Life cycle assessment of base–load heat sources for district heating system options

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 212-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saeed Ghafghazi ◽  
Taraneh Sowlati ◽  
Shahab Sokhansanj ◽  
Xiaotao Bi ◽  
Staffan Melin
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
District Heating ◽  
Heating System ◽  
Heat Sources ◽  
District Heating System ◽  
Base Load

scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessment of Low Temperature District Heating System in Gulbene Region

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-299
Author(s):  
Fabian Diaz ◽  
Ieva Pakere ◽  
Francesco Romagnoli
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Low Temperature ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
District Heating ◽  
Heating System ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
Hotspot Analysis ◽  
District Heating System

AbstractNew district heating system technologies have arisen in the last years to deliver economic and environmental benefits to residential and commercial buildings. The extensive ranges of equipment, energy sources, temperature profile configurations, size of the network, energy demand, and many other intrinsic variables, make it difficult to identify if a determined district heating option is potentially better than another in environmental terms. As for the economic evaluation, there are several tools decision-makers can rely on to assess environmental performance. The main challenge is to provide a holistic point of view for which lifespan and complexity of implementable, new technological systems can be an obstacle. For this reason, in this paper, a Life Cycle Assessment is performed upon a technical evaluation of several district heating configuration options for the Gulbene region in Latvia, where DH systems in most of the assessed parishes are already operating under medium temperature regimes, also known as third-generation district heating. The goal of the study is to understand the environmental impact of moving from the current DH system to a low temperature one. Results show a considerable environmental benefit if low-temperature profiles, combined with the use of renewable energy sources are adopted in the current DH systems. A hotspot analysis is also performed showing the use stage is the one carrying most of the burden across the project’s lifetime, followed by infrastructure construction; also showing that the refurbishment of buildings does not play a major role in the total environmental impact contribution.

scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessment of Irish District Heating Systems: A Comparison of Waste Heat Pump, Biomass-Based and Conventional Gas Boiler

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Conall Mahon ◽  
Maneesh Kumar Mediboyina ◽  
Donna Gartland ◽  
Fionnuala Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Natural Gas ◽  
Heat Pump ◽  
Waste Heat ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
District Heating ◽  
Heating System ◽  
District Heating System ◽  
Ghg Reduction

Abstract This paper presents a life cycle assessment (LCA) of heat supply scenarios for the replacement of fossil-based energy systems through a case study focusing on an existing gas-fired boiler supplying heat for buildings located in Tallaght, Ireland. The three replacement systems considered are a waste heat fed heat pump district heating system (WHP-DH), a biomass CHP plant district heating system (BCHP-DH), and an individual gas boiler system (GB). The study found that both DH systems have lower environmental impact than the GB, with the BCHP-DH being superior to WHP-DH. However, using 2030 electricity data showed almost similar overall impacts for both the DH systems. Human toxicity potential (HTP) was highest among all impact categories studied and was due to the large additional infrastructure requirement for all three systems. Whereas the other impacts; Global warming (GWP), Fossil fuel depletion (FFD) and Eutrophication (EP), were due to involving usage of natural gas and electricity in use phase. The BCHP-DH showed reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 45% and FFD by 73% compared to the GB system. Using 2030 electricity data, the WHP-DH decreased GHG emissions by 42% and FFD by 47%. Further, replacing biomethane with the natural gas in the DH systems decreased GWP by at least 11.4%. The present study concludes that the environmental benefit of a DH system is largely dependent on the carbon intensity of the electricity it uses, thus recommending the DH systems for large scale retrofitting schemes in Ireland to reach Europe’s 2030 GHG reduction targets.

scholarly journals Evaluating the Emissions of the Heat Supplied by District Heating Networks through A Life Cycle Perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 392-405
Author(s):  
Francesco Neirotti ◽  
Michel Noussan ◽  
Marco Simonetti
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Natural Gas ◽  
District Heating ◽  
Heating System ◽  
Plant Production ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment Methodology ◽  
District Heating System ◽  
Heating And Cooling ◽  
Life Cycle Perspective ◽  
Urban Contexts

The Life Cycle Assessment methodology has proven to be effective in evaluating the impacts of goods production throughout their life cycle. While many studies are available on specific products, in recent years a growing interest is related to the analysis of services, including energy supply for final customers. Different LCA evaluations are available for electricity, while the heating and cooling sector has not yet been properly investigated. The objective of this study is the analysis of the specific impacts of the heat supplied to the final users connected to a district heating system, in comparison with traditional individual natural gas boilers, which represent the baseline heating solution in several urban contexts in Europe. The results show that the comparison is heavily dependent on the allocation method used for combined heat and power plant production. District Heating impact on heat supplied to the users can vary from 0.10 to 0.47 kgCO2eq/kWh, while distributed natural gas boilers present an overall impact equal to 0.27 kgCO2eq/kWh.

