Samuel Cooper

Thermodynamic efficiency of low-carbon domestic heating systems: heat pumps and micro-cogeneration

Energy and exergy analysis is employed to compare the relative thermodynamic performance of low-carbon domestic energy systems based on air source heat pumps and micro-combined heat and power (cogeneration) units. A wide range of current units are modelled under different operating conditions representative of the United Kingdom to determine the energy and exergy flows from primary energy inputs through to low-carbon heating system and then to end use. The resulting performances are then analysed in order to provide insights regarding the relative merits of the systems under the different operating constraints that may be experienced both now and into the future. Although current mid-range systems achieve comparable performance to a condensing gas boiler, the state-of-art offers considerable improvements. Micro-combined heat and power units and air source heat pumps have the technical potential to improve the energy performance of dwellings. The relative performance and potential of the systems is dominated by the electrical characteristics: the grid electrical generation efficiency, the power-to-heat demand ratio and the availability of electrical export. For total power-to-heat demands below 1:1.5, air source heat pumps have greater improvement potential as their energy efficiency is not constrained. At higher power-to-heat ratios, micro-combined heat and power units offer the potential for higher overall efficiency and this generally occurs irrespective of whether or not the thermal energy from them is used effectively.

Net-demand duration data, with extensive heat pump adoption, simulated for UK

The dataset is the detailed results from simulation described in associated paper. Results are presented as the proportion of the duration of each simulation for which net-demand exceeds the each value (in 100MW bins).

Indicative Energy Technology Assessment of NGCC Power Plants with CCS UK Perspective

An indicative energy technology assessment of carbon capture and storage facilities coupled to natural gas combined cycle power plants has been undertaken. Comparisons of carbon capture and storage equipped power plants are reported in terms of their energy, environmental, and economic performance with the aid of several influential international studies. The 1200 MW Saltend Power Station was used as a case study of a typical potential UK-based carbon capture and storage equipped power plant. Post-combustion capture technologies were analysed with realistic, clustered transport pipelines to a depleted gas field in the North Sea.