Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of an Innovative Compact Hybrid Electrical‐Thermal Storage System for Residential Buildings in Mediterranean Climate

The buildings sector is one of the least sustainable activities in the world, accounting for around 40% of the total global energy demand. With the aim to reduce the environmental impact of this sector, the use of renewable energy sources coupled with energy storage systems in buildings has been inv...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Zsembinszki, Gabriel, Llantoy, Noelia, Palomba, Valeria, Frazzica, Andrea, Dallapiccola, Mattia, Trentin, Federico, Cabeza, Luisa F.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:10459.1/71277
Acceso en línea:https://doi.org/10.3390/su13095322
http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/71277
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Energy storage
Heating and cooling system
Life cycle assessment (LCA)
ReCiPe indicator
Global warming potential (GWP) indicator
Environmental impact
Descripción
Sumario:The buildings sector is one of the least sustainable activities in the world, accounting for around 40% of the total global energy demand. With the aim to reduce the environmental impact of this sector, the use of renewable energy sources coupled with energy storage systems in buildings has been investigated in recent years. Innovative solutions for cooling, heating, and domestic hot water in buildings can contribute to the buildings' decarbonization by achieving a reduction of building electrical consumption needed to keep comfortable conditions. However, the environmental impact of a new system is not only related to its electrical consumption from the grid, but also to the environmental load produced in the manufacturing and disposal stages of system components. This study investigates the environmental impact of an innovative system proposed for residential buildings in Mediterranean climate through a life cycle assessment. The results show that, due to the complexity of the system, the manufacturing and disposal stages have a high environmental impact, which is not compensated by the reduction of the impact during the operational stage. A parametric study was also performed to investigate the effect of the design of the storage system on the overall system impact.