Abstract
In the European Union’s Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, the energy efficiency goal for buildings is set in terms of primary energy use. In the proposal from the National Board of Housing, Building, and Planning, for nearly zero energy buildings in Sweden, the use of primary energy is expressed as a primary energy number calculated with given primary energy factors. In this article, a multi-dwelling building is simulated and the difference in the primary energy number is investigated when the building uses heat from district heating systems or from heat pumps, alone or combined with solar thermal or solar photovoltaic systems. It is also investigated how the global CO2 emissions are influenced by the different energy system combinations and with different fuels used. It is concluded that the calculated primary energy number is lower for heat pump systems, but the global CO2 emissions are lowest when district heating uses mostly biofuels and is combined with solar PV systems. The difference is up to 140 tonnes/year. If the aim with the Swedish building code is to decrease the global CO2 emissions then the ratio between the primary energy factors for electricity and heat should be larger than three and considerably higher than today.
Highlights
Residential and commercial buildings are estimated to contribute approximately 40% of the final energy use and cause approximately 36% of the greenhouse gas emissions within the European Union (EU) [1]
The aim of this study is to evaluate how the numerical indicator of primary energy use for a building in Sweden, here called the Primary energy (PE) number, changes when the heat is delivered by district heating system (DHS) or heat pumps
When the DHS use fuels with higher fossil content and produce less electricity (DHS 3) the introduction of heat pump systems has a lesser impact on global CO2 emissions
Summary
Residential and commercial buildings are estimated to contribute approximately 40% of the final energy use and cause approximately 36% of the greenhouse gas emissions within the European Union (EU) [1]. In 2010 the EU adopted the Europe 2020 strategy where one of five headline targets covers climate change and energy sustainability. The Europe 2020 strategy was followed in 2014 by the 2030 resolution framework for climate and energy policies. The resolution aims to make the EU’s economy and energy system more competitive, secure, and sustainable [2]. To reduce the energy use in the growing building sector, in 2002 the EU implemented the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, which was amended in 2010 [3]. The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and the 2012 Energy
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