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Journal of Cleaner Production 32 (2012) 52e60

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Exergy analysis and life cycle assessment of solar heating and cooling systems
in the building environment
C. Koroneos*, M. Tsarouhis
Laboratory of Heat Transfer and Environmental Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Box 483, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 22 September 2011
Received in revised form
3 March 2012
Accepted 7 March 2012
Available online 21 March 2012

The serious environmental degradation of our planet in the past century and the limitation of supplies of
conventional fuels have led humanity to search for new energy forms. The housing sector has a big
environmental impact and it makes a good candidate for changes to be implemented in order to make
steps towards a sustainable society. This study deals with the exergy analysis and the Life Cycle
Assessment (LCA) of solar systems for space heating, cooling and hot domestic water production. These
systems will be applied to a residence in the wide Thessaloniki area, in Northern Greece. The analysis is
based on the given energy needs of an average house. Furthermore, a photovoltaic system (PV) will be
used for electricity production. Besides Solar energy, the existing geothermal eld will be utilized via
heat pumps. The system is designed to exploit solar and geothermal energy and an exergy analysis of the
different elements of the system is performed so that improvements can be achieved in its efciency and
its cost be reduced. It has been shown that the exergy efciency of the solar systems and the geothermal
system are relatively low. Since almost all of the environmental impacts of the renewable energies are
connected to the manufacturing of the devises for their utilization, the environmental impacts will be
analyzed only at the manufacturing stage. The use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) will be used. It has been
shown that the use of solar cooling has the highest environmental impact.
This analysis applies for all regions since the energy needs could be adjusted and the solar radiation of
that region taken into consideration.
2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Exergy analysis
LCA
Solar heating
Solar cooling
Buildings

1. Introduction
The building sector uses on average 40% of total energy
consumption in the EU countries. According to ofcial gures for
the year 2007, the electricity consumption in the Greek residential
sector accounts to approximately 33% of the total, while the
commercial sector accounts for 29% and industry for 28%.
Regarding the distribution of electricity use in a typical house, 43%
is used for space heating and cooling, 13% for domestic hot water
(DHW), 13% for lighting, 10% for the electrical appliances, and the
rest for various other uses such as cooking, etc. The demand of
electricity increases in the summer due to the heavy use of air
conditioners. Apart from the high energy demand required by the
domestic sector for space cooling, there is the problem of chlorouorocarbons emissions, which are particularly harmful to the
ozone layer. There were several attempts made to replace these
substances with less harmful but still the problem remains.

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: koroneos@aix.meng.auth.gr (C. Koroneos).
0959-6526/$ e see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.03.012

The systems under study use renewable energy as a driving

force, in particular solar and geothermal energy. The exploitation of
these sources is imperative in order to reduce the environmental
impact caused by fossil fuel combustion. The objective of this work
is the application of exergy analysis and LCA tools, to systems for
space heating and cooling, but also for DHW production, in a two
level house of 150 m2 in the area of Thessaloniki. In the summer the
design ambient air temperature is 34  C dry bulb (DB) and 24  C
wet bulb (WB), with an external daily temperature range of 11  C. In
the winter, the lowest medium ambient temperature is 5.5  C. The
geographic width of Thessaloniki is 40 North. The systems for
space heating and for the DHW production will draw its power both
from the existing geothermal eld and the solar collectors. There is
a submersible pump in the geothermal eld that pumps the hot
uid up to the surface and to the double coil heat exchanger so that
the heat of both sources can be utilized. Both space heating and
cooling systems will be attached to an in-oor pipe system for
energy distribution. The heart of the space cooling system is an
absorption chiller which has as its energy source the hot water
coming from the solar heat exchanger. If the heat of the hot water is
not efcient, then an electric resistance will increase the water

