EEEN60422 - Zero carbon Built Infrastructure

LECTURER:
Rodger Edwards ( School of MACE)
 Section 2.03:

Carbon Emissions and Carbon Factors

 In this section:

We will look at CO2 emissions and the

use of carbon factors as a means of
assessing the CO2 emissions of a range
of fuel options
WHY DO EMISSIONS MATTER?

Whether we are total believers in

climate change is an issue for debate.

However, here is another compelling

reason to reduce fossil fuel usage and
hence CO2 emissions
Source: http://www.wtrg.com/prices.htm
Source: http://www.wtrg.com/prices.htm
 EMISSIONS MATTER

Fuel costs are now a major

consideration for both home owners
and for businesses. Major savings can
be achieved by making better use of
fossil fuels
Tonnes of carbon emitted per
annum by type

Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Global_Carbon_Emission_by_Type_to_Y2004.png
 EMISSIONS MATTER
For more information on CO2 emissions,
visit the website of the

Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis

Center (CDIAC)

( part of the US Department of Energy)

http://cdiac.ornl.gov/
 EMISSIONS MATTER

Shale gas may of course completely

undermine this argument ( shame if it did)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20595228
 EMISSIONS MATTER

Fuel costs are now a major

consideration for both home owners
and for businesses. Major savings can
be achieved by making better use of
fossil fuels
 Carbon factors

When considering the sustainability of buildings

and their compliance with building codes,
their contribution to carbon dioxide emissions
is a most important factor.
 Carbon factors

The size of the contribution within a given

building depends upon the mixture of energy
sources that are used.
 Carbon factors

In the UK, many buildings use a combination of

natural gas and electricity.

In some areas where there is no natural gas

supply, bottled gas ( liquid propane) or fuel oil
will often be used instead.
 Carbon factors

All electric buildings ( especially dwellings) are

very rare at the moment, due to bad
experiences in the 1970s and early 80s and
high running costs.
 Carbon factors

With the use of electricity come the CO2

emissions produced by the generation process
 Carbon factors

At the moment, the associated emissions are

high, but hopefully should diminish as
renewables increase as a proportion of the
overall supply mix.
The Building Regulations for England and Wales
Approved Document L(see Section 2.04) provide
a table which expresses the carbon dioxide
emissions of a range of power and fuel options
in terms of the

mass of CO2 (kg) emitted per kilowatt hour of

energy consumed.

This quantity is referred to as the emission

factor.
For a more detailed discussion of carbon
factors, visit the Carbon Trust web site:

http://www.carbontrust.com/media/18223/
ctl153_conversion_factors.pdf
 TO REFRESH OUR MEMORIES ( AND
APOLOGIES TO THOSE WHO REMEMBER!!)

One kilowatt hour (kWh) ≡ 3.6x106 J

 These are the values of carbon factors prescribed in 2013:
Energy source Carbon ( emission) factor (kg of CO2/kWh)
Grid electricity 0.517
Anthracite 0.318
Coal 0.301
Natural gas 0.18
Heating oil 0.198
Waste combustion ( district heating only) 0.04
Biomass / biogas 0.018
Electricity generated on site by renewables -0.529
 The negative carbon emission factor means that on
site generation may be used to reduce the CO2
emissions from buildings.

There is some doubt expressed about the validity of

the stated carbon factor of -0.529. The suspicion is
that it is an over statement. This number represents a
reduction from the previous value of -0.568

Your “zero energy building” might not be…..

 Examples of use of carbon
factors

The following examples illustrate how to

use carbon factors to estimate CO2
emissions from buildings.
 Example 2.03.1

A building has a total heat loss rate of

1083.4W oC
Calculate the rate of CO2 emission per day if

i) Biogas ( district heating)

ii) Natural gas or
iii) Electricity from the grid
were to be used as the source of heating.
 Assume that

o mean daily inside – outside temperature difference is

20oC

o the heating is running for 24 hours per day

 Solution 2.03.1

Firstly, calculate the heat demand.

Heat demand = rate of heat loss. temperature
difference
= 1083.4 *20 = 21668W

Since 1W ≡ 1 J/s ( sorry for reminder!!)

So if the heating is on for 24 hours, then in a day

21668*24*3600 = 1.8721*109J
would be required to heat the building
 Since 1kWhr ≡ 3.6x106J,

1.8721*109/(3.6x106)

= 521kWh

would be required to heat the building per day.

CO2 output = energy output * emission factor for the
fuel.
The results are tabulated thus:

Emission factor kg CO2 produced

( from table in notes) per day
i) Biogas 0.025 13
ii) Natural gas 0.198 103
iii) Grid 0.517 269
Electricity
The answers suggest that the biogas option would
result in less than 5% of the CO2 emissions
resulting from the grid electricity option.

The biogas option would result in about 40% of the

CO2 emissions compared to the grid electricity
option
 Example 2.03.2

For the same building, calculate the overall

daily CO2emissions for the following
scenarios:

(1) All electric with 50% of the electricity

coming from renewables
(2) 50% gas, 30% mains electricity and 20%
renewables
 In this example we have part of the
energy demand being met from mixed
fuel sources.

This means that the CO2 emissions must

be shared out between the fuel sources
on a weighted basis.
 So the total CO2 emission, CO2TOT is given by

CO2TOT = Htot*f1*CF1+……..Htot*fn*CFn

Where Htot = total heat requirement

fn = fraction of total heat

requirement taken from fuel
source n
CFn = Carbon emission factor for fuel
source n
Remember from Example 2.02.2 that 521kWh
would be required to heat the building per day.
Case 1

All electric with 50% of the electricity

coming from on site renewable sources

CO2TOT = 0.5*521*.517
+ 0.5*521*-0.529
= 134.68 – 137.80
= -3.12kg per day
Case 2

50% gas, 30% mains electricity and 20%

renewables

CO2TOT = 0.5*521*.198
+ 0.3*521*.517
+ 0.2*521*-0.529
= 51.58 + 80.81 - 55.12
= 77.27 kg
In Case 1, the building heating system would seem
to be making CO2 disappear.

This is a function of the artificial emission factor for

renewables.

In reality, it would be likely that the calculation is

too optimistic as the negative carbon factor for
renewables is not fully justified.
 Carbon vanishes – just like that!

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/897821

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn4kH9c
0JdA
DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC?
In Case 2, around 40% of the CO2 emissions
from fossil fuels are being offset by
renewables, if you believe in -0.529.
In late 2013, in response to growing criticism,
the carbon factors were changed.
 Carbon factors

Fuel Emissions kg CO2

per
kWh
electricity, any tariff 0.519
manufactured smokeless fuel 0.433
house coal 0.394
heating oil 0.298
bulk LPG 0.241
mains gas 0.216
bioethanol 0.14
biodiesel from any biomass source 0.123
biogas (including anaerobic digestion) 0.098
wood pellets 0.039
wood chips 0.016

(Taken from the SAP 2012 (October 2013 revision) Manual)

Here’s something to do for the rest of the
class.
Rework example 2. 03. 2 using the new
carbon factors.
 In the next Session….

o We will address the issue of current

regulatory requirements