The Optimization Analysis of Hydraulic Junction Location of Three-Sources Branched Heat-Supply Network

2014 ◽  
Vol 638-640 ◽  
pp. 2101-2105
Author(s):  
Lin Hua Zhang ◽  
Dong Yang ◽  
Ting Ting Chen ◽  
Shou Jun Zhou ◽  
Ling Liu
Keyword(s):  
Heat Supply ◽  
District Heating ◽  
Heating System ◽  
Optimization Method ◽  
Heat Sources ◽  
Supply Network ◽  
Optimization Analysis ◽  
District Heating System ◽  
Circulating Water ◽  
Water Pumps

In this paper, we shall first briefly introduce the hydraulic junction of three-sources branched heat-supply network and the related optimization method. It's difficult to guarantee that the system runs in optimal state and it increases energy consumption in the system. In view of this situation this paper proposes a method to find the optimal positions of hydraulic intersections based on analyzing a real heating system with three heat sources in Jining. The optimization objective is to minimize the electric power consumption of circulating water pumps in district heating system. Finally, optimization programs are designed and the optimized results verify the feasibility and validity of the method compared with conventional experience values.

Influence of Fill Point in Multiple-Heat-Sources Looped District Heating System with Distributed Variable-Speed Pumps

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 1206-1222
Author(s):  
Tong Xu ◽  
Jing Yan ◽  
Xinlei Wang ◽  
Hai Wang ◽  
Tong Zhu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
District Heating ◽  
Heating System ◽  
Heat Sources ◽  
Variable Speed ◽  
District Heating System

scholarly journals Life Cycle Cost of Building Energy Renovation Measures, Considering Future Energy Production Scenarios

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (14) ◽  
pp. 2719 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moa Swing Gustafsson ◽  
Jonn Are Myhren ◽  
Erik Dotzauer ◽  
Marcus Gustafsson
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Life Cycle Cost ◽  
Energy Production ◽  
District Heating ◽  
Heating System ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Reference Case ◽  
District Heating System ◽  
System Perspective ◽  
Future Production

A common way of calculating the life cycle cost (LCC) of building renovation measures is to approach it from the building side, where the energy system is considered by calculating the savings in the form of less bought energy. In this study a wider perspective is introduced. The LCC for three different energy renovation measures, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery and two different heat pump systems, are compared to a reference case, a building connected to the district heating system. The energy system supplying the building is assumed to be 100% renewable, where eight different future scenarios are considered. The LCC is calculated as the total cost for the renovation measures and the energy systems. All renovation measures result in a lower district heating demand, at the expense of an increased electricity demand. All renovation measures also result in an increased LCC, compared to the reference building. When aiming for a transformation towards a 100% renewable system in the future, this study shows the importance of having a system perspective, and also taking possible future production scenarios into consideration when evaluating building renovation measures that are carried out today, but will last for several years, in which the energy production system, hopefully, will change.

scholarly journals Technology Pathways and Economic Analysis for Transforming High Temperature to Low Temperature District Heating Systems

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (11) ◽  
pp. 3218
Author(s):  
Pedro Durán ◽  
Herena Torio ◽  
Patrik Schönfeldt ◽  
Peter Klement ◽  
Benedikt Hanke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sensitivity Analysis ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
High Temperature ◽  
Low Temperature ◽  
Economic Analysis ◽  
District Heating ◽  
Heating System ◽  
District Heating System ◽  
Heating Systems ◽  
District Heating Systems

There are 1454 district heating systems in Germany. Most of them are fossil based and with high temperature levels, which is neither efficient nor sustainable and needs to be changed for reaching the 2050 climate goals. In this paper, we present a case study for transforming a high to low temperature district heating system which is more suitable for renewable energy supply. With the Carnot Toolbox, a dynamic model of a potential district heating system is simulated and then transformed to a low temperature supply. A sensitivity analysis is carried out to see the system performance in case space constrains restrict the transformation. Finally, an economic comparison is performed. Results show that it is technically possible to perform the transformation until a very low temperature system. The use of decentralized renewable sources, decentralized heat storage tanks and the placement of a heat pump on each building are the key points to achieve the transformation. Regarding the sensitivity analysis, the transformation is worth doing until the seasonal storage and solar collector field sizes are reduced to 60% and 80% of their values in the reference case, respectively. The economic analysis shows, however, that it is hard for highly efficient low temperature renewable based heat networks to compete with district heating systems based on a centralized fossile CHP solution. Thus, though the presented transformation is technically possible, there is a strong need to change existing economic schemes and policies for fostering a stronger promotion of renewable energy policies in the heat sector.

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