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C. Koroneos, M. Tsarouhis / Journal of Cleaner Production 32 (2012) 52e60

temperature to the necessary level. The PV system meets the

demands of the house in daytime and it can also work as a backup
system in case that the three systems need extra thermal energy. If
the PV system cannot supply enough electricity then the electricity
grid will be utilized. The same procedure can be applied during the
night period. It must be stated that there are well insulated tanks
for thermal storage, so that the systems can work during the night.
The solar heating system has 100% self-reliance during the night. In
this way the use of the electric resistance will be extremely rare.
The solar cooling system can work for 2 h without sun, using the
hot water stored in the tanks.
There are several studies done concerning this issue. In their
paper, Besana et al. (2005) describe the rst-rate performance of
a system of solar cooling and heating similar to the present work.
They found out that the solar heat stored in the large storage buffer
during day time served as heat supply for the chiller during
morning and evening hours, whereas the heat storage tank for the
chiller was active mainly from midday to afternoon. The auxiliary
heater was rarely needed for cooling purposes. Archer et al. (2008)
describe the results of an energy analysis done in a solar system for
heating and cooling spaces with parabolic collectors. They designed
a solar cooling and heating system primarily comprised of parabolic
trough solar collectors (PTSCs), and a 16 kW dual energy source
double effect (2E) absorption chiller. Overall, this solar cooling
system performance is lower than expected due to the low efciency of PTSC when operated at high temperature and some
system feature.
Ucar and Inalli (2006) developed an exergo-economic analysis
model for solar heating systems for the domestic sector. Energy and
exergy losses were analyzed for each element of the system separately. They found that the increase of the collectors surface led to
increased cost and the increase of exergy losses. Singh et al. (2000)
made an energy and exergy analysis for a solar power system
cogeneration. The comparison of the exergy efciencies of the
various elements of the plant showed that solar collectors had the
lowest exergy efciency, in contrast with the energy analysis which
showed that the condenser of the thermal engine had the lowest
energy efciency. This shows the important role of exergy analysis
in all types of thermal systems. Gunerhan and Hepbasli (2007)
studied experimentally the exergy efciency of a system for DHW
production. They analyzed the exergy efciency of the various
elements of the system during a day, while their calculations ended
up to a total exergy efciency of the system which varies from 3.27%
to 4.39%. Kalogirou (2004, 2009) in his studies refers to solar
heating and DHW systems. He analyzes the energy, economic and
environmental aspects of the systems with the use of LCA. He
showed that by using solar energy, considerable amounts of
greenhouse polluting gasses are avoided. For the case of a domestic
water heating system, the saving, compared to a conventional
system, is about 80% with electricity or Diesel backup and is about
75% with both electricity and Diesel backup. In the case of space
heating and hot water system the saving is about 40%. He also
showed that a considerable percentage of the hot water needs of
the family house are covered with solar energy. This is expressed as
the solar contribution and its annual value is 79%. Additionally, the
system he investigated gives positive and very promising nancial
characteristics with payback time of 2.7 years and life cycle savings
of 2240 V with electricity backup and payback time of 4.5 years and
life cycle savings of 1056 V with diesel backup.
As far as the photovoltaic (PV) systems are concerned, Kannan
et al. (2006) have conducted an LCA study referring to a PV
system of 2 kW in Singapore. They have concluded that the PV
systems have lower environmental impact than the conventional
systems of power cogeneration. On the other hand, the electricity
produced is more expensive than the conventional systems. In

another study for PV systems, Koroneos et al. (2006b) state that

these kinds of systems have air emissions only at the phase of their
production. At their working period they have zero emissions. A
serious disadvantage of PV systems is the toxic and radioactive
emissions, during their production stage. This can be solved only by
the evolution of their production methods.
2. Exergy analysis theory
The exergy analysis is a method based on the Second law of
thermodynamics and the concept of irreversible production of
entropy. The founders of exergy were Carnot in 1824 and Clausius
in 1865 who laid down the fundamental of the exergy method.
The energy-related engineering systems are designed and their
performance is evaluated primarily by using the energy balance
deduced from the First law of thermodynamics. Traditionally it is
the rst law of thermodynamics analysis has been applied by
engineers and scientists to calculate the energy losses and quantify
the loss of efciency in any process. In recent years the exergy
concept has gained considerable interest in the thermodynamic
analysis of thermal processes and plant systems since it has been
seen that the First law analysis is insufcient from an energy
performance point of view (Ahern, 1980; Kotas, 1985). The aim of
the exergy analysis is to identify the magnitudes and the locations
of exergy losses, in order to pinpoint to the improvements of an
existing system, or to develop new processes or systems (Tekin and
Bayramoglu, 1998). This analysis allows one to quantify the loss of
efciency in a process that is due to the loss in energy quality. It will
specify where the process can be improved and therefore, it will
signify what areas should be given consideration. Exergy analysis
provides a way to locating the systems imperfections. Many works
have been carried out for various applications (Habib et al., 1995;
Dunbar et al., 1995; Khodak and Romakhova, 2001; Smith and
Few, 2001; Hammond and Stapleton, 2001; Huang et al., 2000;
Gaggioli and Wepfer, 1981; Camdali et al., 2001).
To calculate the exergy of a system, the various forms of energy
that the system has, e kinetics, dynamics, energy ow, enthalpy,
etc. e must be rst identied and then calculate the exergy for all
the energy forms and add it (Wall, 1977). The change in exergy of
a system during a process is equal to the difference between the
total transfer of exergy through the boundaries of the system and
the exergy destroyed within the boundaries of the system because
of the irreversibility (or entropy production). The general balance of
exergy for any kind of a system and any procedure is expressed
with the formula:

