Indicative appraisal of clustered micro-generators for a low-carbon transition in the UK building sector

Stephen R. Allen; Benjamin Cohen; Geoffrey P. Hammond

doi:10.1016/j.glt.2020.06.001

Indicative appraisal of clustered micro-generators for a low-carbon transition in the UK building sector

Stephen R. Allen, Benjamin Cohen, Geoffrey P. Hammond

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

4 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

Building ‘zero carbon’ homes will be essential for achieving the carbon reductions within industrialised countries required to meet their commitments under the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. Such high performance buildings may need a combination or ‘cluster’ of micro-generators to be installed, such as a heat pump to provide heating and a solar photovoltaic (PV) array to produce electricity. When sized and installed appropriately, these technologies have lower emissions than the conventional systems they displace (centralised grid electricity and gas-fired boilers). However, if the ‘embodied’ energy and carbon is not recouped from that saved during the lifetime of the micro-generator, then there is no net saving overall. This study therefore assesses a range of clustered micro-generators using an ‘integrated approach’ that combines energy analysis, environmental life-cycle assessment, and an indicative financial appraisal. Eight clusters of micro-generators were designated to meet the heat and electricity requirements of five different dwelling types, each one specified to two different UK performance standards (2006 building regulations and a zero-carbon specification). For these 80 scenarios, various combinations of heat pumps with solar hot water and/or PV systems yield the most attractive performance metrics with all of the clusters having energy and carbon paybacks (4.5–5.5 and 5.0–7.0 years respectively) within their operational lifetimes, and would hence create net savings overall. But the clusters were generally found to have unattractive financial payback periods (50–80 years), although this result will be sensitive to the discount rate and prevailing energy prices and support mechanisms. The focus is on the use of clustered micro-generators in the context of UK transition pathways to a low-carbon economy out to 2050, but the lessons learned are applicable to many industrialised countries.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	83-97
Number of pages	15
Journal	Global Transitions
Volume	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.glt.2020.06.001
Publication status	Published - 10 Jul 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Simple (i.e., undiscounted) financial payback periods for the clusters of micro-generators are shown in Fig. 8. This assumes a 12p/kWh price for electricity and 3p/kWh for natural gas. It also includes a snapshot of indicative subsidy schemes from the UK; the ?2500 Low Carbon Buildings Programme (LCBP) grant for PV and the ?35 per 1000 kWh of electricity generated in return for a Renewable Obligation Certificate (ROC). All of the clusters were found not to payback their financial investment within a nominal 25-year lifetime. The longest payback periods occur for those clusters that incorporate more than two technologies. Thus, the [Gas boiler, PV] cluster has the shortest financial payback period as only two technologies are used, with the gas boiler having a relatively low capital cost. It should be noted that a COP of at least 3.6 is required for an air or ground-source heat pump to save money when compared to a 90% efficient gas boiler. Therefore, clusters containing ASHP are seen (Fig. 8) to have relatively long financial payback periods.This work is a much extended version of a paper presented at the MICRoGEN-II Conference to that was held in Glasgow over 4?6 April 2011, which was co-sponsored by Annex 54 of the International Energy Agency (IEA): their ?Integration of Micro-generation and Related Energy Technologies in Buildings? Programme and the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Energy Programme ?Highly Distributed Energy Futures? (HiDEF) SUPERGEN Consortium. It was supported by UK research grants awarded by the UKRI Energy Programme, originally as part of the SUPERGEN ?Highly Distributed Power Systems? (HDPS) Consortium [under Grant GR/T28836/01; for which Prof. Geoffrey Hammond was a Co-Investigator]; subsequently renewed as the HiDEF Consortium [under Grant EP/G031681/1; for which Prof. Hammond was again a Co-Investigator]. These consortia involve a number of academic and industrial partners. Dr Stephen Allen was directly under the auspices of the HDPS Consortium, and is now a Lecturer. Prof. Hammond also jointly led a large consortium of university partners (jointly with Prof. Peter Pearson of Imperial College London, an energy economist) funded via the strategic partnership between e.on UK (the electricity generator) and the UKRI Energy Programme to study the role of electricity within the context of ?Transition Pathways to a Low Carbon Economy? [under Grant EP/F022832/1], and its successor project solely funded by the EPSRC entitled ?Realising Transition Pathways: Whole Systems Analysis for a UK More Electric Low Carbon Energy Future? [under Grant EP/K005316/1]. The idea for undertaking research on clustered micro-generators in the home stemmed from a discussion [under the auspices of the then UK Energy Technologies Institute (ETI); a public-private body] between Prof. Hammond and two industrial colleagues: Antoine Aslanides of EdF [then Group Manager - Distributed Resources, at their European Institute for Energy Research (EIFER), Karlsruhe] and Andrew Thomas of e.on UK [then Manager - Innovation Team, e.on Engineering, based at their Newstead Court offices in Nottingham]. Ben Cohen wishes to thank the Carmarthenshire County Council and the Higher Education Funding Council for England for financial support of his studies. However, the views expressed are those of the authors alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the collaborators or the policies of the funding bodies. All the authors wish to thank Toby Balson (of the Building Research Establishment) for his assistance with the SAP models for homes, and a number of colleagues at the University of Bath (Department of Mechanical Engineering): Dr Craig Jones for guidance on embodied carbon (and the use of the ICE database); Charles Pope for his assistance with the SimaPro (LCA) software; Dr Hassan Harajli for help with the financial analysis; and finally the late Mrs Gill Green for her care in preparing the figures. The authors? names are listed alphabetically.

