding.org
Subject: [Equest-users] Why Water Source Heat Pump is not considered as Renewable Energy in LEED rating system?

Hi all,

This question is not about eQUEST, but since in this group a lot of people are working for LEED consultant projects, I think it is a good place to ask this question. I have been working in U.S. for a lot of years and just came back to China recently. In China ground source heat pump and water source heat pump systems are very very popular, and they are considered as renewable energy, since they use free heat from the soil and water. But in LEED rating system, heat pump is not considered as renewable energy. Why? Is it because those system has side effect to the environment? 

Thanks!
Mo Yang