Energy and economic comparisons of domestic heat pumps and conventional heating systems in the British climate

District heating is seen as an important concept to decarbonize heating systems and meet climate mitigation goals. However, the decision related to where central heating is most viable is dependent on many different aspects, like heating densities or current heating structures. An urban energy simulation platform based on 3D building objects can improve the accuracy of energy demand calculation on building level, but lacks a system perspective. Energy system models help to find economically optimal solutions for entire energy systems, including the optimal amount of centrally supplied heat, but do not usually provide information on building level. Coupling both methods through a novel heating grid disaggregation algorithm, we propose a framework that does three things simultaneously: optimize energy systems that can comprise all demand sectors as well as sector coupling, assess the role of centralized heating in such optimized energy systems, and determine the layouts of supplying district heating grids with a spatial resolution on the street level. The algorithm is tested on two case studies; one, an urban city quarter, and the other, a rural town. In the urban city quarter, district heating is economically feasible in all scenarios. Using heat pumps in addition to CHPs increases the optimal amount of centrally supplied heat. In the rural quarter, central heat pumps guarantee the feasibility of district heating, while standalone CHPs are more expensive than decentral heating technologies.

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Factors Shaping A/W Heat Pumps CO₂ Emissions—Evidence from Poland

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14061576 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (6) ◽

pp. 1576

Author(s):

Piotr Jadwiszczak ◽

Jakub Jurasz ◽

Bartosz Kaźmierczak ◽

Elżbieta Niemierka ◽

Wandong Zheng

Keyword(s):

Air Quality ◽

Power System ◽

Heat Pump ◽

Heat Pumps ◽

Hot Water ◽

Coefficient Of Performance ◽

Conventional Heating ◽

Additional Stress ◽

The European Union ◽

Energy Mix

Heating and cooling sectors contribute to approximately 50% of energy consumption in the European Union. Considering the fact that heating is mostly based on fossil fuels, it is then evident that its decarbonization is one of the crucial tasks for achieving climate change prevention goals. At the same time, electricity sectors across the globe are undergoing a rapid transformation in order to accommodate the growing capacities of non-dispatchable solar and wind generators. One of the proposed solutions to achieve heating sector decarbonization and non-dispatchable generators power system integration is sector coupling, where heat pumps are perceived as a perfect fit. Air source heat pumps enable a rapid improvement in local air quality by replacing conventional heating sources, but at the same time, they put additional stress on the power system. The emissions associated with heat pump operation are a combination of power system energy mix, weather conditions and heat pump technology. Taking the above into consideration, this paper presents an approach to estimate which of the mentioned factors has the highest impact on heat pump emissions. Due to low air quality during the heating season, undergoing a power system transformation (with a relatively low share of renewables) in a case study located in Poland is considered. The results of the conducted analysis revealed that for a scenario where an air-to-water (A/W) heat pump is supposed to cover space and domestic hot water load, its CO2 emissions are shaped by country-specific energy mix (55.2%), heat pump technology (coefficient of performance) (33.9%) and, to a lesser extent, by changing climate (10.9%). The outcome of this paper can be used by policy makers in designing decarbonization strategies and funding distribution.

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How to Improve Effectiveness of Renewable Space Heating Programs by Better Understanding Homeowner—Installer Interactions

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14154625 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (15) ◽

pp. 4625

Author(s):

Alisa Freyre ◽

Stefano Cozza ◽

Matthias Rüetschi ◽

Meinrad Bürer ◽

Marlyne Sahakian ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Literature Review ◽

Financial Incentives ◽

Heating System ◽

Heat Pumps ◽

Single Family ◽

Heating Systems ◽

Current State ◽

Ex Post ◽

Improved Technology

In this paper, we perform a literature review on the current state of knowledge about homeowners in the context of the adoption of renewable heating systems. Despite a considerable number of studies about homeowners, homeowner–installer interactions, and ways to improve the effectiveness of renewable heating programs, based on homeowner knowledge, have not yet been studied in much detail. To address these knowledge gaps, we conduct a qualitative study on single-family house owners who installed heat pumps and took part in a renewable heating program in Geneva, Switzerland. We cover homeowner practices in choosing installers and heating system types, homeowners’ feedback about heat pump installation and use, as well as their experience in participation in the renewable heating program. Based on the literature review and the findings from the interviews, we provide the following recommendations on how to increase the effectiveness of renewable heating programs: (a) support for homeowners should not be limited to financial incentives; (b) partnership programs with installers could help to increase the quality of installation services and enable homeowners to choose qualified installers; and (c) assisting homeowners in pre-qualification and ex-post analysis, in learning how to operate their renewable heating systems and in solving problems during the post-installation period, can contribute to improved technology reputation, which can, in turn, increase technology uptake by other homeowners.

