The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Emergy-based sustainability assessment of different energy options for green buildings

Emergy-based sustainability assessment of different energy options for green buildings
Emergy-based sustainability assessment of different energy options for green buildings
It is necessary to minimize the environmental impact and utilize natural resources in a sustainable and efficient manner in the early design stage of developing an environmentally-conscious design for a heating, ventilating and air-conditioning system. Energy supply options play a significant role in the total environmental load of heating, ventilating and air-conditioning systems. To assess the environmental impact of different energy options, a new method based on Emergy Analysis is proposed. Emergy Accounting, was first developed and widely used in the area of ecological engineering, but this is the first time it has been used in building service engineering. The environmental impacts due to the energy options are divided into four categories under the Emergy Framework: the depletion of natural resources, the greenhouse effect (carbon dioxide equivalents), the chemical rain effect (sulfur dioxide equivalents), and anthropogenic heat release. The depletion of non-renewable natural resources is indicated by the Environmental Load Ratio, and the environmental carrying capacity is developed to represent the environmental service to dilute the pollutants and anthropogenic heat released. This Emergy evaluation method provides a new way to integrate different environmental impacts under the same framework and thus facilitates better system choices. A case study of six different kinds of energy options consisting of renewable and non-renewable energy was performed by using Emergy Theory, and thus their relative environmental impacts were compared. The results show that the method of electricity generation in energy sources, especially for electricity-powered systems, is the most important factor to determine their overall environmental performance. The direct-fired lithium-bromide absorption type consumes more non-renewable energy, and contributes more to the urban heat island effect compared with other options having the same electricity supply. Using Emergy Analysis, designers and clients can make better-informed, environmentally-conscious selections of heating, ventilating and air-conditioning systems.
emergy, heating ventilating and air-conditioning, environmental impact assessment, renewable energy, anthropogenic heat
0196-8904
97-102
Luo, Zhiwen
934f1acd-2af0-446e-9d9a-0c88bd0023ee
Zhao, Jianing
3cda4b54-7e79-4e7f-ad98-e7094e7aa890
Yao, Runming
40b4e810-4e66-48c6-936d-acc62ce98dc9
Shu, Zhan
ea5dc18c-d375-4db0-bbcc-dd0229f3a1cb
Luo, Zhiwen
934f1acd-2af0-446e-9d9a-0c88bd0023ee
Zhao, Jianing
3cda4b54-7e79-4e7f-ad98-e7094e7aa890
Yao, Runming
40b4e810-4e66-48c6-936d-acc62ce98dc9
Shu, Zhan
ea5dc18c-d375-4db0-bbcc-dd0229f3a1cb

Luo, Zhiwen, Zhao, Jianing, Yao, Runming and Shu, Zhan (2015) Emergy-based sustainability assessment of different energy options for green buildings. Energy Conversion and Management, 100, 97-102. (doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2015.04.072).

Record type: Article

Abstract

It is necessary to minimize the environmental impact and utilize natural resources in a sustainable and efficient manner in the early design stage of developing an environmentally-conscious design for a heating, ventilating and air-conditioning system. Energy supply options play a significant role in the total environmental load of heating, ventilating and air-conditioning systems. To assess the environmental impact of different energy options, a new method based on Emergy Analysis is proposed. Emergy Accounting, was first developed and widely used in the area of ecological engineering, but this is the first time it has been used in building service engineering. The environmental impacts due to the energy options are divided into four categories under the Emergy Framework: the depletion of natural resources, the greenhouse effect (carbon dioxide equivalents), the chemical rain effect (sulfur dioxide equivalents), and anthropogenic heat release. The depletion of non-renewable natural resources is indicated by the Environmental Load Ratio, and the environmental carrying capacity is developed to represent the environmental service to dilute the pollutants and anthropogenic heat released. This Emergy evaluation method provides a new way to integrate different environmental impacts under the same framework and thus facilitates better system choices. A case study of six different kinds of energy options consisting of renewable and non-renewable energy was performed by using Emergy Theory, and thus their relative environmental impacts were compared. The results show that the method of electricity generation in energy sources, especially for electricity-powered systems, is the most important factor to determine their overall environmental performance. The direct-fired lithium-bromide absorption type consumes more non-renewable energy, and contributes more to the urban heat island effect compared with other options having the same electricity supply. Using Emergy Analysis, designers and clients can make better-informed, environmentally-conscious selections of heating, ventilating and air-conditioning systems.

Text
1-s2.0-S0196890415004367-main.pdf - Version of Record
Restricted to Repository staff only
Request a copy

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 24 April 2015
e-pub ahead of print date: 15 May 2015
Published date: August 2015
Keywords: emergy, heating ventilating and air-conditioning, environmental impact assessment, renewable energy, anthropogenic heat
Organisations: Mechatronics

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 381656
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/381656
ISSN: 0196-8904
PURE UUID: 76d1892f-4adb-4def-adb4-32ea94dc4d9b
ORCID for Zhan Shu: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-5933-254X

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 07 Oct 2015 13:21
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 21:18

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Zhiwen Luo
Author: Jianing Zhao
Author: Runming Yao
Author: Zhan Shu ORCID iD

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×