Heat pumps (HP) are an efficient alternative to non-electric heating systems (NEHS), being a cost-effective mean to support European building sector decarbonization. The paper studies HP and NEHS performance in residential buildings, under different climate conditions and energy tariffs, in six different European countries. Furthermore, a primary energy and environmental analysis is performed to evaluate if the use of HPs is more convenient than NEHS, based on different factors of the electric mix in each country. A specific HP model is developed considering the main physical phenomena occurring along its cycle. Open data from building, climatic and economic sources are used to feed the analysis. Ad hoc primary energy factors and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission coefficients are calculated for the selected countries. The costs and the environmental impact for both heating systems are then compared. The outcomes of the study suggest that, in highly fossil fuels dependent electricity mixes, the use of NEHS represents a more efficient decarbonization approach than HP, in spite of its higher efficiency. Additionally, the actual high price of the electric kWh hampers the use of HP in certain cases.
InnoWEE is a four-year project (from 2016 to 2020) financed by the European Community that involves ten partners from different European countries, as Greece, Italy, Belgium, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Poland. The aim is to use the waste materials coming from construction and demolition processes of buildings and include them into a geopolymeric matrix with the purpose of producing prefabricated panels for different applications. Construction and demolition waste (CDW) materials with suitable characteristics have been selected to develop high performance geopolymeric panels for building walls envelopes and radiant panels for indoor walls and ceilings with low environmental impact. Field tests will be carried out in different sites in Europe characterized by different climatic conditions to check the simplicity of the installation procedure and the performance of the panels in terms of energy efficiency and environmental impact.
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