Thermodynamic and environmental evaluation of an improved heating system using electric-driven heat pumps: A case study for Jing-Jin-Ji region in China

Abstract

The current heating pattern using household coal (HC) or coal-fired heating boiler (HB) with small scale and scattered distribution normally features low energy efficiency and high pollutant emissions. In this study, an improved heating approach using electric-driven heat pumps to replace HC and HB was proposed and its thermodynamic superiority, environmental benefit and economic viability were quantitatively determined based on the scenario of a large metropolitan area including Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei area in North China (abbr. with Jing-Jin-Ji region). The results showed that using the proposed heating pattern, the primary energy efficiency of the overall energy system (OES) could be improved by 8.2 percentage points with a reduction of 20.31 Mt coal as compared to the original OES using the HB and HC. The emissions of main pollutants and CO2 per kg coal and per MJ heating output could be significantly reduced, leading to a 74.85, 329.7, 87.7 kt and 37.4 Mt reduction in particulate matter (PM), SO2, NOx, and CO2 emissions of the OES, respectively. Moreover, the annualized investment and O&M costs of the proposed heating system would increase by $1.36/m2 and $0.31/m2, respectively, while the energy costs would decrease by $0.23/m2 as compared to the traditional heating system. Finally, the general analyses from the perspectives of strength, weakness, opportunity and threat (SWOT) were performed and the results revealled that the inherent advantages toghther with some preferential policies will play a positive role in promoting the proposed heating system application in China.