Building space heating contributes to high consumption of energy using primarily non-renewable energy sources. Usage of renewable energy sources is constrained by high initial costs and long-term payback. This paper presents an empirical research study to evaluate the design of the control system and the performance of an integrated heating system utilizing renewable energy sources by means of a geothermal field, solar energy, and drain water heat recovery (DWHR) system. Two main challenges we attempt to address are: (1) the ground source heat pump (GSHP) system is designed to function only as a heating system causing heat loss from the geothermal field and (2) high heating load is required in cold-climate regions. The proposed integrated space heating system uses mainly geothermal energy, which is supported by solar and DWHR systems to recover the heat loss from the geothermal field. The framework is validated through a residential building under occupancy where, a monitoring system is installed to evaluate the coefficient of performance of the space heating system. Based on the findings, adjustments in the design of the heating system controls are proposed to enhance system efficiency. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.