THE ECONOMICS OF SITE SOURCE ENERGY

ABSTRACT
The Economics of Site Source Energy is an account of energy use at (consumer) end which considers
energy life cycle from source (and even extraction). Site Source accounts for final energy use from the
perspective of national energy balance. This brief provide an explanation of the concepts of Site Source
Energy. While this brief do not purport to be an academically exhaustive treatise on the subject, it
approach the subject matter in a concise manner with the following topical discussions:
(a) Glossary of terms and key concepts;
(b) Examples of Site Source calculations in energy use.

GLOSSARY AND KEY CONCEPTS

1.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY ENERGY

Not all energy are equal from the perspective of energy life cycle and GHG. United Nations Statistics
Division (www.unstats.un.org) in their publication International Recommendation on Energy
Statistics (IRES); Chapter 3 Standard International Energy Classification (SIEC) has this definition:
Primary energy is energy embodied in sources which involve human induced extraction or
capture, that may include separation from contiguous material, cleaning or grading, to make
the energy available for trade, use or transformation

Secondary energy is energy embodied in commodities that comes from human induced energy
transformation

Figure 1 UN Definition of Primary and Secondary Energy

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The Economics of Site Source Energy

2.

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ENERGY CONVERTORS AND THERMAL PUMPS

Energy convertors and thermal pumps are two concepts commonly misunderstood by the general
public. Heat pumps are in some cases confused as energy convertors. In all cases, the law of
conservation of energy (energy can neither be created nor destroyed) itself may suffer
misinterpretation when both terms are confused.

Energy
Input

Energy
Conversion
Device

Useful
Energy
Output

Thermal
Energy
Source

Thermal
Pump

Thermal
Energy
Delivered

Energy Input
Energy convertors converts energy from one form to
another form. The input form may be either primary
or secondary energy source e.g. coal, natural gas,
petroleum, electricity etc.; while the useful energy
output include (examples) kinetic, shaft or
mechanical energy, thermal (heat or cold) energy, or
secondary energy such as electricity.
Concomitant to the energy convertor is the efficiency
of conversion defined as:
Efficiency of Conversion; =

is less than 100% or 1 and the differences can be

attributed to losses such as friction, inefficiencies in
fuel conversion, exhaust gas, system cooling etc.

Thermal pumps move thermal energy from one

source to another location. A good illustration is the
Peltier heat pump. In the reverse Seeback effect, a
voltage difference will cause a cold and hot difference
at both junctions. This effectively pumps heat from
one end to the other. In contrast an electric heater is
an energy convertor. More conventional heat pumps
are chillers in space cooling.
In the case of thermal pumps, efficiency is defined by
the Coefficient of Performance (CoP).

() =

CoP may be more than 1 and represent the thermal
energy (heat or cold) which can be pumped with the
input of 1 unit of energy.

Figure 2 Energy Convertors and Heat Pumps

Typical energy convertors are listed in Table 1 below.

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The Economics of Site Source Energy

UK
US/ Canada
Asia
Europer (EU)
Singapore
South Africa

Electricity
(kgCO2e/kWh)
0.5892
0.65849
0.78213
0.43650
0.63575
1.10196

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Natural Gas
(kgCO2e/kWh)
0.22674
6.349222
0.22674
0.22674
0.22674
0.22674

Heating Oil
(kgCO2e/ltr)
3.0714
11.6266
3.0714
3.0714
3.0714
3.0714

LPG
(kgCO2e/ltr)
6.5276
1.7244
1.7244
1.7244
1.7244
1.7244

Emission Factor for Common Fuel/ Energy Use

PR China
Indonesia
Pakistan

0.92105
0.95300
0.62163

Taiwan
0.77051
Hong Kong
0.96825
Japan
0.51416
DPR Korea
0.59018
Philippines
0.61308
Singapore
0.63575
Emission Factor for Grid Electricity Asia (2012)

India
Malaysia
Thailand

1.42260
0.73159
0.64370

Table 2 Typical Emission Factor (Source Carbon Trust Calculator)

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The Economics of Site Source Energy

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SITE SOURCE ENERGY IN END USE

We conclude that electricity as a secondary form of energy has a site source factor of about 3.3 (i.e. 3 times
more primary energy is required to utilise 1 unit of electrical energy.

Figure 3 Electricity Generation

Electric kettle
95% efficiency

Natural gas for boiling water

Electric heating for boiling water

In the first case of natural gas to boil water 1 unit primary energy will allow 0.85 useful energy to boil water.
However in the second case of electric heating, for every 1 unit of primary energy only about 0.28 unit of
useful energy is available to boil water.

Figure 4 Heating water with natural gas and electricity.

Space cooling is a major consumer of energy in the building sector. In the next series of panels the
various options in reducing energy demand for space cooling are explored.

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The Economics of Site Source Energy

Conventional space cooling every

building within a district has its own
space cooling plant. The CoP of each
individual plant ranges from CoP 2 to 6
(smaller plants have lower CoP).
Additionally individual plant may not be
able to deal with part loads inherent in
the operation of each building. This will
further degrade the apparent CoP of
individual plants. The aggregated CoP of
a district may be estimated at say 4.0.

I unit primary energy provides

approx. 1.2 units cooling energy.

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In a district cooling plant aggregated CoP of space cooling

for the whole district will be improved. Additionally the Ice
Storage system ensure optimal management of cooling
demand profile thereby maintaining aggregated CoP at
optimal level. Assume distribution losses at 10%.
1unit of primary energy allows for approx. 1.8 units cooling
energy.

Figure 4 District Cooling Plant with Ice Storage

Where natural gas (a primary energy) is available, district cooling may be further improved.

Figure 4 District Cooling Plant with Natural Gas as Primary Energy Source

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The Economics of Site Source Energy

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In this case study (natural gas as primary energy source), electricity generation is included. An
electric driven chiller is used to cater for peaking loads. Gas engine is used instead of gas turbine
(capital cost and operational cost is cheaper). The resultant CoPPE shows more than 2 fold
improvement in Site Source energy use compared to conventional cooling (Figure 4 above).
At left, Energy balance of gas engine (typical),
with 100% energy input

Figure 6 DC Plant with Electricity Generation and Gas Engines

VERSION

1.00

FIRST PUBLISHED

30th July 2015

COPYRIGHT

Public Domain

The content of this paper may be freely used in the public domain provided proper
citation to the author is included

AUTHOR:

IR LOOI HIP PEU

HPLooi@jkr.gov.my mektricon@gmail.com

BUILDING SECTOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY PROJECT

BUILDING SECTOR ENERGY

EFFICIENCY PROJECT

July 2015
HPLooi@jkr.gov.my