Funding Information:
This work is a much extended version of a paper presented at the MICRoGEN-II Conference to that was held in Glasgow over 4–6 April 2011, which was co-sponsored by Annex 54 of the International Energy Agency (IEA) : their ‘Integration of Micro-generation and Related Energy Technologies in Buildings’ Programme and the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Energy Programme ‘Highly Distributed Energy Futures’ (HiDEF) SUPERGEN Consortium. It was supported by UK research grants awarded by the UKRI Energy Programme , originally as part of the SUPERGEN ‘Highly Distributed Power Systems’ (HDPS) Consortium [under Grant GR/T28836/01 ; for which Prof. Geoffrey Hammond was a Co-Investigator]; subsequently renewed as the HiDEF Consortium [under Grant EP/G031681/1 ; for which Prof. Hammond was again a Co-Investigator]. These consortia involve a number of academic and industrial partners. Dr Stephen Allen was directly under the auspices of the HDPS Consortium, and is now a Lecturer. Prof. Hammond also jointly led a large consortium of university partners (jointly with Prof. Peter Pearson of Imperial College London, an energy economist) funded via the strategic partnership between e.on UK (the electricity generator) and the UKRI Energy Programme to study the role of electricity within the context of ‘Transition Pathways to a Low Carbon Economy’ [under Grant EP/F022832/1 ], and its successor project solely funded by the EPSRC entitled ‘Realising Transition Pathways: Whole Systems Analysis for a UK More Electric Low Carbon Energy Future’ [under Grant EP/K005316/1 ]. The idea for undertaking research on clustered micro-generators in the home stemmed from a discussion [under the auspices of the then UK Energy Technologies Institute (ETI); a public-private body] between Prof. Hammond and two industrial colleagues: Antoine Aslanides of EdF [then Group Manager - Distributed Resources, at their European Institute for Energy Research (EIFER), Karlsruhe] and Andrew Thomas of e.on UK [then Manager - Innovation Team, e.on Engineering, based at their Newstead Court offices in Nottingham]. Ben Cohen wishes to thank the Carmarthenshire County Council and the Higher Education Funding Council for England for financial support of his studies. However, the views expressed are those of the authors alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the collaborators or the policies of the funding bodies. All the authors wish to thank Toby Balson (of the Building Research Establishment) for his assistance with the SAP models for homes, and a number of colleagues at the University of Bath (Department of Mechanical Engineering): Dr Craig Jones for guidance on embodied carbon (and the use of the ICE database); Charles Pope for his assistance with the SimaPro (LCA) software; Dr Hassan Harajli for help with the financial analysis; and finally the late Mrs Gill Green for her care in preparing the figures.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Authors

Keywords

Distributed generation
Micro-generators
Energy, carbon and financial analyses
Low-carbon energy transitions

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Development
Health(social science)
Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.glt.2020.06.001Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

