A ground-coupled heat pump system using heat recovery technology was developed for a cooling-dominated building. According to experimental results, an increment in soil temperature of about 0.5 degrees C was observed after one year of operation. The long-term performance analysis shows that the increase in soil temperature is one third of that without heat recovery. The higher the set value of indoor temperature, the lower is the increase in soil temperature after long-term operation. The distance between the boreholes is suggested to be 4-5 m in urban areas with limited space for the installation of ground heat exchangers. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.