Ein

Eout

(1)

Edestroyed DEsystem

where Ein is the amount of exergy that enters a system, Eout is the
amount of exergy that exits a system and Edestroyed is the amount of
exergy that is being destroyed within the limits of a system.
For a closed system, which does not include a mass ow, the
exergy balance is expressed by:

Eheat

Ework

(2)

Edestroyed DEsystem

Or in more details

X


T0
Qk
Tk

P0 V2

V1

T0 Sgen E2

E1

(3)

where Qk is the heat transfer, through the surface boundaries which

has a temperature Tk in place k.
Exergy, like energy, can be transferred to or from a system by
three ways: heat, work and mass ow. The rst two take place
when there is a solid mass or a closed system. The transfer of exergy

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C. Koroneos, M. Tsarouhis / Journal of Cleaner Production 32 (2012) 52e60

occurs within the systems boundaries and expresses the exergy

which a system takes or gives during a process.
In the systems under study, the exergy transfer is taking place
through heat transfer. The amount of heat Q, which leaves the
system through its boundaries, is always accompanied by exergy
transfer, which is expressed by:

Eheat


T0
Q
T

(4)

Besides exergy ow, there is also anergy ow, which is calculated by:

Bheat

T0
Q
T

(5)

It also applies to

(6)

Q Eheat Bheat

For adiabatic systems, exergy transfer through heat is equal to

zero (Baehr, 1978).
In real processes, a number of irreversibilities occur. As a result,
there is entropy production, which leads to the destruction of
a specic amount of exergy. The exergy that is being destroyed is
proportional to the entropy production and is expressed by equation (7):

Edestroyed T0 Sgen  0

(7)

This amount of exergy represents the lost potential of work and

is called irreversibility or work loss. For real processes, the exergy
that is being destroyed is a positive quantity. For ideal processes, it
is equal to zero and it can never be negative, due to the fact that the
process will be impossible to function (Cengel and Boles, 1998).
Apart from the calculation of exergy through heat transmission,
in this particular exergy analysis, there is also exergy from the
incident solar radiation and exergy of the working uids, in the heat
exchangers and in the in-oor pipe system.
The total exergy rate of the incident solar radiation, is a function
of the intensity of solar radiation in the surface area, and the
ambient temperature. The solar exergy can be expressed as follows
(Banat and Jwaied, 2008):

 
 

1 T0 4 4 T0
E_ x;sol AIT 1
3 Tsr
3 Tsr

(8)

The exergy of the mass ow of a liquid owing in a pipe is

expressed by the equation:

_j
Emass m

(9)

3 scol

E_ x;u
E_ x;sol

(12)

where E_ x;u expresses the exergy which is taken at the exit of the
solar panels while E_ x;sol is the exergy of solar radiation.
In the study of heat exchangers, the exergy efciency coefcient
of performance is given by:

3 H:E:



_ cold Jcold;out Jcold;in
m
E_ x;cold



_ hot Jhot;in Jhot;out

m
E_ x;hot

(13)

where E_ x;cold is referring to the exergy ow of the liquid which is

going to be heated, E_ x;hot is the exergy ow of the liquid that is
providing heat to the process (Gunerhan and Hepbasli, 2007).
In the case of solar cooling, besides the in-oor pipe system, fan
coil units will also be used. The exergy ow of the fan coils cold air
is calculated, by Banat and Jwaied (2008):