@article{2005acc969ee4f30b0226be4e0b5994c,

title = "Indicative appraisal of clustered micro-generators for a low-carbon transition in the UK building sector",

abstract = "Building {\textquoteleft}zero carbon{\textquoteright} homes will be essential for achieving the carbon reductions within industrialised countries required to meet their commitments under the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. Such high performance buildings may need a combination or {\textquoteleft}cluster{\textquoteright} of micro-generators to be installed, such as a heat pump to provide heating and a solar photovoltaic (PV) array to produce electricity. When sized and installed appropriately, these technologies have lower emissions than the conventional systems they displace (centralised grid electricity and gas-fired boilers). However, if the {\textquoteleft}embodied{\textquoteright} energy and carbon is not recouped from that saved during the lifetime of the micro-generator, then there is no net saving overall. This study therefore assesses a range of clustered micro-generators using an {\textquoteleft}integrated approach{\textquoteright} that combines energy analysis, environmental life-cycle assessment, and an indicative financial appraisal. Eight clusters of micro-generators were designated to meet the heat and electricity requirements of five different dwelling types, each one specified to two different UK performance standards (2006 building regulations and a zero-carbon specification). For these 80 scenarios, various combinations of heat pumps with solar hot water and/or PV systems yield the most attractive performance metrics with all of the clusters having energy and carbon paybacks (4.5–5.5 and 5.0–7.0 years respectively) within their operational lifetimes, and would hence create net savings overall. But the clusters were generally found to have unattractive financial payback periods (50–80 years), although this result will be sensitive to the discount rate and prevailing energy prices and support mechanisms. The focus is on the use of clustered micro-generators in the context of UK transition pathways to a low-carbon economy out to 2050, but the lessons learned are applicable to many industrialised countries.",

keywords = "Distributed generation, Micro-generators, Energy, carbon and financial analyses, Low-carbon energy transitions",

