Life Cycle Assessment of the Domestic Micro Heat and Power Generation Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell in Comparison with the Gas Condensing Boiler Plus Electricity from the Grid

Lyubov Slotyuk, Florian Part, Moritz-Caspar Schlegel and Floris Akkerman ()
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Lyubov Slotyuk: Fachbereich Ökodesign und Energieverbrauchskennzeichnung, Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -Prüfung (BAM), Unter den Eichen 82, 12203 Berlin, Germany
Florian Part: Department of Water-Atmosphere-Environment, Institute of Waste Management and Circularity, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Muthgasse 107, 1190 Vienna, Austria
Moritz-Caspar Schlegel: Fachbereich Ökodesign und Energieverbrauchskennzeichnung, Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -Prüfung (BAM), Unter den Eichen 82, 12203 Berlin, Germany
Floris Akkerman: Fachbereich Ökodesign und Energieverbrauchskennzeichnung, Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -Prüfung (BAM), Unter den Eichen 82, 12203 Berlin, Germany

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 6, 1-16

Abstract: The energy demand of private households contributes globally to 36.5% of the total CO 2 emissions. To analyze the emissions reduction potential, we conducted a comparative life cycle assessment of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell in a residential application and a conventional system with a stand-alone gas condensing boiler and electricity from a grid mix. The period under review was referred to as the service life of the PEMFC and is assumed to be 10 years (83,038 h of PEMFC). The applicability of this in a single-family house built between 1991 and 2000 under German climatic conditions was investigated. The functional unit is set to the thermal energy demand of 16,244 kWh/a and electricity demand of 4919 kWh/a of a single-family house. The impact assessment method “CML 2001–August 2016” was used in this investigation. The manufacturing phase of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell showed disadvantages, whereby the use phase had significant advantages in most of the environmental impact categories as compared to the conventional energy supply system. Considering the whole life cycle, the advantages from the use phase could outperform the disadvantages from the manufacturing phase in most of the impact categories, except for ADP elements and TETP.

Keywords: sustainability; comparative life cycle assessment; proton exchange membrane fuel cell; gas condensing boiler; micro heat and power generation; residential application; single-family house energy supply system (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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