This paper presents a systematic procedure for a thorough techno-economic-environmental investigation of an open or closed Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) system, which is to be used for residential heating and cooling purposes. The aim of this work is to outline in a clear manner the necessary steps of the procedure that must be followed in order to verify the technical feasibility, economic viability, and environmental friendliness of the GSHP system before its actual installation and exploitation is undertaken. After the presentation of the systematic procedure, an application to a real open loop GSHP system is thoroughly examined and its relevant technical, economic and environmental evaluation is conducted. Finally, the examined GSHP system is operationally compared to two equivalent conventional heating/cooling systems (where in the first case an oil burner is used for heating and in the second case a gas burner is used for the same purpose, while both use electric air-condition units for cooling purposes).
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