Environmental impact of the materials used in the Dutch heat transition

Abstract

The Dutch government set two environmental goals by 2050. One of them is being climate neutral and the other one is to have a circular economy. In order to meet both goals in the best environmental conditions, extensive environmental research is required. This thesis is one of these researches and its main focus is on the climate neutral goal by 2050. In this thesis I start by creating a generic model in ArcGIS that will calculate the required materials and their environmental impacts for the implementation of high and low district heat networks and for air-water heat pumps in residential buildings. The model uses national spatial data of buildings, heat networks, and energylabels and combines them with material data that is retrieved from life cycle inventories (LCI) out of life cycle assessment (LCA) papers, material databases, several manuals, technical specifications on websites and own examination. The model is applied to the Merenwijk in Leiden. The model’s results show that for the Merenwijk the indirect environmental impact of the materials will reduce the total reduction in the heat pump scenario by approximately 10% and will be covered in the first 2 years of operation. On the material demand side, the model shows that the Netherlands will face problems with the demand for glass and glass wool. The current market for both materials should be intensified by 4 to 5 times in order to meet the expected demand. Glass wool demands will even reach 2% of the current global mineral wool market. In conclusion this thesis provides an addition to current environmental calculations by looking at the material environmental impact in the Dutch heat transition. The environmental impact of materials does have a significant impact on the overall environmental calculations.