IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i20p11256-d654595.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Life Cycle Assessment of District Heating Systems in Europe: Case Study and Recommendations

Author

Listed:
  • Camille Jeandaux

    (ENGIE Lab CRIGEN, F-93249 Stains, France)

  • Jean-Baptiste Videau

    (ENGIE Lab CRIGEN, F-93249 Stains, France)

  • Anne Prieur-Vernat

    (ENGIE Lab CRIGEN, F-93249 Stains, France)

Abstract

District heating systems are a way to integrate renewable energies into the heating sector, with the primary aim of decarbonizing this final use. In such systems, renewable energy sources are centrally managed with cutting-edge technological equipment, efficient maintenance rates and service guarantees. Both the decarbonization effect and the centralization lead to environmental benefits, which can go beyond the climate change indicator. In this study, life cycle assessment was used to assess the environmental sustainability of district heating solutions compared to standalones. The study aimed to examine a diverse set of options for large-scale district heating systems across Europe and to compare them to different standalone solutions. Eight technologies (five district-level and three standalone solutions) were analyzed in two densities of habitats and four areas of Europe. This study aimed to understand the drivers of district heating environmental performance and to provide guidelines for accounting said performance. The analysis showed better performance for district heating scenarios compared to isotechnology standalones for every environmental impact category: the climate change impact category were reduced from 5 to 90%, while respiratory inorganics were reduced from 45 to 64%, depending on the considered climatic area. This statement was true under key parameters, both technical and methodological—efficiencies and complement rates, but also the neutral carbon principle for biomass energy accounting and allocation rules.

