THERMAL SCIENCE

International Scientific Journal

Thermal Science - Online First

online first only

Life cycle assessment of energy green transition goals in Slovenia and Serbia: Heat pump example

ABSTRACT
Heat pumps are a promising technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE). Their use benefits from decarbonization of the national electricity mixes across the EU, as running on cleaner electricity would reduce the emissions associated with the heat generated from heat pumps. The study aimed to perform a life cycle assessment (LCA) to compare the impact of using heat pumps as a heating source in Slovenia and Serbia under different electricity scenarios that align with measures presented in National Energy and Climate plans. The results show significant differences in the environmental profiles of Serbian and Slovenian electricity sectors and improvements from the current to the future mixes (2030) with a higher share of renewables such as photovoltaics. In the impact category of global warming, an 84.7 % higher value of 1 MJ of heat produced by ground source heat pump in Serbia (0.080 kg CO2 eq) was observed compared to Slovenia (0.033 kg CO2 eq) and 85.9 % higher value compared to Europe (0.032 kg CO2 eq). The reduction in the impact category global warming in NECP 2030 scenarios that model reduction in coal and increase solar PV was observed in both countries (-17.1% Serbia; -28.6 % Slovenia). On the other hand, an increase in the impact category of mineral resource scarcity was observed, with values higher in Slovenia than in Serbia due to a higher share of PV. The study demonstrates that LCA provides a powerful tool to consider GHGE reduction and other environmental impacts, such as land use and mineral resource scarcity, and it can be used to support decision-makers dealing with future national energy plans and decarbonization strategies.
KEYWORDS
PAPER SUBMITTED: 2024-06-18
PAPER REVISED: 2024-08-02
PAPER ACCEPTED: 2024-08-18
PUBLISHED ONLINE: 2024-10-12
DOI REFERENCE: https://doi.org/10.2298/TSCI240618222T
REFERENCES
  1. Bošnjaković, M., Galović, M., Kuprešak, J., Bošnjaković, T., The End of Life of PV Systems: Is Europe Ready for It? Sustainability 2023, 15, 16466
  2. European Commission, The European Green Deal. 2019
  3. Dedinec, A., Dedinec, A., Taseska-Gjorgievska, V., Markovska, N., Kanevce, G., Energy transition of a developing country following the pillars of the EU green deal. Therm sci 2022, 26, 1317-1329
  4. European Commission, Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 June 2021 establishing the framework for achieving climate neutrality and amending Regulations (EC) No 401/2009 and (EU) 2018/1999 (‘European Climate Law'). 2021
  5. Radovanović, M., Filipović, S., Vukadinović, S., Trbojević, M., Podbregar, I., Decarbonisation of eastern European economies: monitoring, economic, social and security concerns. Energ Sustain Soc 2022, 12, 16
  6. European Commission (EC), "REPOwerEU Plan, EU external energy management in a changing world" (May 2022). 2022
  7. Masternak, C., Meunier, S., Reinbold, V., Saelens, D., Marchand, C., Leroy, Y., Potential of air-source heat pumps to reduce environmental impacts in 18 European countries. Energy 2024, 292, 130487
  8. Ala, G., Orioli, A., Di Gangi, A., Energy and economic analysis of air-to-air heat pumps as an alternative to domestic gas boiler heating systems in the South of Italy. Energy 2019, 173, 59-74
  9. EUROSTAT, Energy consumption in households, ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Energy_consumption_in_households (last time accessed: August 13, 2024)
  10. Connolly, D., Heat Roadmap Europe: Quantitative comparison between the electricity, heating, and cooling sectors for different European countries. Energy 2017, 139, 580-593
  11. Sandvall, A. F., Ahlgren, E. O., Ekvall, T., Low-energy buildings heat supply-Modelling of energy systems and carbon emissions impacts. Energy Policy 2017, 111, 371-382
  12. Wang, Q., Chen, H., Zhu, H., Building energy consumption simulation and its application in underground-water source thermal energy management system. Therm sci 2023, 27, 933-940
  13. Kiss, B., Kácsor, E., Szalay, Z., Environmental assessment of future electricity mix - Linking an hourly economic model with LCA. Journal of Cleaner Production 2020, 264, 121536
  14. Turconi, R., Tonini, D., Nielsen, C. F. B., Simonsen, C. G., Astrup, T., Environmental impacts of future low-carbon electricity systems: Detailed life cycle assessment of a Danish case study. Applied Energy 2014, 132, 66-73
