Rev-Changes in Primary Energy Use and CO 2 Emissions—An Impact Assessment for a Building with Focus on the Swedish Proposal for Nearly Zero Energy Buildings

Mattias Gustafsson, Richard Thygesen, Björn Karlsson and Louise Ödlund
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Mattias Gustafsson: Division of Building, Energy and Environment Technology, Department of Technology and Environment, University of Gävle, Gävle 802 67, Sweden
Richard Thygesen: Division of Building, Energy and Environment Technology, Department of Technology and Environment, University of Gävle, Gävle 802 67, Sweden
Björn Karlsson: Division of Building, Energy and Environment Technology, Department of Technology and Environment, University of Gävle, Gävle 802 67, Sweden
Louise Ödlund: Division of Energy Systems, Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, Linköping 581 83, Sweden

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 7, 1-14

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 CO 2 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 CO 2 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 CO 2 emissions then the ratio between the primary energy factors for electricity and heat should be larger than three and considerably higher than today.

Keywords: energy performance of buildings; district heating; heat pump; decentralized energy generation systems; primary energy; primary energy factors (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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