Energy and carbon performance of a gas engine‐driven heat pump for university campus heating

University campuses represent large‐scale building environments with substantial heating energy demand and associated carbon emissions, commonly met by natural gas‐fired hot water boilers. This study evaluates the energy and environmental performance of an air‐source gas engine‐driven heat pump (GEHP) as an alternative to a conventional natural gas‐fired hot water boiler (NGHB) for campus‐scale heating. A thermodynamic model was developed for an R410A‐based heat pump driven by a natural gas engine, with waste heat recovery from the engine jacket cooling water and exhaust gases. The effects of evaporation temperature (−30 to 10°C), outdoor temperature (−15 to 10°C), and condenser temperature (40 and 50°C) were investigated in terms of primary energy ratio (PER), ambient heat utilization, natural gas consumption, and CO 2 emissions. The GEHP achieved PER values of approximately 1.7–3.6 over the investigated evaporation temperature range, substantially exceeding the NGHB reference value of 0.90. As the outdoor temperature increased, the PER increased from 1.85 to 2.80 at a condenser temperature of 40°C and from 1.65 to 2.30 at 50°C. Compared with the NGHB, the GEHP reduced natural gas consumption by approximately 51%–68% at 40°C and 45%–61% at 50°C, while the corresponding CO 2 emission reductions reached approximately 64% and 53%, respectively. These findings demonstrate that combining ambient heat utilization with engine waste heat recovery can substantially improve primary energy utilization and reduce the carbon footprint of campus‐scale heating, particularly in low‐temperature heating applications.