  15. Gargiulo, A., Carvalho, M. L., Girardi, P., Life Cycle Assessment of Italian Electricity Scenarios to 2030. Energies 2020, 13, 3852
  16. Carvalho, M. L., Marmiroli, B., Girardi, P., Life cycle assessment of Italian electricity production and comparison with the European context. Energy Reports 2022, 8, 561-568
  17. Ramirez, A. D., Boero, A., Rivela, B., Melendres, A. M., Espinoza, S., Salas, D. A., Life cycle methods to analyze the environmental sustainability of electricity generation in Ecuador: Is decarbonization the right path? Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 2020, 134, 110373
  18. Raugei, M., Kamran, M., Hutchinson, A., A Prospective Net Energy and Environmental Life-Cycle Assessment of the UK Electricity Grid. Energies 2020, 13, 2207
  19. San Miguel, G., Cerrato, M., Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of the Spanish Electricity: Past, Present and Future Projections. Energies 2020, 13, 1896
  20. International Energy Agency (IEA), I., Energy system of Serbia, www.iea.org/countries/serbia (last time accessed: April 15, 2024)
  21. International Energy Agency (IEA), Energy system of Slovenia, www.iea.org/countries/slovenia (last time accessed: April 15, 2024)
  22. Maris, G., Flouros, F., The Green Deal, National Energy and Climate Plans in Europe: Member States' Compliance and Strategies. Administrative Sciences 2021, 11, 75
  23. Government of the Republic of Slovenia, Integrated national energy and climate plan of the Republic of Slovenia. 2020
  24. Republic of Serbia, Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan of the Republic of Serbia for the period 2030 with the projections up to 2050. 2023
  25. European Commission, National energy and climate plans, commission.europa.eu/energy-climate-change-environment/implementation-eu-countries/energy-and-climate-governance-and-reporting/national-energy-and-climate-plans_en (last time accessed: April 12, 2024)
  26. Dimnik, J., Novak, P., Muhic, S., Decarbonising power system with high share of renewables and optionally with or without nuclear: Slovenia case. Therm sci 2022, 26, 1593-1602
  27. Energy Community Secretariat, Ecs., Recommendations 1/2023 by the Energy Community Secretariat on the Draft integrated National Energy and Climate Plan of the Republic of Serbia. 2023
  28. Mitrović, S., The Green Agenda for the Western Balkans. 2022
  29. Jovanović, M., Bakić, V., Škobalj, P., Cvetinović, D., Erić, A., Živković, N., Duić, N., Scenarios for transitioning the electricity sector of the Republic of Serbia to sustainable climate neutrality by 2050. Utilities Policy 2023, 85, 101681
  30. Aresti, L., Christodoulides, P., Florides, G. A., An investigation on the environmental impact of various Ground Heat Exchangers configurations. Renewable Energy 2021, 171, 592-605
  31. Violante, A. C., Donato, F., Guidi, G., Proposito, M., Comparative life cycle assessment of the ground source heat pump vs air source heat pump. Renewable Energy 2022, 188, 1029-1037
  32. Bošnjaković, M., Santa, R., Katinić, M., Experimental Testing of a Water-to-Water Heat Pump with and without IHX by Using Refrigerants R1234yf and R1234ze(E). Sustainability 2023, 15, 8625
  33. Thomaßen, G., Kavvadias, K., Jiménez Navarro, J. P., The decarbonisation of the EU heating sector through electrification: A parametric analysis. Energy Policy 2021, 148, 111929
  34. Congedo, P. M., Baglivo, C., D'Agostino, D., Mazzeo, D., The impact of climate change on air source heat pumps. Energy Conversion and Management 2023, 276, 116554
  35. Bloess, A., Schill, W.-P., Zerrahn, A., Power-to-heat for renewable energy integration: A review of technologies, modeling approaches, and flexibility potentials. Applied Energy 2018, 212, 1611-1626
  36. Rosenow, J., Gibb, D., Nowak, T., Lowes, R., Heating up the global heat pump market. Nat Energy 2022, 7, 901-904
  37. Stanek, W., Simla, T., Gazda, W., Exergetic and thermo-ecological assessment of heat pump supported by electricity from renewable sources. Renewable Energy 2019, 131, 404-412
  38. Smith, M., Bevacqua, A., Tembe, S., Lal, P., Life cycle analysis (LCA) of residential ground source heat pump systems: A comparative analysis of energy efficiency in New Jersey. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 2021, 47, 101364
  39. Shamoushaki, M., Koh, S. C. L., Heat pump supply chain environmental impact reduction to improve the UK energy sustainability, resiliency and security. Sci Rep 2023, 13, 20633