author = "Allen, {Stephen R.} and Benjamin Cohen and Hammond, {Geoffrey P.}",

note = "Funding Information: Simple (i.e., undiscounted) financial payback periods for the clusters of micro-generators are shown in Fig. 8. This assumes a 12p/kWh price for electricity and 3p/kWh for natural gas. It also includes a snapshot of indicative subsidy schemes from the UK; the ?2500 Low Carbon Buildings Programme (LCBP) grant for PV and the ?35 per 1000 kWh of electricity generated in return for a Renewable Obligation Certificate (ROC). All of the clusters were found not to payback their financial investment within a nominal 25-year lifetime. The longest payback periods occur for those clusters that incorporate more than two technologies. Thus, the [Gas boiler, PV] cluster has the shortest financial payback period as only two technologies are used, with the gas boiler having a relatively low capital cost. It should be noted that a COP of at least 3.6 is required for an air or ground-source heat pump to save money when compared to a 90% efficient gas boiler. Therefore, clusters containing ASHP are seen (Fig. 8) to have relatively long financial payback periods.This work is a much extended version of a paper presented at the MICRoGEN-II Conference to that was held in Glasgow over 4?6 April 2011, which was co-sponsored by Annex 54 of the International Energy Agency (IEA): their ?Integration of Micro-generation and Related Energy Technologies in Buildings? Programme and the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Energy Programme ?Highly Distributed Energy Futures? (HiDEF) SUPERGEN Consortium. It was supported by UK research grants awarded by the UKRI Energy Programme, originally as part of the SUPERGEN ?Highly Distributed Power Systems? (HDPS) Consortium [under Grant GR/T28836/01; for which Prof. Geoffrey Hammond was a Co-Investigator]; subsequently renewed as the HiDEF Consortium [under Grant EP/G031681/1; for which Prof. Hammond was again a Co-Investigator]. These consortia involve a number of academic and industrial partners. Dr Stephen Allen was directly under the auspices of the HDPS Consortium, and is now a Lecturer. Prof. Hammond also jointly led a large consortium of university partners (jointly with Prof. Peter Pearson of Imperial College London, an energy economist) funded via the strategic partnership between e.on UK (the electricity generator) and the UKRI Energy Programme to study the role of electricity within the context of ?Transition Pathways to a Low Carbon Economy? [under Grant EP/F022832/1], and its successor project solely funded by the EPSRC entitled ?Realising Transition Pathways: Whole Systems Analysis for a UK More Electric Low Carbon Energy Future? [under Grant EP/K005316/1]. The idea for undertaking research on clustered micro-generators in the home stemmed from a discussion [under the auspices of the then UK Energy Technologies Institute (ETI); a public-private body] between Prof. Hammond and two industrial colleagues: Antoine Aslanides of EdF [then Group Manager - Distributed Resources, at their European Institute for Energy Research (EIFER), Karlsruhe] and Andrew Thomas of e.on UK [then Manager - Innovation Team, e.on Engineering, based at their Newstead Court offices in Nottingham]. Ben Cohen wishes to thank the Carmarthenshire County Council and the Higher Education Funding Council for England for financial support of his studies. However, the views expressed are those of the authors alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the collaborators or the policies of the funding bodies. All the authors wish to thank Toby Balson (of the Building Research Establishment) for his assistance with the SAP models for homes, and a number of colleagues at the University of Bath (Department of Mechanical Engineering): Dr Craig Jones for guidance on embodied carbon (and the use of the ICE database); Charles Pope for his assistance with the SimaPro (LCA) software; Dr Hassan Harajli for help with the financial analysis; and finally the late Mrs Gill Green for her care in preparing the figures. The authors? names are listed alphabetically. Funding Information: This work is a much extended version of a paper presented at the MICRoGEN-II Conference to that was held in Glasgow over 4–6 April 2011, which was co-sponsored by Annex 54 of the International Energy Agency (IEA) : their {\textquoteleft}Integration of Micro-generation and Related Energy Technologies in Buildings{\textquoteright} Programme and the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Energy Programme {\textquoteleft}Highly Distributed Energy Futures{\textquoteright} (HiDEF) SUPERGEN Consortium. It was supported by UK research grants awarded by the UKRI Energy Programme , originally as part of the SUPERGEN {\textquoteleft}Highly Distributed Power Systems{\textquoteright} (HDPS) Consortium [under Grant GR/T28836/01 ; for which Prof. Geoffrey Hammond was a Co-Investigator]; subsequently renewed as the HiDEF Consortium [under Grant EP/G031681/1 ; for which Prof. Hammond was again a Co-Investigator]. These consortia involve a number of academic and industrial partners. Dr Stephen Allen was directly under the auspices of the HDPS Consortium, and is now a Lecturer. Prof. Hammond also jointly led a large consortium of university partners (jointly with Prof. Peter Pearson of Imperial College London, an energy economist) funded via the strategic partnership between e.on UK (the electricity generator) and the UKRI Energy Programme to study the role of electricity within the context of {\textquoteleft}Transition Pathways to a Low Carbon Economy{\textquoteright} [under Grant EP/F022832/1 ], and its successor project solely funded by the EPSRC entitled {\textquoteleft}Realising Transition Pathways: Whole Systems Analysis for a UK More Electric Low Carbon Energy Future{\textquoteright} [under Grant EP/K005316/1 ]. The idea for undertaking research on clustered micro-generators in the home stemmed from a discussion [under the auspices of the then UK Energy Technologies Institute (ETI); a public-private body] between Prof. Hammond and two industrial colleagues: Antoine Aslanides of EdF [then Group Manager - Distributed Resources, at their European Institute for Energy Research (EIFER), Karlsruhe] and Andrew Thomas of e.on UK [then Manager - Innovation Team, e.on Engineering, based at their Newstead Court offices in Nottingham]. Ben Cohen wishes to thank the Carmarthenshire County Council and the Higher Education Funding Council for England for financial support of his studies. However, the views expressed are those of the authors alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the collaborators or the policies of the funding bodies. All the authors wish to thank Toby Balson (of the Building Research Establishment) for his assistance with the SAP models for homes, and a number of colleagues at the University of Bath (Department of Mechanical Engineering): Dr Craig Jones for guidance on embodied carbon (and the use of the ICE database); Charles Pope for his assistance with the SimaPro (LCA) software; Dr Hassan Harajli for help with the financial analysis; and finally the late Mrs Gill Green for her care in preparing the figures. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 The Authors",

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T1 - Indicative appraisal of clustered micro-generators for a low-carbon transition in the UK building sector

AU - Allen, Stephen R.

AU - Cohen, Benjamin

AU - Hammond, Geoffrey P.

