Environmental footprint analysis of domestic air source heat pumps

Abstract

Air source heat pumps (ASHP) are increasingly being recognised as a low carbon alternative to traditional fossil fuel type heating systems for residential buildings, with many countries targeting their mass deployment to meet their emissions reduction goals. However, the environmental impacts of ASHPs throughout their entire life cycle to include manufacture and end-of-life, as well as operation, have not received comprehensive attention to date. This study addresses this gap by conducting a review of research quantifying the life cycle impact of domestic ASHPs, coupled with an examination of technology uptake and deployment. By analysing the entire life cycle, from production to end-of-life, the ASHP's global warming potential is estimated to be 35.8 t CO2 equivalent over the lifetime of 17 years identified by the study. Additionally, the study conducts a comparative analysis of the operational footprint of selected countries based on their electricity carbon footprint and the ratio of embodied to operational footprint, which ranges from 4 to 65, indicating potential for improvement. Furthermore, the study calculates the global warming potential using both the seasonal performance factor specified by a heat pump manufacturer and real-world field trial data. The findings unveil a significant disparity of 20 % between the two methodologies, underscoring the paramount importance of incorporating in-field heat pump performance data when evaluating their environmental impact.