T
_ a;f :c: Cp T0
E_ x;f:c: m
T0

ln

T
T0



(14)

3. Life cycle assessment

The life cycle assessment method is a very powerful tool for
analyzing the environmental impacts of systems or products. Each
case of study has its own characteristics, limitations, conditions.
The LCA procedure is a systematic, phased approach, and consists of
four steps:
i. Goal Denition and Scoping e Denition and description of the
system. Establishment of the context in which, the assessment is to be made and identication of the boundaries and
environmental impacts to be reviewed for the assessment.
ii. Inventory Analysis e Identication and quantication of inlets
(energy, water and materials use) and outlets of a system air
emissions, solid wastes, wastewater etc).
iii. Impact Assessment e Assessment of the human and ecological
impact of energy, water, and material use and the outputs,

Life Cycle Assessment Framework

Goal Definition
and Scope

where, J is the unit exergy of the working uid. This is the sum of
exergy which comes from the enthalpy difference, the kinetic and
dynamic energy. The exergy ow is expressed per mass unit as
follows:

J h

h0

T0 s

s0

V2
gz
2

(10)

Inventory
Analysis

Interpretation

In exergy analysis, the exergy efciency expresses all exergy input

as used exergy, and all exergy output as utilized exergy

nex;1 Eout =Ein

(11)

The exergy efciency could also be expressed as the ratio of the

exergy which is being recovered from a process, to the exergy that
is lost.
In the system under study, it is comprised of mainly solar
collectors and heat exchangers. The exergetic efciency of solar
collectors is given by the formula:

Impact
Assessment

Fig. 1. Methodology stages of the life cycle analysis (Koroneos et al., 2004).

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C. Koroneos, M. Tsarouhis / Journal of Cleaner Production 32 (2012) 52e60

Fig. 2. Individual components, the connection of them and the thermodynamic conditions of the solar heating system.

identied in the inventory analysis. Four steps are used here:

classication, characterization, normalization and valuation
(weighting).
iv. Interpretation e Evaluation of the results of the inventory
analysis and impact assessment to select the preferred system
with a clear understanding of the uncertainty and the
assumptions used to generate the results. Fig. 1 illustrates the
stages of the LCA methodology.
The LCA study focuses on the collection and the extensive
analysis of the input and output data of the system, on the
formulation of energy and mass balances and on the environmental
impacts associated with them. The LCA aims to evaluate the
impacts of the energy and raw materials use, including waste
disposal, and to propose efcient and practical environmental
improvements, based on the rational use of raw materials and
energy (Koroneos et al., 2005).
4. System analysis and results
The systems sizing was based on the climate data of Thessaloniki, Greece, taking into account the national regulations and
procedures regarding the calculation of thermal and cooling loads.
Further on, a separate report and analysis of each system is done.
This in a sense includes the system of solar space heating, the
equivalent of domestic hot water heating, the solar cooling system
and the PV system.

water of the heating system. The maximum thermal load for the
month of December e the worst case e is equal to 10.8 kW. The
hot water storage tank capacity is 3000 l and the required mass of
the in-oor system is 926 kg/h. The thermal water heating load is
11.2 kW, including the thermal losses, while the energy required to
heat the water of the heating system is equal to 3125 kWh/month.
The temperature of the water in the reservoir is at 59  C, while the
in-oor system requires hot water at 42  C. To reduce the
temperature of hot water to the desired limit, there is a system
that re-circulates the water at the exit of the in-oor system,
which has a temperature at 32  C, as shown in Fig. 2. The main
reason for using this technique is to decrease the hot water inlet
temperature and to increase the self-reliance of the system. Based
on the energy required for the operation of the system and the
value of solar radiation, the net space of vacuum tube solar
collectors was estimated to be 78.32 m2. The best inclination of
the collectors is at 30 facing south, based on the ofcial data of
the total solar radiation during the year. Fig. 2 shows the
connections, the individual components and the thermodynamic
conditions, involved in the exergy analysis of the solar heating
system. The different parts of the system are the solar collectors
(S1), the solar heat exchanger (S2), the in-oor pipe system (S3),
the recirculation of the water return (S4) and the geothermal heat
exchanger (S5). The hot water storage tank and the electric
element at the top can also be seen.
The exergy analysis and the dimensioning of the system are
based on the weather conditions of December. The geothermal heat
exchanger is not taken into consideration in this analysis, because it
only operates during the start up of the system. The exergy analysis

4.1. Solar heating system

To meet the thermal needs of the house, solar energy will be
used. The energy from the geothermal eld is not sufcient to
meet the thermal requirements, but it can be used to preheat the

Fig. 3. Individual components, their connection and the thermodynamic conditions of

the D.H.W. system.