N1 - Funding Information: Simple (i.e., undiscounted) financial payback periods for the clusters of micro-generators are shown in Fig. 8. This assumes a 12p/kWh price for electricity and 3p/kWh for natural gas. It also includes a snapshot of indicative subsidy schemes from the UK; the ?2500 Low Carbon Buildings Programme (LCBP) grant for PV and the ?35 per 1000 kWh of electricity generated in return for a Renewable Obligation Certificate (ROC). All of the clusters were found not to payback their financial investment within a nominal 25-year lifetime. The longest payback periods occur for those clusters that incorporate more than two technologies. Thus, the [Gas boiler, PV] cluster has the shortest financial payback period as only two technologies are used, with the gas boiler having a relatively low capital cost. It should be noted that a COP of at least 3.6 is required for an air or ground-source heat pump to save money when compared to a 90% efficient gas boiler. Therefore, clusters containing ASHP are seen (Fig. 8) to have relatively long financial payback periods.This work is a much extended version of a paper presented at the MICRoGEN-II Conference to that was held in Glasgow over 4?6 April 2011, which was co-sponsored by Annex 54 of the International Energy Agency (IEA): their ?Integration of Micro-generation and Related Energy Technologies in Buildings? Programme and the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Energy Programme ?Highly Distributed Energy Futures? (HiDEF) SUPERGEN Consortium. It was supported by UK research grants awarded by the UKRI Energy Programme, originally as part of the SUPERGEN ?Highly Distributed Power Systems? (HDPS) Consortium [under Grant GR/T28836/01; for which Prof. Geoffrey Hammond was a Co-Investigator]; subsequently renewed as the HiDEF Consortium [under Grant EP/G031681/1; for which Prof. Hammond was again a Co-Investigator]. These consortia involve a number of academic and industrial partners. Dr Stephen Allen was directly under the auspices of the HDPS Consortium, and is now a Lecturer. Prof. Hammond also jointly led a large consortium of university partners (jointly with Prof. Peter Pearson of Imperial College London, an energy economist) funded via the strategic partnership between e.on UK (the electricity generator) and the UKRI Energy Programme to study the role of electricity within the context of ?Transition Pathways to a Low Carbon Economy? [under Grant EP/F022832/1], and its successor project solely funded by the EPSRC entitled ?Realising Transition Pathways: Whole Systems Analysis for a UK More Electric Low Carbon Energy Future? [under Grant EP/K005316/1]. The idea for undertaking research on clustered micro-generators in the home stemmed from a discussion [under the auspices of the then UK Energy Technologies Institute (ETI); a public-private body] between Prof. Hammond and two industrial colleagues: Antoine Aslanides of EdF [then Group Manager - Distributed Resources, at their European Institute for Energy Research (EIFER), Karlsruhe] and Andrew Thomas of e.on UK [then Manager - Innovation Team, e.on Engineering, based at their Newstead Court offices in Nottingham]. Ben Cohen wishes to thank the Carmarthenshire County Council and the Higher Education Funding Council for England for financial support of his studies. However, the views expressed are those of the authors alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the collaborators or the policies of the funding bodies. All the authors wish to thank Toby Balson (of the Building Research Establishment) for his assistance with the SAP models for homes, and a number of colleagues at the University of Bath (Department of Mechanical Engineering): Dr Craig Jones for guidance on embodied carbon (and the use of the ICE database); Charles Pope for his assistance with the SimaPro (LCA) software; Dr Hassan Harajli for help with the financial analysis; and finally the late Mrs Gill Green for her care in preparing the figures. The authors? names are listed alphabetically. Funding Information: This work is a much extended version of a paper presented at the MICRoGEN-II Conference to that was held in Glasgow over 4–6 April 2011, which was co-sponsored by Annex 54 of the International Energy Agency (IEA) : their ‘Integration of Micro-generation and Related Energy Technologies in Buildings’ Programme and the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Energy Programme ‘Highly Distributed Energy Futures’ (HiDEF) SUPERGEN Consortium. It was supported by UK research grants awarded by the UKRI Energy Programme , originally as part of the SUPERGEN ‘Highly Distributed Power Systems’ (HDPS) Consortium [under Grant GR/T28836/01 ; for which Prof. Geoffrey Hammond was a Co-Investigator]; subsequently renewed as the HiDEF Consortium [under Grant EP/G031681/1 ; for which Prof. Hammond was again a Co-Investigator]. These consortia involve a number of academic and industrial partners. Dr Stephen Allen was directly under the auspices of the HDPS Consortium, and is now a Lecturer. Prof. Hammond also jointly led a large consortium of university partners (jointly with Prof. Peter Pearson of Imperial College London, an energy economist) funded via the strategic partnership between e.on UK (the electricity generator) and the UKRI Energy Programme to study the role of electricity within the context of ‘Transition Pathways to a Low Carbon Economy’ [under Grant EP/F022832/1 ], and its successor project solely funded by the EPSRC entitled ‘Realising Transition Pathways: Whole Systems Analysis for a UK More Electric Low Carbon Energy Future’ [under Grant EP/K005316/1 ]. The idea for undertaking research on clustered micro-generators in the home stemmed from a discussion [under the auspices of the then UK Energy Technologies Institute (ETI); a public-private body] between Prof. Hammond and two industrial colleagues: Antoine Aslanides of EdF [then Group Manager - Distributed Resources, at their European Institute for Energy Research (EIFER), Karlsruhe] and Andrew Thomas of e.on UK [then Manager - Innovation Team, e.on Engineering, based at their Newstead Court offices in Nottingham]. Ben Cohen wishes to thank the Carmarthenshire County Council and the Higher Education Funding Council for England for financial support of his studies. However, the views expressed are those of the authors alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the collaborators or the policies of the funding bodies. All the authors wish to thank Toby Balson (of the Building Research Establishment) for his assistance with the SAP models for homes, and a number of colleagues at the University of Bath (Department of Mechanical Engineering): Dr Craig Jones for guidance on embodied carbon (and the use of the ICE database); Charles Pope for his assistance with the SimaPro (LCA) software; Dr Hassan Harajli for help with the financial analysis; and finally the late Mrs Gill Green for her care in preparing the figures. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Authors

