{"id":1484,"date":"2022-12-07T17:58:43","date_gmt":"2022-12-08T00:58:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/melceencapstoneprojects\/?p=1484"},"modified":"2023-04-14T19:34:48","modified_gmt":"2023-04-15T02:34:48","slug":"business-and-climate-case-for-heat-pumps-across-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/melceencapstoneprojects\/ceen2022capstoneprojects\/business-and-climate-case-for-heat-pumps-across-canada","title":{"rendered":"Business and Climate Case for Heat Pumps Across Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"

Siya Ulsha | MEL Candidate | Dec 16, 2022<\/p>\n

Mentor: Tom<\/span>–<\/span>Pierre Frapp\u00e9<\/span>–<\/span>S\u00e9n\u00e9clauze, <\/span>Pembina Institute<\/p>\n

Abstract<\/h2>\n
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Canada has around 480,000 commercial and institutional buildings, including <\/span>offices, retail <\/span>establishments, and warehouses, in addition to over 15 million residential <\/span>structures.<\/span> A<\/span> significant portion of Canada’s energy demand, or around 25% of all final <\/span>energy consumption, comes from the buildings sector. The climate in Canada has a <\/span>significant <\/span>impact on how much energy is used for things like heating <\/span> (<\/span>and cooling<\/span>)<\/span>, <\/span>which account for about 65% of the energy used in this sector.<\/span> Hence, to attain the <\/span>climate targets decarbonization of this heating load is necessary<\/span>. <\/span> For a number of <\/span>uses, including both new residences and retrofits of old heating and cooling systems, <\/span>heat pumps can be a great option<\/span> due to:<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2022<\/span> In Canada, heat pumps are a <\/span>proven<\/span> technol<\/span>ogy that can control your home’s <\/span>temperature throughout the year by delivering heat in the winter, cooling in the <\/span>summer, and in certain circumstances, heating hot water.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2022<\/span> The ongoing increase in renewable electricity generation will make heat pumps <\/span>the optimal choice for the future.<\/span>
\u2022<\/span> As the incremental cost to switch from a cooling<\/span>–<\/span>only\/ Heating only system to a <\/span>heat <\/span>pump is relatively minimal, they are also an option for replacing old HVAC <\/span>systems.<\/span>
\u2022<\/span> The way heat pumps work is different. Thermal energy is transferred between <\/span>two sites using the heat pump’s input energy. Due to this, heat pumps typically <\/span>run at efficienc<\/span>y well above 100%, meaning that more thermal energy is <\/span>generated than is required to pump the heat.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Geography has a significant positive impact on Canada’s electricity production <\/span>industry. Nearly 80% of generation <\/span>can be regarded as non<\/span>–<\/span>emitting<\/span>.<\/span> At the same time <\/span>n<\/span>ot all provinces and territories have adopted renewable energy equally, and their <\/span>electricity grids are not well<\/span>–<\/span>connected. As a result, the carbon footprint of heat pumps <\/span>varies significantly <\/span> across provinces. <\/span> This study is trying to find<\/span> if<\/span> switchi<\/span>ng to <\/span>electric heat pumps for space heating instead of heating oil or gas lowers greenhouse <\/span>gas emissions across Canada.<\/span> The answer to that question varies in each province <\/span>and territory depending on two main factors. The amount of GHGs released as a result <\/span>of the h<\/span>eat pump’s electricity use will first depend on the electricity mix of the local grid. <\/span>The efficiency of heat pumps is also influenced by the local climate. A heat pump will <\/span>use more electricity to heat a building of a similar size depending on how cold th<\/span>e <\/span>environment is. Higher electricity consumption impacts the carbon footprint of the heat <\/span>pump.<\/span> Furthermore, the analysis attempts to understand<\/span> the economic viability of <\/span>heat pumps across <\/span> Canada<\/span>.<\/span> The economic case for heat pumps is influence<\/span>d by a <\/span>number of factors. The payback period of the upgrade will primarily depend on the <\/span>price of heat pumps. In order to calculate the annual savings in operational costs, it is <\/span>important to consider the cost of gas and electricity in various scenarios. A<\/span>nother <\/span>important factor in determining the economic case for heat pumps is the local climate <\/span>and heating needs.<\/span> Hence t<\/span>he<\/span> project <\/span>develop<\/span>s<\/span> a business case for heat pumps as an <\/span>alternative to natural gas for space heating <\/span>in various Canadian cities. It also tries to <\/span>forecast when this fuel switch will result in a net reduction in carbon emissions.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Siya Ulsha | MEL Candidate | Dec 16, 2022 Mentor: Tom–Pierre Frapp\u00e9–S\u00e9n\u00e9clauze, Pembina Institute Abstract Canada has around 480,000 commercial and institutional buildings, including offices, retail establishments, and warehouses, in addition to over 15 million residential structures. A significant portion of Canada’s energy demand, or around 25% of all final energy consumption, comes from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35992,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[810,14],"tags":[45,42,46,39,47,48],"class_list":["post-1484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-carbon-projects","category-ceen2022capstoneprojects","tag-business-case-study","tag-canada","tag-climate-change","tag-heat-pumps","tag-private-industry","tag-private-sector"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/melceencapstoneprojects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/melceencapstoneprojects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/melceencapstoneprojects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/melceencapstoneprojects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35992"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/melceencapstoneprojects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1484"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/melceencapstoneprojects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1618,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/melceencapstoneprojects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1484\/revisions\/1618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/melceencapstoneprojects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/melceencapstoneprojects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/melceencapstoneprojects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}