Earth Notes: General Bibliography (BEUC2022green)

• [BEUC2022green] Element Energy The Consumer Costs of Decarbonised Heat (accessed 2023-02-28), BEUC, 2022-02, PDF (report) (BibTeX).
  abstract

  This study analyses the cost to consumers of low carbon heating options in the year 2040 in four European countries: Spain, Italy, Czechia, and Poland. We have investigated four archetypal homes in each country and present detailed results for two of these archetypes, typical older (pre-1970) single-family homes and more modern (post-1970) flats in multi-family homes. Detailed results are available in the companion reports prepared for each country as part of this project. We have examined four low carbon heating options within these archetypes: heat pumps, hybrid heat pumps, green hydrogen boilers, and low carbon district heat networks. 2040 electricity costs are predicted for each country using the Element Energy Integrated System Dispatch Model (ISDM), which predicts electricity system operation on an hourly basis, and utilises all available sources of power system flexibility in an integrated manner to determine the optimised operation of the power system when high levels of variable renewables are connected. We assume the electricity grid in each country has significantly decarbonised by 2040 in line with 2050 net zero targets. Green hydrogen costs are estimated using Element Energy's green hydrogen costing tool. This includes country-specific renewable generation profiles and projections for the 2040 cost of hydrogen production technologies, as well as estimated costs for the distribution of hydrogen through the converted gas network.
  note

  [Quote: "Heat pumps provide the most cost-effective route to decarbonisation of home heating across the countries and dwelling archetypes analysed." Quote: "Hybrid heat pumps are more affordable than hydrogen boilers. The heat pump component is assumed here to meet 80% of the total heat demand, and the hydrogen boiler component is assumed to meet the remaining 20%..." Quote: "The technologies considered here have different efficiencies of producing heat from their fuel, heat pumps can operate at 280% efficiency, whereas hydrogen boilers are 85% efficient. Since hydrogen is produced from electricity via electrolysis, using hydrogen boilers to produce heat typically uses 4.5 time as much electricity as producing the heat with a heat pump."]