PY - 2020/7/10

Y1 - 2020/7/10

N2 - Building ‘zero carbon’ homes will be essential for achieving the carbon reductions within industrialised countries required to meet their commitments under the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. Such high performance buildings may need a combination or ‘cluster’ of micro-generators to be installed, such as a heat pump to provide heating and a solar photovoltaic (PV) array to produce electricity. When sized and installed appropriately, these technologies have lower emissions than the conventional systems they displace (centralised grid electricity and gas-fired boilers). However, if the ‘embodied’ energy and carbon is not recouped from that saved during the lifetime of the micro-generator, then there is no net saving overall. This study therefore assesses a range of clustered micro-generators using an ‘integrated approach’ that combines energy analysis, environmental life-cycle assessment, and an indicative financial appraisal. Eight clusters of micro-generators were designated to meet the heat and electricity requirements of five different dwelling types, each one specified to two different UK performance standards (2006 building regulations and a zero-carbon specification). For these 80 scenarios, various combinations of heat pumps with solar hot water and/or PV systems yield the most attractive performance metrics with all of the clusters having energy and carbon paybacks (4.5–5.5 and 5.0–7.0 years respectively) within their operational lifetimes, and would hence create net savings overall. But the clusters were generally found to have unattractive financial payback periods (50–80 years), although this result will be sensitive to the discount rate and prevailing energy prices and support mechanisms. The focus is on the use of clustered micro-generators in the context of UK transition pathways to a low-carbon economy out to 2050, but the lessons learned are applicable to many industrialised countries.

AB - Building ‘zero carbon’ homes will be essential for achieving the carbon reductions within industrialised countries required to meet their commitments under the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. Such high performance buildings may need a combination or ‘cluster’ of micro-generators to be installed, such as a heat pump to provide heating and a solar photovoltaic (PV) array to produce electricity. When sized and installed appropriately, these technologies have lower emissions than the conventional systems they displace (centralised grid electricity and gas-fired boilers). However, if the ‘embodied’ energy and carbon is not recouped from that saved during the lifetime of the micro-generator, then there is no net saving overall. This study therefore assesses a range of clustered micro-generators using an ‘integrated approach’ that combines energy analysis, environmental life-cycle assessment, and an indicative financial appraisal. Eight clusters of micro-generators were designated to meet the heat and electricity requirements of five different dwelling types, each one specified to two different UK performance standards (2006 building regulations and a zero-carbon specification). For these 80 scenarios, various combinations of heat pumps with solar hot water and/or PV systems yield the most attractive performance metrics with all of the clusters having energy and carbon paybacks (4.5–5.5 and 5.0–7.0 years respectively) within their operational lifetimes, and would hence create net savings overall. But the clusters were generally found to have unattractive financial payback periods (50–80 years), although this result will be sensitive to the discount rate and prevailing energy prices and support mechanisms. The focus is on the use of clustered micro-generators in the context of UK transition pathways to a low-carbon economy out to 2050, but the lessons learned are applicable to many industrialised countries.

KW - Distributed generation

KW - Micro-generators

KW - Energy, carbon and financial analyses

KW - Low-carbon energy transitions

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U2 - 10.1016/j.glt.2020.06.001

DO - 10.1016/j.glt.2020.06.001

M3 - Article

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VL - 2

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JO - Global Transitions

JF - Global Transitions

ER -

Indicative appraisal of clustered micro-generators for a low-carbon transition in the UK building sector

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Realising Transition Pathways

TRANSITION PATHWAYS TO A LOW CARBON ECONOMY

Cite this

Indicative appraisal of clustered micro-generators for a low-carbon transition in the UK building sector

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Projects

Realising Transition Pathways

TRANSITION PATHWAYS TO A LOW CARBON ECONOMY

Cite this