Energy Efficiency and Sustainability Evaluation of Space and Water Heating in Urban Residential Buildings of the Hot Summer and Cold Winter Zone in China

Xiao Chen, Yongquan Wen and Nanyang Li
Additional contact information
Xiao Chen: Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Wind Generator and Its Control, Hunan Institute of Engineering, Xiangtan 411104, China
Yongquan Wen: School of Architectural Engineering, Hunan Institute of Engineering, Xiangtan 411104, China
Nanyang Li: School of Architectural Engineering, Hunan Institute of Engineering, Xiangtan 411104, China

Sustainability, 2016, vol. 8, issue 10, 1-14

Abstract: With the urbanization process of the hot summer and cold winter (HSCW) zone in China, the energy consumption of space and water heating in urban residential buildings of the HSCW zone has increased rapidly. This study presents the energy efficiency and sustainability evaluation of various ways of space and water heating taking 10 typical cities in the HSCW zone as research cases. Two indicators, primary energy efficiency (PEE) and sustainability index based on exergy efficiency, are adopted to perform the evaluation. Models for the energy and total exergy efficiencies of various space and water heating equipment/systems are developed. The evaluation results indicate that common uses of electricity for space and water heating are the most unsustainable ways of space and water heating. In terms of PEE and sustainability index, air-source heat pumps for space and water heating are suitable for the HSCW zone. The PEE and sustainability index of solar water heaters with auxiliary electric heaters are greatly influenced by local solar resources. Air-source heat pump assisted solar hot water systems are the most sustainable among all water heating equipment/systems investigated in this study. Our works suggest the key potential for improving the energy efficiency and the sustainability of space and water heating in urban residential buildings of the HSCW zone.

Keywords: primary energy efficiency; sustainability index; exergy analysis; urban residential buildings; hot summer and cold winter zone (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/10/989/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/10/989/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2016:i:10:p:989-:d:79670

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().