Assessment of options to reduce pollutant emissions in single-family houses in north-eastern Poland

Abstract

The article presents the results of a study aiming to select the optimal source of heat for a newly designed single-family home. Commercial software was used to compare heating and ventilation systems involving a bituminous coal boiler, a condensing gas boiler, a biomass boiler, and a heat pump with water and glycol as heat transfer media. The effectiveness of natural ventilation, mechanical ventilation with a ground-coupled heat exchanger, and solar heater panels (flat and tubular) for water heating was evaluated. The analysis was based on the annual demand for useful energy, final energy and non-renewable primary energy in view of the pollution output of the evaluated heating systems. The analysis revealed that the heat pump with water and glycol as heat transfer media was the optimal solution. However, the performance of the heat pump in real-life conditions was below its maximum theoretical efficiency. The biomass boiler contributed to the highest reduction in pollutant emissions, but it was characterized by the highest demand for final energy. Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery was required in all analyzed systems to achieve the optimal results. Laboratory analyses confirmed the high efficiency of the tube heat exchanger in winter.