HEATING COST ANALYSIS FOR A TIMBERFRAME HOUSE

Sustainable energy is the practice of using energy in a way that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Buildings in European Union consume 40 % of final energy, cause 30% of CO2 emissions and produce 40 % of waste. Although only 20% of the world population lives in developed countries, where all the EU countries belong, they use almost 80% of global energy sources. Well insulated building envelope is part of the solution to reduce heating energy, but it brings new challenges for traditional wood/biomass burning heating systems, and especially for light timberframe houses with minimized energy loss. These systems lack ON/OFF control and can not run under certain designed output power and therefore create risk of overheating in the room where the stove is located. As a result, only small number of stoves/boilers are suitable for space heating and domestic hot water (DHW) preparation in such houses. This paper analyses different heating and DHW systems for a specific timberframe house, in terms of suitability, initial and running costs, primary energy and related CO2 emissions. The systems would consider wood / wood pellet stoves, electric heating, heat pump, natural gas boiler and possible combinations suitable for the house, with all the advantages and disadvantages.