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Solar Heat Underground Storage Based Air Conditioning Vis-à-Vis Conventional HVAC Experimental Validation

Journal of Solar Energy Engineering ◽

10.1115/1.4038051 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 140 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Carlos R. de Nardin ◽

Felipe T. Fernandes ◽

Adriano J. Longo ◽

Luciano P. Lima ◽

Felix A. Farret ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Conditioning ◽

Heat Pumps ◽

Conventional Heating ◽

Management Technique ◽

Air Conditioner ◽

Heat Management ◽

Air Conditioners ◽

Solar Heat ◽

Reduction Of Energy Consumption ◽

The One

This paper presents a comparison of air conditioners using the conventional heating, ventilation, and air conditioning heat pumps and the one using solar heat stored underground, also known as shallow geothermal air conditioning. The proposed air conditioner with solar heat stored underground reunites practical data from an implementation of the heuristic perturb-and-observe (P&O) control and a heat management technique. The aim is to find out the best possible heat exchange between the room ambient and the underground soil heat to reduce its overall consumption without any heat pump. Comparative tests were conducted in two similar rooms, each one equipped with one of the two types of air conditioning. The room temperature with the conventional air conditioning was maintained as close as possible to the temperature of the test room with shallow geothermal conditioning to allow an acceptable data validation. The experiments made both in the winter of 2014 and in the summer of 2015 in Santa Maria, South Brazil, demonstrated that the conventional air conditioner consumed 19.08 kWh and the shallow geothermal conditioner (SGC) consumed only 4.65 kWh, therefore, representing a reduction of energy consumption of approximately 75%.

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Modeling and Design of Building-Integrated Thermoelectrics

ASME 2011 Conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems, Volume 1 ◽

10.1115/smasis2011-5214 ◽

2011 ◽

Author(s):

Leon M. Headings ◽

Gregory N. Washington

Keyword(s):

Thermal Response ◽

Heat Pumps ◽

Coefficient Of Performance ◽

Conventional Heating ◽

Net Energy ◽

Arbitrary Boundary ◽

Heating And Cooling ◽

Temperature Oscillations ◽

Wall Structures ◽

And Control

The goal of this research is to develop a framework for replacing conventional heating and cooling systems with distributed, continuously and electrically controlled, building-integrated thermoelectric (BITE) heat pumps. The coefficient of performance of thermoelectric heat pumps increases as the temperature difference across them decreases and as the amplitude of temperature oscillations decreases. As a result, this research examines how thermal insulation and mass elements can be integrated with thermoelectrics as part of active multi-layer structures in order to minimize net energy consumption. In order to develop BITE systems, an explicit finite volume model was developed to model the dynamic thermal response of active multi-layer wall structures subjected to arbitrary boundary conditions (interior and exterior temperatures and interior heat loads) and control algorithms. Using this numerical model, the effects of wall construction on net system performance were examined. These simulation results provide direction for the ongoing development of BITE systems.

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A COMBINED USE OF FDM AND DOE METHOD TO DERIVE A NEW TRANSIENT SIMPLIFIED SEMI-ANALYTICAL MODEL: A CASE STUDY OF ANHYDRITE RADIANT SLAB

MATEC Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/matecconf/202033001002 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 330 ◽

pp. 01002

Author(s):

Abdelatif Merabtine ◽

Abdelhamid Kheiri ◽

Salim Mokraoui

Keyword(s):

Surface Temperature ◽

Analytical Model ◽

Numerical Models ◽

Thermal Response ◽

Sensitivity Study ◽

Conventional Heating ◽

Heating Systems ◽

Combined Use ◽

Scale Test ◽

Radiant Floor Heating

Radiant floor heating systems (FHS) are considered as reliable heating systems since they ensure maintaining inside air temperature and reduce its fluctuations more efficiently than conventional heating systems. The presented study investigates the dynamic thermal response of an experimental FHS equipped with an anhydrite radiant slab. A new simplified model based on an analytical correlation is proposed to evaluate the heating radiant slab surface temperature and examine its thermal behavior under dynamic conditions. In order the validate the developed analytical model, an experimental scenario, under transient conditions, was performed in a monitored full-scale test cell. 2D and 3D numerical models were also developed to evaluate the accuracy of the analytical model. The method of Design of Experiments (DoE) was used to both derive meta-models, to analytically estimate the surface temperature, and perform a sensitivity study.

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Effect of operating conditions on performance of domestic heating systems with heat pumps and fuel cell micro-cogeneration

Energy and Buildings ◽

10.1016/j.enbuild.2013.11.077 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 70 ◽

pp. 52-60 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Samuel J.G. Cooper ◽

Geoffrey P. Hammond ◽

Marcelle C. McManus ◽

Alfonso Ramallo-Gonzlez ◽

John G. Rogers

Keyword(s):

Fuel Cell ◽

Heat Pumps ◽

Operating Conditions ◽

Domestic Heating ◽

Heating Systems

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Electrical Heating Emissions on the Island of Ireland

E3S Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/e3sconf/20186407001 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 64 ◽

pp. 07001

Author(s):

D. Kerr William ◽

M. Laverty David ◽

J. Best Robert

Keyword(s):

Dynamic Stability ◽

Electric Heating ◽

Electrical Heating ◽

Conventional Heating ◽

Heat Output ◽

Demand Side ◽

Heating Systems ◽

Electrical Grid ◽

Heating Source ◽

Co2 Intensity

This paper shows the effect on household greenhouse gas emissions if standalone or supplementary electric heating was to replace conventional heating methods, based on the present day electrical grid. While having the capability to improve future grid effectiveness and dynamic stability through the potential incorporation of demand side management (DSM). The All-Ireland system has been used in this paper as an example of a network which has been experiencing a significant increase in renewable generation. To show the potential of the electric heating methods the characteristics of existing domestic heating systems will be discussed, in terms of their heat output against their exhaust emissions (gCO2e/kWh). This will then be compared to that of the grid CO2 Intensity, showing the frequency and duration of the possible emission savings involved when using electricity as a main or supplementary heating source.

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