Table 1
Exergetic analysis results.
Subsystem

Exergy in (kW)

Exergy out (kW)

Exergy
efciency
(%)

Solar collectors

E_ x;sol
44.1

E_ x;stream;1 E_ x;stream;2
Tstr,1 59.5  C,
Tstr,2 66  C
2.2

Solar heat
exchanger

E_ x;stream;3 E_ x;stream;4
Tstr,3 65.5  C,
Tstr,4 60  C
1.85

E_ x;stream;5 E_ x;stream;6
Tstr,5 31.5  C,
Tstr,6 58.5  C
1.3

70.3

In-oor heating
system e
residents

E_ x;stream;7 E_ x;stream;8
Tstr,7 42  C,
Tstr,8 32  C
4.96

E_ x;residents
1.025

20.7

Total

44.1

0.025

4.99

2.32

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C. Koroneos, M. Tsarouhis / Journal of Cleaner Production 32 (2012) 52e60

Table 2
Exergy analysis results of the DHW system.
Subsystem

Exergy in (kW)

Exergy out (kW)

Exergy
efciency
(%)

Geothermal heat
exchanger (S1)

E_ x;stream;1 E_ x;stream;2
Tstr,1 33  C,
Tstr,2 28  C
0.158

E_ x;stream;3 E_ x;stream;4
Tstr,3 8  C,
Tstr,4 26  C
0.066

42

Solar collectors
(S2)

E_ x;sol
5.41

E_ x;stream;5 E_ x;stream;6
Tstr,5 60  C,
Tstr,6 60.5  C
0.398

7.4

Solar heat
exchanger (S3)

E_ x;stream;7 E_ x;stream;8
Tstr,7 65  C,
Tstr,8 60.5  C
0.3235

E_ x;stream;4 E_ x;stream;9
Tstr,4 26  C,
Tstr,9 60  C
0.2177

67.3

Total

0.158 5.41 5.568

0.2177

temperature of the networks water in the reservoir is 8  C, while

the energy required to heat the water using the solar panels is
374.5 kWh/mo. The net required area of solar collectors is 9.6 m2.
Fig. 3 shows the complete owsheet of the system with the
connections, the individual elements, and the numbering of the
streams.
In case that additional energy is needed for the heating of DHW
which cannot be provided by solar panels, an electrical resistance,
located at the top of the tank will start its operation. The results of
the exergy analysis are presented in Table 2.
4.3. Solar cooling system

3.91

of the system and the performance indicators are based on the

thermodynamic conditions, the sizes of the different elements of
each subsystem and their application in the theory of exergy
analysis. The results of the exergy analysis are presented in Table 1.
The total exergetic efciency of the system is relatively low, but
it must be noted that the energyeexergy provided to the system
throughout its operation comes from the solar energy, which is
free.
4.2. Hot water system
The calculations for the sizing of solar panels which will be used
to heat the domestic hot water (DHW) were done based on the
weather conditions of December. The capacity of the storage
container of hot water is 400 l and inside of it there are two heat
exchangers. One of them transfers the heat from the geothermal
uid, while the other uses the hot uid coming from the solar
panels.
The temperature of domestic hot water in the tank is 60  C. The
contribution of the geothermal uid to preheat the hot water is
very valuable, as it contributes to signicant energy savings and in
the reduction of the size of the solar panels. After the preheating of
the water from the geothermal uid, the solar collectors take up the
job in increasing the temperature of the water further. The inlet

