Sustainable enhancement of district heating and cooling configurations by combining thermal energy storage and life cycl
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Sustainable enhancement of district heating and cooling configurations by combining thermal energy storage and life cycle assessment Silvia Guillén‑Lambea1,2 · Monica Carvalho3 · Monica Delgado1,2 · Ana Lazaro2 Received: 12 December 2019 / Accepted: 3 September 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract District heating and cooling systems are designed and optimized to respond to the latest challenges of reducing energy demands while fulfilling comfort standards. Thermal energy storage (TES) with phase change materials can be employed to reduce the energy demands of buildings. This study considers a residential district located in Spain, where a general framework has been established to identify optimal combinations of energy conversion, delivery technologies, and operating rules. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was implemented within a mathematical model, and the objective function considered the minimization of environmental loads. Two environmental impact assessment methods were applied within the LCA methodology: IPCC 2013 GWP 100y and ReCiPe. Four optimal configurations were considered: a reference system (gas boiler and split-type air conditioners) and then three TES-based systems: one sensible (STES, water) and two latent (LTES1—paraffin emulsion and LTES2—sodium acetate trihydrate). Hourly environmental loads associated with electricity imports from the national grid were available. The conventional energy system always presented the worst performance from an environmental viewpoint, being penalized by the high consumption of natural gas. Regarding carbon emissions, LTES1 showed the lowest emissions, followed by STES and LTES2. Reductions in energy demands compensated the impact of paraffin, and results of STES are strongly dependent on tank design. However, considering the ReCiPe method, STES presented the lowest loads, followed by LTES1 and LTES2. Overall impacts of LTES1 with paraffin are higher than STES with water, mainly due to the paraffin and the high volume required.
* Monica Carvalho [email protected] 1
University Center of Defense, Ctra. Huesca, s/n, 50090 Zaragoza, Spain
2
Thermal Engineering and Energy Systems Group (GITSE), Aragón Institute for Engineering Research (I3A), University of Zaragoza, Agustín Betancourt Building, C/María de Luna 3, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain
3
Department of Renewable Energy Engineering, Federal University of Paraíba, Campus I. Cidade Universitária, s/n ‑ Castelo Branco, João Pessoa, Paraíba 58051‑970, Brazil
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Graphic abstract
Keywords Life cycle assessment · Phase change materials · Thermal energy storage · District heating and cooling · Sustainable enhancement
Introduction It is estimated that global energy demands will increase by 80% by 2050, with consequent 50% more greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions primarily due to a 70% growth in energyrelated CO2 emissions (OECD and the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency 2012). Sec
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