The pursuit of climate neutrality requires global systemic actions involving the use of solutions aimed at reducing emissions. Changes must be introduced in all sectors affecting climate change, namely power engineering and district heating, construction, transport, and industry, as well as agriculture and forestry. Analyzing the structure of final energy consumption in the EU by sector, it can be stated that households account for 27% of the total energy consumption. Comprehensive actions are needed to increase the energy efficiency of buildings. The aim of this paper was to indicate aspects of improving energy efficiency in buildings and their equipment, taking into account the striving for climate neutrality. Analyzed possibilities and conditions of using various solutions of energy-efficient systems aimed at increasing energy resilience and security and preventing environmental degradation. Particular attention was paid to construction and material solutions, as well as installation solutions, which increased the accumulation and energy efficiency of the building. These activities are closely related to the conditions and dynamics of the heat exchange process in the applied solutions and are also related to the factors influencing thermal comfort and energy consumption in buildings. Due to the growing popularity of modern information technologies and artificial intelligence in energy management in recent years, this article reviews the latest research in this area. One of the directions of future research indicated by scientists is autonomous building control in real time, adapting to the momentary needs of users. The analysis of the possibilities of using modern energy efficiency solutions in buildings conducted in this work may be useful for optimizing heat and energy management models and models of society’s consumption as an element of energy transformation towards climate neutrality and counteracting the deepening of energy poverty.

A thermal model was used to compare an actual and a computational heat losses in an existing the semi-buried anaerobic digester (AD) during the winter season in Northeast Poland. This work is an attempt to answer the question whether the cause of the temperature decrease of the manure AD is underestimated the heat exchanger or its low efficiency. The answer to this question is important for manager to take appropriate action. Understanding the heat loss of biogas digester is important to use these technologies to produce the biogas on assumed level in cold environment - like winter in Northeast Poland. From anaerobic digester point of view, the maintaining of optimal fermentation temperature is crucial. In the current study 2-D axisymmetric steady heat transfer model was carried out to calculate heat loss of AD for a real biogas plant located in north-eastern Poland and compared with actual state.

This study presents the results of an original study on the influence of selected parameters on the thermal efficiency of a vertical ground heat exchanger (VGHE) in a ground-source heat pump (GSHP) system. The research objective was an analysis of the specific thermal efficiency of a vertical ground heat exchanger q, received by a U-shaped element made of plastic pipes placed in a borehole, depending on seven direct influencing factors: the ground temperature T_g; the soil thermal conductivity coefficient λ_g; the thermal conductivity coefficient of the well material λ_m; the temperature of the heating medium (glycol) T_w at the feed to the ground heat exchanger and its flow rate M; the internal diameter of the pipes of the ground heat exchanger d_w; and the distances between the external walls of the pipes of the ground heat exchanger L. The analysis was carried out for the climatic conditions of the Podlasie Voivodeship (Poland). Based on the results of the computational experiment obtained using the TRNSYS numerical environment, a deterministic mathematical model of this relationship was developed, and the effects of the influence of selected factors on the specific thermal efficiency q of the vertical ground heat exchanger, received by the U-shaped element, were analysed. Based on the model, the contribution of each parameter to the efficiency of the heat exchanger was determined. It turned out that changes in the values of the factors T_g (X₁), λ_g (X₂), λ_m (X₃), M (X₅), d_w (X₆) and L (X₇) from the lower to the upper level caused an increase in the specific efficiency q of the heat exchanger by 34.04, 7.90, 15.20, 55.42, 6.58 and 24.26%. Only factor T_w (X₄), with such a change, caused a decrease in the thermal efficiency of the tested heat exchanger by 44.22%. The parameters of the tested element of the geothermal heating system were also optimized according to the energy criterion using a numerical method in the Matlab environment. The information may be useful for scientists, designers, producers and consumers of heating systems based on heat pumps with a vertical ground heat exchanger as the lower heat source.

The paper presents the ground temperature analysis, heat flows and energy transferred from the soil massif by the vertical ground heat exchangers (VGHE). Three cases – with one, two and three vertical heat exchangers were compared. Their influences on the soil massif temperature in the heat exchangers area were shown. The mass flow and the temperature at the inlet and outlet side of the heat pump were measured in each circuit. Additional, the electricity consumption by the heat pump and energy supply to buffer vessel were measured. Finally, the Coefficient of Performance (COP) as a function of length of VGHE is shown for selected interval time.

The paper presents the results of observations of a brine-to-water a solar-assisted ground-source heat pump (SAGSHP) system located in building “INNO–EKO–TECH Innovative Research and Didactic Center for Alternative Energy Sources, Energy Efficient Construction and Environmental Protection” in the Bialystok University of Technology, north-east Poland. As the heat source of the system are three vertical ground heat exchanger (VGHE), length 70, 85 and 100 m. Independently, there are three control probes to monitor the temperature in the vicinity of VGHEs. The experimental results indicate that soil temperature raises from 0.2°C for 5 m distance, up to 0.5°C for 5 m distance.

The performance of a solar-assisted ground-source heat pump (SAGSHP)system is discussed. The results of observations of ground-temperature profiles in a compressor heat pump installation for the central heating of selected rooms of a school building have been presented.