In order to satisfy the cooling loads of the house, the Yazaki

absorption chiller has been chosen (www.Yazakienergy.com). The
cooling machine is connected to the existing in-oor pipe system
and to fan-coil units. The specic absorption chiller requires for its
operation hot water with inlet temperature from 70  C to 90  C,
depending always on the cooling load. Hot water is stored in the
same container as that of hot water for space heating, but due to the
fact that it demands a larger quantity of hot water, another storage
tank of 3000 l has been added in sequence. There is also a cold
water storage tank after the absorption chiller. The sizing of the
solar cooling system was done for the cooling loads of September
because it is the month with the lowest total solar radiation and the
highest relatively cooling load, compared with all the other
summer months. The same tank and the same solar heat exchanger
will be used to heat up the hot water for the chiller, as that for the
solar space heating. In case that extra energy is needed to increase
the hot water temperature, the electric resistance will be used
again.
The cooling load of the house was estimated at 11.4 kW, while
the load that the system has to cover is 13.2 kW, due to losses. The
power input to the heat absorption chiller is 18 kW, with hot water
inlet temperature equal to 81  C. The power requirement for the
hot water heating needs is equal to 4320 kWh/mo. The net required
area of solar panels was estimated at 50.6 m2, quite lower than that
of solar space heating. The solar cooling system owsheet is presented in Fig. 4. The different units are: the solar collectors (S1), the
electric resistance (S2), the hot water storage containers (S3, S4),
the absorption chiller (S5), the cooling tower (S6), the cold water
storage tank (S7), the fan coil units (S8), the in-oor system (S9)
and the recirculation of water that exits from the in-oor system
(S10).

Fig. 4. Individual components, their connection and the thermodynamic conditions of the solar cooling system.

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C. Koroneos, M. Tsarouhis / Journal of Cleaner Production 32 (2012) 52e60

Table 3
Exergetic analysis results for the solar cooling system.
Subsystem

Exergy in (kW)
E_

Exergy efciency (%)

3.82

Exergy out (kW)

E_ x;stream;1 E_ x;stream;2
Tstr,1 83.5  C,
Tstr,2 100.5  C
3.63

Solar heat exchanger

E_ x;stream;3 E_ x;stream;4
Tstr,3 100  C,
Tstr,4 84  C
3.41

E_ x;stream;5 E_ x;stream;6
Tstr,5 81  C,
Tstr,6 75.7  C
2.84

83.3

In-oor cooling system, fancoil units, resident

E_ x;stream;9 E_ x;stream;10 E_ x;stream;11

Tstr,9 9  C,
Tstr,10 14  C
Tstr,11 14  C,
Tstr,12 19  C
11.86 0.33 12.19

Total

37.82

Solar collectors

x;sol

The cold water supply temperature is 9  C while its mass supply

is 1470.8 kg/h, of which 945.8 kg/h enter the fan coil units. In the inoor system, the mass supply is 1049 kg/h with a temperature of
14  C. The average power of the fan coil units is equal to 5.62 kW.
In the exergy analysis of solar cooling system, the same procedure has been followed with the other two cases. The results
appear in Table 3.
4.4. Photovoltaic system
Apart from the heating and cooling systems, photovoltaic units
will be installed to provide the electricity needs of the house. The
photovoltaic system (Peter, 2011; Gershon, 2011; Peng et al., 2011;
Zuser and Rechberger, 2011; Torio et al., 2009; Koroneos et al.,
2006a,b) will be connected to the electric grid, which means that
there will be no batteries for electricity storage. The electricity
produced will be consumed directly, or it will be fed to the electricity grid. In the dimensioning of the system, the maximum use of
electrical equipment was taken into account, which includes the
interior and exterior lighting, television and refrigerator. As in the
previous cases of the solar collectors, the best inclination for the PV
panels is 30 . The objective is the minimum environmental impact
and for this reason the system is designed for the worst case
scenario, for the month of December. The total monthly
consumption of electricity was estimated at 92.07 kWh/mo, and
the necessary photovoltaic area at 10.2 m2.

E_ x;stream;12

9.59

E_ x;residents
2.55

2.9

2.55

6.742

4.5. Life cycle analysis of the systems

The LCA was performed for each system separately. In the
analysis, the contribution of each component of the system, to the
total environmental impacts are shown in Figs. 2e4. The environmental impacts for the systems production stage were taken into
account. The life cycle of each system was taken to be 20 years, and
all the calculations were based on this gure. The functional unit
used in the calculations was the weight of emissions (kg) for each
kWh. The main materials which the various elements of the
systems are made off are: stainless steel, copper, aluminum, glass,
polyethylene, polyurethane, plastic, magnesium and cement. The

Influence percentage per impact category for the

D.H.W. system
Eutrophication
56%

Acidification
11%

Heavy metals
9%

Ozone depletion
0%
Greenhouse
5%

S.Smog
1%

Carcinogenesis
13%

W.Smog
5%

Fig. 6. Inuence percentage for the D.H.W. system per impact category.

