IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i24p7051-d296071.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Environmental Comparison of Energy Solutions for Heating and Cooling

Author

Listed:
  • Ida Franzén

    (Division of Energy Systems, Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden)

  • Linnéa Nedar

    (Division of Energy Systems, Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden)

  • Maria Andersson

    (Division of Energy Systems, Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden)

Abstract

Humanity faces several environmental challenges today. The planet has limited resources, and it is necessary to use these resources effectively. This paper examines the environmental impact of three energy solutions for the heating and cooling of buildings. The solutions are conventional district heating and cooling, a smart energy solution for heating and cooling (ectogrid™), and geothermal energy. The ectogrid™ balances energy flows with higher and lower temperatures to reduce the need for supplied energy. The three solutions have been studied for Medicon Village, which is a district in the city of Lund in Sweden. The study shows that the energy use for the conventional system is 12,250 MWh for one year, and emissions are 590 tons of CO 2 equivalents. With ectogrid™, the energy use is reduced by 61%, and the emissions are reduced by 12%, compared to the conventional system. With geothermal energy, the energy use is reduced by 70%, and the emissions by 20%. An analysis is also made in a European context, with heating based on natural gas and cooling based on air conditioners. The study shows that the environmental impact would decrease considerably by replacing the carbon dioxide intensive solution with ectogrid™ or geothermal energy.

