Final Report: Heat Pump Rooftop Unit Demonstration (CalNext)

The focus of this project was on packaged rooftop units (RTUs) which are estimated to provide space conditioning for 75% of commercial building space in California (SCE, 2015) with most relying on natural gas for space heating. 

This project characterized installed heat pump RTU system performance and savings relative to a conventional baseline system for both standard and high efficiency RTUs. Installed performance data was used to recommend strategies for RTU operation that meet conditioning loads and are economically and environmentally optimized. 

The experience of installing retrofit RTUs was used to develop an understanding of the real-world barriers and benefits of this technology in this application. The combination of the installation experience and system monitoring results was used to provide recommendations and inform program strategy.

Heat Pump Rooftop Unit Demonstration (CalNext)