Influence percentage per impact category for the

solar heating system
W.Smog
6%
Carcinogenesis
9%

S.Smog
2%

Greenhouse
3%

Influence percentage per impact category for the solar

cooling system
Ozone depletion
0%

Heavy metals
34%

Eutrophication
49%

Acidification
11%
Carcinogenesis
3%

Acidification
7%

Heavy metals
29%

Eutrophication
40%

Fig. 5. Inuence percentage for the solar heating system per impact category.

Ozone depletion
0%

Greenhouse
2%

S.Smog
1%

W.Smog
4%

Fig. 7. Inuence percentage for the solar cooling system per impact category.

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C. Koroneos, M. Tsarouhis / Journal of Cleaner Production 32 (2012) 52e60

better conclusions can be drawn. This comparison will be made for

each impact category separately, as well as for the overall impact.
The results are presented in Table 5.
It is shown that for the environmental impacts attributed to the
phenomenon of the greenhouse effect, solar space heating system
has the greatest contribution, followed by the solar cooling system.
The system for the DHW has the lowest impacts.
The solar heating system has the greatest contribution on the
destruction of the ozone layer while the solar cooling system and
the PV system have nearly the same effects. The lowest impacts are
from the DHW system.
Regarding the acidication phenomenon, the solar systems for
space heating and cooling have nearly the same impact. These two
systems have clearly higher impacts than the other two systems.
The greatest impact for the phenomenon of eutrophication
comes from the solar cooling system, followed by the solar heating
system and the DHW system. The PV system has almost zero
effects.
Regarding the phenomenon of emission of heavy metals, the
results of LCA have shown that the greatest impacts are connected
with the solar cooling system, followed by the solar space heating
system. Third in the impacts comes the DHW system, with much
less impacts than the rst two, while the PV system has almost zero
effects again.
In contrast to the phenomenon of eutrophication and the heavy
metal emissions, the PV system shows the largest impact for the
phenomenon of carcinogenesis, with the solar heating system at
the second place.
For the winter smog phenomenon, solar systems for heating and
cooling have nearly the same effect. The PV system is at the third
place, while in the last place with a small difference from the third
one is the DHW system.
The results for the phenomenon of summer smog have shown
that solar heating system has the greatest impact on this category,
with the solar cooling system coming second. In the third place is
the PV system and the last with the minimal impact is the DHW
system.
The results of the overall effects of the four systems are presented in Fig. 9. The solar cooling system has the greatest impact,
followed by the solar space heating system. The system for DHW is

Influence percentage per impact category for the PV

system
W.Smog
10%
Carcinogenesis
52%

S.Smog
3%
Greenhouse
10%

Heavy metals
3%
Eutrophication
2%

Acidification
19%

Ozone depletion
1%

Fig. 8. Inuence percentage for the PV system per impact category.

emissions of the materials were taken from the databases of

SimaPro and Gabi. Fig. 5 shows the percentage impact per impact
category for the solar heating system, where one can distinguish
the 40% of the eutrophication phenomenon and the 29% of the
emissions of heavy metals.
In Fig. 6 the corresponding results of the DHW system are presented, where the eutrophication impact category dominates again
by a big percentage of 56% followed by carcinogenesis at 13%.
The environmental impacts of the solar cooling system are shown
in Fig. 7, which are very similar to those of the solar space heating
system. The solar cooling system during the phase of mining,
manufacturing and construction of its materials, has a big impact on
eutrophication, reaching the level of 49% as compared to the other
impact categories. The second largest contribution is that of the
heavy metals emissions impact category, reaching the level of 34%.
The environmental impacts of the PV system are shown in Fig. 8.
It appears that the biggest impact is attributed to the phenomenon
of carcinogenesis with 52%, while in the second place is the acidication impact category reaching the level of 19%.
4.6. Comparison of the systems
After the performance of LCA for all the systems of the house
unit, it is necessary to make a comparison between them, so that

Table 4
Systems exergetic efciency.
System

Exergy efciency (%)

Solar collectors

Solar heat exchanger

Geothermal heat exchanger

In-oor heating system

In-oor cooling system, fancoil units

Total

Solar heating
Solar cooling
D.H.W.

