Description

An office building and a school building were used to investigate the source energy requirements and environmental emissions attributable to the operation of space conditioning systems serving facility cooling requirements. The hourly electrical and gas demands for a range of space conditioning system types (conventional electric chiller, chilled water storage, ice storage, ice storage with low temperature air, absorption) were traced back to the pointwhere fuel is extracted from the earth (i.e., the source). All electrical consumption was assumed to be generated and delivered by the last utility plant (marginal) dispatched to meet the aggregate electrical demand in two different utility service territories. The two utilities, with different generation mixes and marginal dispatch plans, formed the basis to assess the source energy requirements and emissions associated with electrical usage in the present analysis. Marginal unit dispatch was determined on a lowest operational cost basis, provided with the utility data.

On an annual basis, thermal energy storage systems had lower source energy requirements and resulting environmental emissions than a base case of an electric direct chilling system. Emission results in all categories were lower than the base. Chilled water systems tended to have the best performance, but ice storage with cold air also performed very well. Absorption systems tended to have lower NO_x and SO₂ emissions; however, they had the highest source energy consumption, the highest CO₂ emissions, and the highest Global Warming Index (GWI) compared with all other options.

Units: Dual

Citation: ASHRAE Transactions, vol. 107, pt. 1

Product Details

Published:

2001

Number of Pages:

13

File Size:

1 file , 190 KB

Product Code(s):

D-22510