Title: Exergy analysis of heating options for buildings in the Pacific Northwest

Authors: Heather E. Dillon; Rachel Dzombak; Chrissi Antonopoulos

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Portland, Portland, Oregon, USA ' Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA ' Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 620 SW 5th, Portland, OR 97204, USA

Abstract: A framework for quantifying environmental impact in future energy codes is explored based on exergy analysis. An example exergy analysis is performed that quantifies the environmental impact of electric resistance heating with exergetic efficiency of only 13% compared to 30% and 40% for air source and ground source heat pumps. This provides motivation for removing electric resistance as a space heating option in future energy codes in the Northwest.

Keywords: exergy; building science; building codes; resistance heating; heat pump; sustainability; exergy policy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEX.2019.103180

International Journal of Exergy, 2019 Vol.30 No.3, pp.275 - 293

Received: 30 Jan 2019
Accepted: 08 Jun 2019
Published online: 21 Oct 2019 *

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