Innovative Modernization of Building Heating Systems: The Economy and Ecology of a Hybrid District-Heating Substation

Abstract

Hybrid installations with respect to renewable energy sources are becoming more popular due to the stringent requirements for the energy efficiency of buildings. Therefore, the thermomodernization of a district-heating substation was proposed. Several scenarios, including different renewable energies (an air–water heat pump versus a heat pump with photovoltaics), different investment financing (equity or bank credit), and different purposes for heating demand (central heating or central heating with ventilation and domestic hot water), were analyzed. The economic aspects involved the calculations of the payback time and net present value, while the ecological and environmental characteristics were weighed using emission reduction. Each of the analyses resulted in different proposed modernization methods. However, taking both factors together, the computations proved that the most profitable was the scenario with energy demand for heating, domestic hot water, and ventilation purposes financed by means of bank credit with a thermomodernization bonus.