4.99
9.59
7.4

70.3
83.3
67.3

e
e
42

20.7
e
e

e
20.9
e

2.32
6.742
3.91

Table 5
Valuation and percentage of impact for the solar heating, solar cooling, D.H.W. and PV systems.
Impact category

Greenhouse
Ozone depletion
Acidication
Eutrophication
Heavy metals
Carcinogenesis
W.Smog
S.Smog
Solid
Total

Solar cooling

Solar heating

D.H.W.

PV system

Valuation (g/kWh)

Valuation (g/kWh)

Valuation (g/kWh)

Valuation (g/kWh)

0.012
0.001
0.051
0.342
0.236
0.023
0.027
0.005
0.00
0.697

1.760
0.183
7.256
49.040
33.884
3.283
3.850
0.745
0.00
e

0.016
0.002
0.052
0.192
0.140
0.044
0.027
0.007
0.00
0.479

3.241
0.422
10.743
40.038
29.123
9.239
5.657
1.537
0.00
e

0.008
0.001
0.018
0.100
0.015
0.022
0.009
0.001
0.00
0.175

4.547
0.295
10.508
57.352
8.697
12.698
5.193
0.709
0.00
e

0.011
0.001
0.021
0.002
0.003
0.059
0.011
0.003
0.00
0.112

9.789
1.084
19.036
2.137
2.931
52.445
10.014
2.564
0.00
e

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C. Koroneos, M. Tsarouhis / Journal of Cleaner Production 32 (2012) 52e60

59

category. The photovoltaic system has the highest impact in this

category, which shows that a better method of production should
be used for the PV panels. It is important to mention that all four
systems produce almost all their environmental impacts only
during the production phase of their material. During their operation, they have almost zero emissions to the environment.

Total influence

0.7
0.6
0.5
g total
0.4
emissions/kWh 0.3
0.2
0.1
0

References
Solar cooling

Solar heating

D.H.W.

PV system

Fig. 9. Total inuence of the systems.

the third one in line with about one sixth (1/6) of the total impacts
of the solar cooling system. The PV system has the least impacts.
5. Conclusions
For countries with intensive solar radiation like Greece, the
application of solar renewable energy systems in the building
sector, can make the difference and solve many problems. These
systems could have a big input in the electricity grid in the summer
period when the demand is at peak and have a big impact in the
reduction of the use of oil and the environmental impacts that
come with it. They can also completely replace oil or electricity for
water heating. In the winter time solar systems could play a major
role in space and water heating. In this particular study, the
geothermal heat was used for space heating and cooling, as well as
for the domestic hot water heating. For the rst two systems, the
geothermal heat contribution was minimal because of the relatively low temperature of the geothermal eld, in comparison to
the waters return temperatures. On the other hand, the geothermal
heat exchanger has a quite signicant contribution to the DHW
system.
The exergy analysis showed a relatively low efciency for the
three systems, compared with the energy levels of performance.
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elements that compose the system, have the lowest exergy efciency, a fact that declares the direction that the efforts of
improvement of exergy should be going. Table 4 lists the exergy
efciencies of the various elements of the systems calculated with
the use of exergy analysis.
Although the exergy efciencies of the systems are relatively
low, this should not lead to the wrong conclusions. All three
systems receive all their energy from the Sun, and this is a free
energy, contrary to conventional fuels that have high economic
costs and lead to high environmental impacts that come from the
emissions on the use phase. Therefore, any improvement in their
exergetic efciency will make the systems more attractive not only
on the economic part but also on the environmental part since
more conventional fuels will be replaced.
According to the results of the LCA study, the solar cooling
system has the greatest environmental impact followed by the
system of solar space heating. This is because these two systems
include the in-oor pipe system, which brings even more burdens
to the environment. The solar cooling system, because of the fan
coil units and the cooling tower, shows increased environmental
impact that is direct relation to the quantities of plastic and steel
that they contain, which leads to the increased emissions of
harmful pollutants. On the other hand, in order for the solar heating
system to satisfy all the heating needs, more solar panels are
needed than those required for the solar cooling system. Noteworthy are the results of LCA on the carcinogenesis impact

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