Suggested Citation

  • Ida Franzén & Linnéa Nedar & Maria Andersson, 2019. "Environmental Comparison of Energy Solutions for Heating and Cooling," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-17, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:24:p:7051-:d:296071
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/24/7051/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/24/7051/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mustafa Omer, Abdeen, 2008. "Ground-source heat pumps systems and applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 344-371, February.
    2. Marco Pellegrini & Augusto Bianchini, 2018. "The Innovative Concept of Cold District Heating Networks: A Literature Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-16, January.
    3. Francisco Javier Fernández & María Belén Folgueras & Inés Suárez, 2017. "Study and Optimization of Design Parameters in Water Loop Heat Pump Systems for Office Buildings in the Iberian Peninsula," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-12, November.
    4. Lund, Henrik & Werner, Sven & Wiltshire, Robin & Svendsen, Svend & Thorsen, Jan Eric & Hvelplund, Frede & Mathiesen, Brian Vad, 2014. "4th Generation District Heating (4GDH)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 1-11.
    5. Filippo Busato & Renato M. Lazzarin & Marco Noro, 2012. "Energy and economic analysis of different heat pump systems for space heating," International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies, Oxford University Press, vol. 7(2), pages 104-112, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Adriana Greco & Edison Gundabattini & Darius Gnanaraj Solomon & Raja Singh Rassiah & Claudia Masselli, 2022. "A Review on Geothermal Renewable Energy Systems for Eco-Friendly Air-Conditioning," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-17, July.
    2. Violante, Anna Carmela & Donato, Filippo & Guidi, Giambattista & Proposito, Marco, 2022. "Comparative life cycle assessment of the ground source heat pump vs air source heat pump," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 1029-1037.
    3. Wirtz, Marco, 2023. "nPro: A web-based planning tool for designing district energy systems and thermal networks," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    4. Werner, Sven, 2022. "Network configurations for implemented low-temperature district heating," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(PB).
    5. Maccarini, Alessandro & Sotnikov, Artem & Sommer, Tobias & Wetter, Michael & Sulzer, Matthias & Afshari, Alireza, 2023. "Influence of building heat distribution temperatures on the energy performance and sizing of 5th generation district heating and cooling networks," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    6. Sommer, Tobias & Sulzer, Matthias & Wetter, Michael & Sotnikov, Artem & Mennel, Stefan & Stettler, Christoph, 2020. "The reservoir network: A new network topology for district heating and cooling," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    7. Diana D’Agostino & Francesco Esposito & Adriana Greco & Claudia Masselli & Francesco Minichiello, 2020. "Parametric Analysis on an Earth-to-Air Heat Exchanger Employed in an Air Conditioning System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-24, June.
    8. Wirtz, Marco & Neumaier, Lisa & Remmen, Peter & Müller, Dirk, 2021. "Temperature control in 5th generation district heating and cooling networks: An MILP-based operation optimization," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    9. Aresti, Lazaros & Christodoulides, Paul & Florides, Georgios A., 2021. "An investigation on the environmental impact of various Ground Heat Exchangers configurations," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 592-605.
    10. Vivek Aggarwal & Chandan Swaroop Meena & Ashok Kumar & Tabish Alam & Anuj Kumar & Arijit Ghosh & Aritra Ghosh, 2020. "Potential and Future Prospects of Geothermal Energy in Space Conditioning of Buildings: India and Worldwide Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-19, October.
    11. Angelidis, O. & Ioannou, A. & Friedrich, D. & Thomson, A. & Falcone, G., 2023. "District heating and cooling networks with decentralised energy substations: Opportunities and barriers for holistic energy system decarbonisation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ioan Sarbu & Matei Mirza & Daniel Muntean, 2022. "Integration of Renewable Energy Sources into Low-Temperature District Heating Systems: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-28, September.
    2. Meesenburg, Wiebke & Ommen, Torben & Thorsen, Jan Eric & Elmegaard, Brian, 2020. "Economic feasibility of ultra-low temperature district heating systems in newly built areas supplied by renewable energy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    3. Wirtz, Marco & Kivilip, Lukas & Remmen, Peter & Müller, Dirk, 2020. "5th Generation District Heating: A novel design approach based on mathematical optimization," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    4. Jordi García-Céspedes & Ignasi Herms & Georgina Arnó & José Juan de Felipe, 2022. "Fifth-Generation District Heating and Cooling Networks Based on Shallow Geothermal Energy: A review and Possible Solutions for Mediterranean Europe," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-31, December.
    5. Alessandro Guzzini & Marco Pellegrini & Edoardo Pelliconi & Cesare Saccani, 2020. "Low Temperature District Heating: An Expert Opinion Survey," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-34, February.
    6. Michael-Allan Millar & Neil M. Burnside & Zhibin Yu, 2019. "District Heating Challenges for the UK," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-21, January.
    7. Werner, Sven, 2022. "Network configurations for implemented low-temperature district heating," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(PB).
    8. Abugabbara, Marwan & Javed, Saqib & Johansson, Dennis, 2022. "A simulation model for the design and analysis of district systems with simultaneous heating and cooling demands," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PA).
    9. Angelidis, O. & Ioannou, A. & Friedrich, D. & Thomson, A. & Falcone, G., 2023. "District heating and cooling networks with decentralised energy substations: Opportunities and barriers for holistic energy system decarbonisation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    10. Gjoka, Kristian & Rismanchi, Behzad & Crawford, Robert H., 2023. "Fifth-generation district heating and cooling systems: A review of recent advancements and implementation barriers," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    11. Abolfazl Rezaei & Bahador Samadzadegan & Hadise Rasoulian & Saeed Ranjbar & Soroush Samareh Abolhassani & Azin Sanei & Ursula Eicker, 2021. "A New Modeling Approach for Low-Carbon District Energy System Planning," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-22, March.
    12. Buffa, Simone & Cozzini, Marco & D’Antoni, Matteo & Baratieri, Marco & Fedrizzi, Roberto, 2019. "5th generation district heating and cooling systems: A review of existing cases in Europe," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 504-522.
    13. Giampieri, A. & Roy, S. & Shivaprasad, K.V. & Smallbone, A.J. & Roskilly, A.P., 2022. "An integrated smart thermo-chemical energy network," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    14. Till Kugler & Corinna Schittenhelm & Stephan Volkmer & Meinhard Ryba & Christian Moormann & Detlef Kurth & Roland Koenigsdorff, 2022. "Sustainable Heating and Cooling Management of Urban Quarters," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-21, April.
    15. Narula, Kapil & Chambers, Jonathan & Streicher, Kai N. & Patel, Martin K., 2019. "Strategies for decarbonising the Swiss heating system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 1119-1131.
    16. Edtmayer, Hermann & Nageler, Peter & Heimrath, Richard & Mach, Thomas & Hochenauer, Christoph, 2021. "Investigation on sector coupling potentials of a 5th generation district heating and cooling network," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    17. Vivian, Jacopo & Emmi, Giuseppe & Zarrella, Angelo & Jobard, Xavier & Pietruschka, Dirk & De Carli, Michele, 2018. "Evaluating the cost of heat for end users in ultra low temperature district heating networks with booster heat pumps," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 788-800.
    18. De Jaeger, Ina & Reynders, Glenn & Ma, Yixiao & Saelens, Dirk, 2018. "Impact of building geometry description within district energy simulations," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 1060-1069.
    19. Li, Haoran & Hou, Juan & Hong, Tianzhen & Nord, Natasa, 2022. "Distinguish between the economic optimal and lowest distribution temperatures for heat-prosumer-based district heating systems with short-term thermal energy storage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    20. Dominković, D.F. & Bačeković, I. & Sveinbjörnsson, D. & Pedersen, A.S. & Krajačić, G., 2017. "On the way towards smart energy supply in cities: The impact of interconnecting geographically distributed district heating grids on the energy system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 941-960.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:24:p:7051-:d:296071. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.