Parametric study and cost analysis of a solar-heating-and-cooling system for detached single-family households in hot climates Alexandros Arsalis ⇑ , Andreas N. Alexandrou FOSS Research Centre for Sustainable Energy, Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus Received 28 December 2014; received in revised form 29 March 2015; accepted 21 April 2015 Communicated by: Associate Editor Yanjun Dai Abstract A solar-heating-and-cooling (SHC) system, consisting of a flat-plate solar collector array, a hot water storage tank, and an absorption chiller unit is designed and modeled to satisfy thermal loads (space heating, domestic hot water, and space cooling). The system is applied for Nicosia, Cyprus, a location with prolonged summer-like conditions, where heating demand is moderate, while space cooling demand is comparatively very high. The study investigates the potential of a solar system installed and operated onsite in a detached single-family household to satisfy all necessary thermal loads. The hot water storage tank is also connected to an auxiliary heater (diesel-fired boiler) to supplement solar heating, when needed. The main purpose of the study is to model the overall system and contact a parametric study that will determine the optimum economic system performance in terms of design parameters. The system is compared, through a cost anal- ysis, to an electric heat pump (EHP) system. It is found that the optimum system combination of solar collector area and volumetric capacity of the hot water storage tank is 70 m 2 and 2000 L, respectively. The total annualized cost (in USD) for the optimum SHC system is $3,719. The sensitivity analysis showed that the SHC system would be unfavorable to compete with EHP technology, if the solar col- lector cost is above $360/m 2 . Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Absorption chiller; Solar collector; Solar heating and cooling; Solar air-conditioning; Parametric study; Cost analysis 1. Introduction In locations with hot climates, most buildings require space cooling, space heating, and domestic hot water. These three thermal demands can be satisfied with different types of equipment and system configurations. Numerous methods and options exist, which can be broadly catego- rized based on: type of fuel, thermal or refrigeration cycle, renewable- or non-renewable-based energy source. Fossil fuel-dependent systems typically include some, or a combination, of the following equipment: (a) oil/gas-fired boiler used to produce heat, (b) electric vapor-compression heat pumps running on electricity grid-imported from a centralized power plant fueled with fossil fuels, (c) waste heat-operated equipment, where waste heat was generated as a by-product of a fossil fuel– fueled power plant. Refrigeration cycles are used to gener- ate useful heating and/or cooling, and can be operated by electricity (e.g. vapor-compression heat pump), or driven by heat (e.g. absorption chiller). The thermal loads can also be satisfied fully, or partly, by equipment running on renewable energy sources, like photovoltaic (PV) technol- ogy, which generates electricity to run, for example, an http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2015.04.024 0038-092X/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +357 22 892280. E-mail address: arsalis.alexandros@ucy.ac.cy (A. Arsalis). www.elsevier.com/locate/solener Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect Solar Energy 117 (2015) 59–73