Suggested Citation

  • Camille Jeandaux & Jean-Baptiste Videau & Anne Prieur-Vernat, 2021. "Life Cycle Assessment of District Heating Systems in Europe: Case Study and Recommendations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-32, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:20:p:11256-:d:654595
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/20/11256/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/20/11256/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lund, Henrik & Østergaard, Poul Alberg & Chang, Miguel & Werner, Sven & Svendsen, Svend & Sorknæs, Peter & Thorsen, Jan Eric & Hvelplund, Frede & Mortensen, Bent Ole Gram & Mathiesen, Brian Vad & Boje, 2018. "The status of 4th generation district heating: Research and results," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 147-159.
    2. Jäger-Waldau, Arnulf & Kougias, Ioannis & Taylor, Nigel & Thiel, Christian, 2020. "How photovoltaics can contribute to GHG emission reductions of 55% in the EU by 2030," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    3. Pieper, Henrik & Ommen, Torben & Elmegaard, Brian & Brix Markussen, Wiebke, 2019. "Assessment of a combination of three heat sources for heat pumps to supply district heating," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 156-170.
    4. Martinopoulos, Georgios & Papakostas, Konstantinos T. & Papadopoulos, Agis M., 2018. "A comparative review of heating systems in EU countries, based on efficiency and fuel cost," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 687-699.
    5. Mazhar, Abdur Rehman & Liu, Shuli & Shukla, Ashish, 2018. "A state of art review on the district heating systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 420-439.
    6. Dalla Longa, Francesco & Nogueira, Larissa P. & Limberger, Jon & Wees, Jan-Diederik van & van der Zwaan, Bob, 2020. "Scenarios for geothermal energy deployment in Europe," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    7. Caputo, Paola & Ferla, Giulio & Ferrari, Simone, 2019. "Evaluation of environmental and energy effects of biomass district heating by a wide survey based on operational conditions in Italy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 1210-1218.
    8. Persson, Urban & Münster, Marie, 2016. "Current and future prospects for heat recovery from waste in European district heating systems: A literature and data review," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 116-128.
    9. Oliver-Solà, Jordi & Gabarrell, Xavier & Rieradevall, Joan, 2009. "Environmental impacts of the infrastructure for district heating in urban neighbourhoods," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 4711-4719, November.
    10. Sayegh, M.A. & Danielewicz, J. & Nannou, T. & Miniewicz, M. & Jadwiszczak, P. & Piekarska, K. & Jouhara, H., 2017. "Trends of European research and development in district heating technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 68(P2), pages 1183-1192.
    11. Werner, Sven, 2017. "International review of district heating and cooling," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 617-631.
    12. Patureau, Rémi & Tran, Cong Toan & Gavan, Valentin & Stabat, Pascal, 2021. "The new generation of District heating & cooling networks and their potential development in France," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    13. Ghafghazi, S. & Sowlati, T. & Sokhansanj, S. & Bi, X. & Melin, S., 2011. "Particulate matter emissions from combustion of wood in district heating applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(6), pages 3019-3028, August.
    14. Bartolozzi, Irene & Rizzi, Francesco & Frey, Marco, 2017. "Are district heating systems and renewable energy sources always an environmental win-win solution? A life cycle assessment case study in Tuscany, Italy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 408-420.
    15. Hoekman, S. Kent & Broch, Amber, 2018. "Environmental implications of higher ethanol production and use in the U.S.: A literature review. Part II – Biodiversity, land use change, GHG emissions, and sustainability," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P2), pages 3159-3177.
    16. Bayer, Peter & Saner, Dominik & Bolay, Stephan & Rybach, Ladislaus & Blum, Philipp, 2012. "Greenhouse gas emission savings of ground source heat pump systems in Europe: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 1256-1267.
    17. 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.
    18. Björnebo, Lars & Spatari, Sabrina & Gurian, Patrick L., 2018. "A greenhouse gas abatement framework for investment in district heating," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 1095-1105.
    19. Eriksson, Ola & Finnveden, Goran & Ekvall, Tomas & Bjorklund, Anna, 2007. "Life cycle assessment of fuels for district heating: A comparison of waste incineration, biomass- and natural gas combustion," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 1346-1362, February.
    20. Torchio, Marco F. & Genon, Giuseppe & Poggio, Alberto & Poggio, Marco, 2009. "Merging of energy and environmental analyses for district heating systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 220-227.
    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. Camila Andrea Puentes Bejarano & Javier Pérez Rodríguez & Juan Manuel de Andrés Almeida & David Hidalgo-Carvajal & Jonas Gustaffson & Jon Summers & Alberto Abánades, 2024. "Environmental and Social Life Cycle Assessment of Data Centre Heat Recovery Technologies Combined with Fuel Cells for Energy Generation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-17, September.
    2. Mahaut Vauchez & Jacopo Famiglietti & Kevin Autelitano & Morgane Colombert & Rossano Scoccia & Mario Motta, 2023. "Life Cycle Assessment of District Heating Infrastructures: A Comparison of Pipe Typologies in France," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-23, May.
    3. Veyron, Mathilde & Voirand, Antoine & Mion, Nicolas & Maragna, Charles & Mugnier, Daniel & Clausse, Marc, 2022. "Dynamic exergy and economic assessment of the implementation of seasonal underground thermal energy storage in existing solar district heating," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PA).
    4. Martin, Nick & Zinck Thellufsen, Jakob & Chang, Miguel & Talens-Peiró, Laura & Madrid-López, Cristina, 2024. "The many faces of heating transitions. Deeper understandings of future systems in Sweden and beyond," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(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. Golmohamadi, Hessam & Larsen, Kim Guldstrand & Jensen, Peter Gjøl & Hasrat, Imran Riaz, 2022. "Integration of flexibility potentials of district heating systems into electricity markets: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    2. Persson, Urban & Wiechers, Eva & Möller, Bernd & Werner, Sven, 2019. "Heat Roadmap Europe: Heat distribution costs," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 604-622.
    3. Jodeiri, A.M. & Goldsworthy, M.J. & Buffa, S. & Cozzini, M., 2022. "Role of sustainable heat sources in transition towards fourth generation district heating – A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    4. Sayegh, M.A. & Danielewicz, J. & Nannou, T. & Miniewicz, M. & Jadwiszczak, P. & Piekarska, K. & Jouhara, H., 2017. "Trends of European research and development in district heating technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 68(P2), pages 1183-1192.
    5. Wang, Yang & Zhang, Shanhong & Chow, David & Kuckelkorn, Jens M., 2021. "Evaluation and optimization of district energy network performance: Present and future," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    6. Guelpa, Elisa & Bischi, Aldo & Verda, Vittorio & Chertkov, Michael & Lund, Henrik, 2019. "Towards future infrastructures for sustainable multi-energy systems: A review," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 2-21.
    7. Michael-Allan Millar & Bruce Elrick & Greg Jones & Zhibin Yu & Neil M. Burnside, 2020. "Roadblocks to Low Temperature District Heating," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-21, November.
    8. Averfalk, Helge & Werner, Sven, 2020. "Economic benefits of fourth generation district heating," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    9. Bartolozzi, Irene & Rizzi, Francesco & Frey, Marco, 2017. "Are district heating systems and renewable energy sources always an environmental win-win solution? A life cycle assessment case study in Tuscany, Italy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 408-420.
    10. 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.
    11. Mengting Jiang & Camilo Rindt & David M. J. Smeulders, 2022. "Optimal Planning of Future District Heating Systems—A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-38, September.
    12. Guelpa, Elisa & Verda, Vittorio, 2019. "Thermal energy storage in district heating and cooling systems: A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 252(C), pages 1-1.
    13. Guelpa, Elisa & Verda, Vittorio, 2021. "Demand response and other demand side management techniques for district heating: A review," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    14. Lyden, A. & Brown, C.S. & Kolo, I. & Falcone, G. & Friedrich, D., 2022. "Seasonal thermal energy storage in smart energy systems: District-level applications and modelling approaches," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    15. 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).
    16. Lund, Henrik & Østergaard, Poul Alberg & Chang, Miguel & Werner, Sven & Svendsen, Svend & Sorknæs, Peter & Thorsen, Jan Eric & Hvelplund, Frede & Mortensen, Bent Ole Gram & Mathiesen, Brian Vad & Boje, 2018. "The status of 4th generation district heating: Research and results," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 147-159.
    17. Dorotić, Hrvoje & Pukšec, Tomislav & Schneider, Daniel Rolph & Duić, Neven, 2021. "Evaluation of district heating with regard to individual systems – Importance of carbon and cost allocation in cogeneration units," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    18. Beatriz María Paredes-Sánchez & José Pablo Paredes & Natalia Caparrini & Elena Rivo-López, 2021. "Analysis of District Heating and Cooling Energy Systems in Spain: Resources, Technology and Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-22, May.
    19. Manz, Pia & Billerbeck, Anna & Kök, Ali & Fallahnejad, Mostafa & Fleiter, Tobias & Kranzl, Lukas & Braungardt, Sibylle & Eichhammer, Wolfgang, 2024. "Spatial analysis of renewable and excess heat potentials for climate-neutral district heating in Europe," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    20. Østergaard, Poul Alberg & Werner, Sven & Dyrelund, Anders & Lund, Henrik & Arabkoohsar, Ahmad & Sorknæs, Peter & Gudmundsson, Oddgeir & Thorsen, Jan Eric & Mathiesen, Brian Vad, 2022. "The four generations of district cooling - A categorization of the development in district cooling from origin to future prospect," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).

    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:13:y:2021:i:20:p:11256-:d:654595. 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.