Sustainable Energy Solutions for Thermal Load in Buildings—Role of Heat Pumps, Solar Thermal, and Hydrogen-Based Cogeneration Systems

Abstract

Economic and population growth is leading to increased energy demand across all sectors—buildings, transportation, and industry. Adoption of new energy consumers such as electric vehicles could further increase this growth. Sensible utilization of clean renewable energy resources is necessary to sustain this growth. Thermal needs in a building pose a significant challenge to the energy infrastructure. Potential technological solutions to address growing energy demand while simultaneously lowering the carbon footprint and enhancing the grid flexibility are presented in this study. Performance assessment of heat pumps, solar thermal collectors, nonfossil fuel-based cogeneration systems, and their hybrid configurations is reported in this study. The impact of design configuration, coefficient of performance (COP), electric grid’s primary energy efficiency on the key attributes of total carbon footprint, life cycle costs, operational energy savings, and site-specific primary energy efficiency are analyzed and discussed in detail. Heat pumps and hydrogen-fueled solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are highly effective building energy resources compared to traditional approaches; however, the carbon intensity of electrical energy and hydrogen production are keys to the overall environmental benefit.