[Press release] Regensburg. Life cycle assessment shows: Leaflet HEMS has a significant impact on climate protection. Regensburg-based green tech company Consolinno Energy is the first to make the results for the life cycle of an energy manager transparent.
- Leaflet HEMS saves 16 tonsof CO2 and up to €11,020 over 20 years in a single-family home
- Global warming potential (GWP) for the entire life cycle is 32.4 kilogramsof CO2 [1]
Regensburg. Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Innovative home energy management systems therefore help to reduce the ecological footprint of every household. But how muchCO2 and costs does an energy manager, which also generates emissions over its life cycle, really save? Consolinno Energy GmbH has calculated this for its Leaflet HEMS and, for the first time, is making the results of a life cycle assessment transparent for an energy manager.
Consolinno wants to make the product more sustainable and critically reflect on whether production is really worthwhile for climate protection. The result: when used in a single-family home, Leaflet HEMS can save 16 tonsof CO2 eq. over 20 years—and that's just by optimizing PV self-consumption. In contrast, a household without Leaflet HEMS would have to plant 1,290 trees to compensate for the potential of Leaflet HEMS.
With the Leaflet HEMS, a four-person household can also increase its self-sufficiency level [2] by 15% and its self-consumption rate [3] by 19%. These values are based on the following assumptions: An average insulated house in Germany, inhabited by two adults and two school-age children, has a 10 kWp PV system, a heat pump, battery storage, and two electric cars, which are charged at home for most of their annual mileage. Such a household can save €11,020 over 20 years, based on prices of 40 cents for grid electricity, 8.2 cents feed-in tariff per kWh, and minus the acquisition costs.
The impact of the Leaflet HEMS can be increased even further. Consolinno is continuously improving the optimization algorithm and is currently developing additional functions. In addition, depending on the individual case, even greater savings potential is possible. For example, with a larger PV system or higher total electricity consumption. In this case, lower building insulation values result in higher electricity requirements for the heat pump. And the greater the electric mileage or the number of electric vehicles charged at home, the better the result of self-consumption optimization.
The Leaflet HEMS therefore has significantCO2 savings potential. Nevertheless, its life cycle generates a GWP of 32.4 kilogramsof CO2 eq., 98% of which comes from the manufacture of the preliminary products and components. Although the Leaflet HEMS offsets its own GWP after just two days of use, Consolinno has purchasedCO2 certificates for the REDD+ forest protection project (VCS) in Para, Brazil, to compensate for the short term. A long-term and regional solution is currently being sought, and the company is also working on further measures to reduce the impact.
Consolinno has prepared the product life cycle assessment based on ISO 14040 and ISO 14044. The technical boundary covers the global manufacture of the precursors and components and their transport, as well as the manufacture, transport, use, and end of life of the Leaflet HEMS. The life cycle inventory was compiled using parts lists for the Leaflet HEMS, the various components and precursors, information from suppliers and service providers, assumptions, and data sets from the Ecoinvent 3.8 database.
[1] The information is subject to change and depends on the respective system configuration.
[2] Degree of self-sufficiency [%] = (own consumption / total consumption) * 100
[3] Own consumption ratio [%] = (own consumption / PV production) * 100
