IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v131y2019icp390-398.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Pitfalls in decarbonising heat: A misalignment of climate policy and product energy labelling standards

Author

Listed:
  • Armstrong, P.M.
  • Bhagavathy, S.M.
  • Kang, R.
  • McCulloch, M.

Abstract

There is considerable potential to decarbonise household energy consumption through the electrification of heating systems which can absorb excess renewable power and mitigate power network constraints through intelligent control. However, current standards discourage low carbon electricity sources through outdated assumptions; predicated upon a traditional electricity network which had higher emissions. Consequently, the implementation of product Energy labelling across Europe is biased against electric space and water heating systems in favour of gas. This paper examines the impact of this bias through a case study of the European Union's product labelling directive for domestic hot water systems. Laboratory testing of a market leading electric water tank and an A rated instantaneous gas boiler has demonstrated efficiencies of 87.4% and 72.9% respectively. In spite of this, the labelling directive assigns a C rating to the tank. This is due to a conversion coefficient (CC) within the directive's calculation based on an average electricity generation efficiency of 40% without a similar coefficient for gas. This paper advocates the removal of the CC factor from the directive to normalise the comparison, thus promoting a technology uniquely suited towards absorbing intermittent renewable energy sources with negligible costs.

Suggested Citation

  • Armstrong, P.M. & Bhagavathy, S.M. & Kang, R. & McCulloch, M., 2019. "Pitfalls in decarbonising heat: A misalignment of climate policy and product energy labelling standards," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 390-398.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:131:y:2019:i:c:p:390-398
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2019.04.012
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421519302484
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2019.04.012?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alexa Spence & Christina Demski & Catherine Butler & Karen Parkhill & Nick Pidgeon, 2015. "Public perceptions of demand-side management and a smarter energy future," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 5(6), pages 550-554, June.
    2. Nathan Gagnon & Charles A.S. Hall & Lysle Brinker, 2009. "A Preliminary Investigation of Energy Return on Energy Investment for Global Oil and Gas Production," Energies, MDPI, vol. 2(3), pages 1-14, July.
    3. Janda, Karel & Málek, Jan & Rečka, Lukáš, 2017. "Influence of renewable energy sources on transmission networks in Central Europe," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 524-537.
    4. Karel Janda & Jan Malek & Lukas Recka, 2017. "Influence of Renewable Energy Sources on Electricity Transmission Networks in Central Europe," Working Papers IES 2017/05, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, revised Feb 2017.
    5. Hall, Charles A.S. & Lambert, Jessica G. & Balogh, Stephen B., 2014. "EROI of different fuels and the implications for society," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 141-152.
    6. Verbeke, Stijn & Audenaert, Amaryllis, 2018. "Thermal inertia in buildings: A review of impacts across climate and building use," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 2300-2318.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Jonathan Dumas & Antoine Dubois & Paolo Thiran & Pierre Jacques & Francesco Contino & Bertrand Cornélusse & Gauthier Limpens, 2022. "The Energy Return on Investment of Whole-Energy Systems: Application to Belgium," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 7(4), pages 1-34, December.
    2. Lina I. Brand-Correa & Paul E. Brockway & Claire L. Copeland & Timothy J. Foxon & Anne Owen & Peter G. Taylor, 2017. "Developing an Input-Output Based Method to Estimate a National-Level Energy Return on Investment (EROI)," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-21, April.
    3. Luciano Celi, 2021. "Deriving EROI for Thirty Large Oil Companies Using the CO2 Proxy from 1999 to 2018," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 6(4), pages 1-12, December.
    4. Bartłomiej Bajan & Joanna Łukasiewicz & Aldona Mrówczyńska-Kamińska, 2021. "Energy Consumption and Its Structures in Food Production Systems of the Visegrad Group Countries Compared with EU-15 Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-24, July.
    5. Carlos de Castro & Iñigo Capellán-Pérez, 2020. "Standard, Point of Use, and Extended Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROI) from Comprehensive Material Requirements of Present Global Wind, Solar, and Hydro Power Technologies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-43, June.
    6. Oliver Loertscher & Pau S. Pujolas, 2024. "Canadian productivity growth: Stuck in the oil sands," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 57(2), pages 478-501, May.
    7. Court, Victor & Fizaine, Florian, 2017. "Long-Term Estimates of the Energy-Return-on-Investment (EROI) of Coal, Oil, and Gas Global Productions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 145-159.
    8. Eicke, Anselm & Schittekatte, Tim, 2022. "Fighting the wrong battle? A critical assessment of arguments against nodal electricity prices in the European debate," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    9. Chen, Xuejun & Lu, Hailong & Gu, Lijuan & Shang, Shilong & Zhang, Yi & Huang, Xin & Zhang, Le, 2022. "Preliminary evaluation of the economic potential of the technologies for gas hydrate exploitation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    10. Saez, Yago & Mochon, Asuncion & Corona, Luis & Isasi, Pedro, 2019. "Integration in the European electricity market: A machine learning-based convergence analysis for the Central Western Europe region," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 549-566.
    11. Fizaine, Florian & Court, Victor, 2015. "Renewable electricity producing technologies and metal depletion: A sensitivity analysis using the EROI," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 106-118.
    12. Navon, Aviad & Kulbekov, Pavel & Dolev, Shahar & Yehuda, Gil & Levron, Yoash, 2020. "Integration of distributed renewable energy sources in Israel: Transmission congestion challenges and policy recommendations," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    13. Ziesemer, Thomas, 2018. "Fluctuations in renewable electricity supply: Gains from international trade through infrastructure?," MERIT Working Papers 2018-014, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    14. Levieux, Luis Ignacio & Ocampo-Martinez, Carlos & Inthamoussou, Fernando A. & De Battista, Hernán, 2021. "Predictive management approach for the coordination of wind and water-based power supplies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    15. Solomon, A.A. & Sahin, Hasret & Breyer, Christian, 2024. "The pitfall in designing future electrical power systems without considering energy return on investment in planning," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 369(C).
    16. Bartłomiej Bajan & Joanna Łukasiewicz & Agnieszka Poczta-Wajda & Walenty Poczta, 2021. "Edible Energy Production and Energy Return on Investment—Long-Term Analysis of Global Changes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-16, February.
    17. Federica Leone & Ala Hasan & Francesco Reda & Hassam ur Rehman & Fausto Carmelo Nigrelli & Francesco Nocera & Vincenzo Costanzo, 2023. "Supporting Cities towards Carbon Neutral Transition through Territorial Acupuncture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-31, February.
    18. Abadie, Luis María & Chamorro, José Manuel, 2021. "Evaluation of a cross-border electricity interconnection: The case of Spain-France," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 233(C).
    19. Karel Janda & Jan Málek & Lukáš Rečka, 2017. "Vliv obnovitelných zdrojů na českou soustavu přenosu elektřiny [The Impact of Renewable Energy Sources on the Czech Electricity Transmission System]," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2017(6), pages 728-750.
    20. Marco Vittorio Ecclesia & João Santos & Paul E. Brockway & Tiago Domingos, 2022. "A Comprehensive Societal Energy Return on Investment Study of Portugal Reveals a Low but Stable Value," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-22, May.

    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:eee:enepol:v:131:y:2019:i:c:p:390-398. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    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.