  40. Famiglietti, J., Toppi, T., Bonalumi, D., Motta, M., Heat pumps for space heating and domestic hot water production in residential buildings, an environmental comparison in a present and future scenario. Energy Conversion and Management 2023, 276, 116527
  41. Gaur, A. S., Fitiwi, D. Z., Curtis, J., Heat pumps and our low-carbon future: A comprehensive review. Energy Research & Social Science 2021, 71, 101764
  42. ISO, ISO 14040:2006, www.iso.org/standard/37456.html (last time accessed: April 16, 2024)
  43. ISO, ISO 14044:2006, www.iso.org/standard/38498.html (last time accessed: April 16, 2024)
  44. Saner, D., Juraske, R., Kübert, M., Blum, P., Hellweg, S., Bayer, P., Is it only CO2 that matters? A life cycle perspective on shallow geothermal systems. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 2010, 14, 1798-1813
  45. Bastos, J., Prina, M. G., Garcia, R., Life-cycle assessment of current and future electricity supply addressing average and marginal hourly demand: An application to Italy. Journal of Cleaner Production 2023, 399, 136563
  46. Barros, M. V., Salvador, R., Piekarski, C. M., de Francisco, A. C., Freire, F. M. C. S., Life cycle assessment of electricity generation: a review of the characteristics of existing literature. Int J Life Cycle Assess 2020, 25, 36-54
  47. Pre Sustainability, SimaPro LCA software - PRé Sustainability. SimaPro 2024
  48. Ecoinvent, ecoinvent - Data with purpose., ecoinvent.org/ (last time accessed: April 16, 2024)
  49. Huijbregts, M. A. J., Steinmann, Z. J. N., Elshout, P. M. F., Stam, G., Verones, F., Vieira, M., Zijp, M., Hollander, A., van Zelm, R., ReCiPe2016: a harmonised life cycle impact assessment method at midpoint and endpoint level. Int J Life Cycle Assess 2017, 22, 138-147
  50. RIVM, The Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment: LCIA: the ReCiPe model | RIVM, www.rivm.nl/en/life-cycle-assessment-lca/recipe (last time accessed: December 13, 2023)
  51. Turconi, R., Boldrin, A., Astrup, T., Life cycle assessment (LCA) of electricity generation technologies: Overview, comparability and limitations. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 2013, 28, 555-565
  52. Burchart-Korol, D., Pustejovska, P., Blaut, A., Jursova, S., Korol, J., Comparative life cycle assessment of current and future electricity generation systems in the Czech Republic and Poland. Int J Life Cycle Assess 2018, 23, 2165-2177
  53. Gibon, T., Arvesen, A., Hertwich, E. G., Life cycle assessment demonstrates environmental co-benefits and trade-offs of low-carbon electricity supply options. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 2017, 76, 1283-1290
  54. Hertwich, E. G., Gibon, T., Bouman, E. A., Arvesen, A., Suh, S., Heath, G. A., Bergesen, J. D., Ramirez, A., Vega, M. I., Shi, L., Integrated life-cycle assessment of electricity-supply scenarios confirms global environmental benefit of low-carbon technologies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2015, 112, 6277-6282
  55. García-Gusano, D., Garraín, D., Dufour, J., Prospective life cycle assessment of the Spanish electricity production. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 2017, 75, 21-34
  56. Ghisellini, P., Passaro, R., Ulgiati, S., Environmental assessment of multiple "cleaner electricity mix" scenarios within just energy and circular economy transitions, in Italy and Europe. Journal of Cleaner Production 2023, 388, 135891
  57. Lieberei, J., Gheewala, S. H., Resource depletion assessment of renewable electricity generation technologies—comparison of life cycle impact assessment methods with focus on mineral resources. Int J Life Cycle Assess 2017, 22, 185-198
  58. Gaete-Morales, C., Gallego-Schmid, A., Stamford, L., Azapagic, A., Life cycle environmental impacts of electricity from fossil fuels in Chile over a ten-year period. Journal of Cleaner Production 2019, 232, 1499-1512
  59. Topić Božič, J., Fric, U., Čikić, A., Muhič, S., Life Cycle Assessment of Using Firewood and Wood Pellets in Slovenia as Two Primary Wood-Based Heating Systems and Their Environmental Impact. Sustainability 2024, 16, 1687
  60. Lozano Miralles, J. A., López García, R., Palomar Carnicero, J. M., Martínez, F. J. R., Comparative study of heat pump system and biomass boiler system to a tertiary building using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Renewable Energy 2020, 152, 1439-1450