Study on Geospatial Distribution of the Efficiency and Sustainability of Different Energy-Driven Heat Pumps Included in Low Enthalpy Geothermal Systems in Europe

[EN] This research work aims at a multinational study in Europe of the emissions and energy costs generated by the operation of low enthalpy geothermal systems, with heat pumps fed by different energy sources. From an economic point of view, natural gas and biogas prices are, usually, lower than ele...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Martín Nieto, Ignacio, Borge Diez, David, Sáez Blázquez, Cristina, Farfán Martín, Arturo Rafael, González Aguilera, Diego
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2020
Country:España
Institution:Universidad de Salamanca (USAL)
Repository:GREDOS. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Salamanca
OAI Identifier:oai:gredos.usal.es:10366/169960
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10366/169960
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:geospatial energy data
electric heat pumps
gas-driven heat pumps
electricity mix
economic and environmental analysis
Description
Summary:[EN] This research work aims at a multinational study in Europe of the emissions and energy costs generated by the operation of low enthalpy geothermal systems, with heat pumps fed by different energy sources. From an economic point of view, natural gas and biogas prices are, usually, lower than electricity ones. So it may be advantageous to use these energy sources to feed the heat pumps instead of electricity. From the environmental point of view, it is intended to highlight the fact that under certain conditions of electricity production (electricity mix), more CO2 emissions are produced by electricity consumption than using other a priori less “clean” energy sources such as natural gas. To establish the countries where each of the different heat pumps may be more cost-efficient and environmentally friendly, data from multi-source geospatial databases have been collected and analyzed. The results show that in the majority of cases, the electric heat pump is the most recommendable solution. However, there are some geographic locations (such as Poland and Estonia), where the gas engine heat pump may be a better alternative.