Engineering Commons^™

Decarbonizing Rural Residential Buildings In Cold Climates: A Techno-Economic Analysis Of Heating Electrification, Filippo Padovani, Nelson Sommerfeldt, Francesca Longobardi, Joshua M. Pearce

Michigan Tech Publications

Given the need for decarbonization of the heating sector and the acute need of a propane replacement in the U.S. Upper Midwest, this study quantifies the techno-economic characteristics of sustainable heating electrification in isolated rural, residential buildings in cold climates without natural gas supply. Archetypal buildings are modeled under four levels of electrification. At each electrification level, a parametric solar photovoltaic (PV) sizing analysis is performed and the total life cycle cost, renewable fraction and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are calculated based on the primary energy supply for each building type. Cost optimal solutions are stress-tested with multi-dimensional sensitivity analyses. …