Screening of Cooling Technologies in Europe: Alternatives to Vapour Compression and Possible Market Developments

Simon Pezzutto,Eric Wilczynski,Giulio Quaglini,Lukas Kranzl,Philippe Riviere,Antonio Novelli,Andrea Zambito

doi:10.3390/su14052971

Simon Pezzutto, Eric Wilczynski + Show 5 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su14052971

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Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate, review, and assess the recent advances of alternative cooling technologies using traditional vapor compression (VC) systems as a baseline. Around 99% of the final energy consumption used for cooling in the current European market (European Union plus the United Kingdom (EU27 + UK) is supplied by VC technologies. In comparison, the remaining 1% is produced by thermally driven heat pumps (TDHPs). This study focuses on providing a complete taxonomy of cooling technologies. While the EU heating sector is broadly explored in scientific literature, a significant lack of data and information is present in the cooling sector. This study highlights technologies that can potentially compete and eventually replace VC systems within the decade (2030). Among others, the most promising of these are membrane heat pump, transcritical cycle, Reverse Brayton (Bell Coleman cycle), and absorption cooling. However, the latter mentioned technologies still need further research and development (R&D) to become fully competitive with VC technologies. Notably, there are no alternative cooling technologies characterized by higher efficiency and less cost than VC technologies in the EU market.

Highlights

The European Union (EU) radically revised its climate and energy policy framework to ease the challenging transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources (RES).The EU mainly focused its efforts on reaching ambitious goals by 2020, such as a 20%greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reduction, a 20% improvement in energy efficiency, and a 20% increase of RES share throughout the EU zone with 1990 as a baseline
The technologies are categorized by the physical form of energy input, basic working principle, phase of the working fluid, refrigerant or heat transfer medium, specific physical process or device, active or passive solution, and space cooling (SC) or process cooling (PC) application
Brown et al (2014) categorized the cooling technologies based on their primary energy input, basic working principles, the phase of the working fluid, and the refrigerant or heat transfer medium, the present study extends the work by including the specific physical process or device, active or passive solution, and SC or PC application

Summary

Introduction

Greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reduction, a 20% improvement in energy efficiency, and a 20% increase of RES share throughout the EU zone with 1990 as a baseline. These targets were set by the EU member states (MS) in 2007 and put in legislation in the Renewable Energy Directive (RES-Directive) in 2009 [1]. Different tools were put in the act, such as the Emissions Trading System (ETS), which contributes to cutting GHG emissions cost-effectively from large-scale installations in the industry and energy sector. The emissions trading system works on the “cap and trade” principle and covers 45% of the EU’s GHG emissions.

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