Heat Pump Pre-Screening Tool

Click here to download the HPAC.zip file and extract the HPAC.xlsm file.

By downloading this software, the user accepts the terms and conditions of the license agreement.

In many new commercial and institutional buildings, heat pump systems can provide significant energy performance advantages relative to conventional HVAC systems.

HPAC is a software tool that provides rapid assessment of heat pump systems for a specific set of building parameters with minimum input requirements. HPAC aims at supporting energy management consultants and building engineers in justifying a comprehensive Heat Pump project feasibility study.

Tool Features

• Compares pre-screened Heat Pump system options to base case HVAC systems for new commercial and institutional building constructions or major retrofits
• Provides best options on basis of GHG reduction, Net present value, simple payback
• Uses  DOE 2.1 building energy simulations results and built-in algorithms to adjust simulation results to user input
• Enables the evaluation of the following options:
  • Heat Pump: Air source, geothermal, water loop, heat recovery chiller, variable refrigerant flow
  • Building types: Hospital, school, long term care, small and large office, multi-residential units
  • Locations: Major cities across Canada

Acknowledgements

• Funding: Office of Energy Efficiency (OEE) and Office of Energy Research & Development (OERD)  
• Participation in software development: Caneta Research

HPAC was developed following consultations with experienced engineering consulting firms in the buildings sector in Canada. It is part of a broader CanmetENERGY initiative to increase awareness of available heat pumps technologies for commercial and institutional buildings in Canada and to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

HPAC is the property of Natural Resources Canada and is managed by CanmetENERGY-Varennes (QC) Research Centre.