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Environmental Comparison of Energy Solutions for Heating and Cooling

Author

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  • 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
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. 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).
    5. 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).
    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. 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.
    8. Wirtz, Marco, 2023. "nPro: A web-based planning tool for designing district energy systems and thermal networks," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    9. Werner, Sven, 2022. "Network configurations for implemented low-temperature district heating," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(PB).
    10. 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.
    11. 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.

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