Comparison of the environmental impacts of heating systems in Chile by life cycle assessment

Abstract

The present study conducts a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental impacts of heating technologies commonly used in Chile based on six environmental indicators: Climate Change (CC), Human Toxicity (HT), Formation of Particulate Matter (PM), Formation of Photochemical Oxidants (PO), Ozone Destruction (OD), and Water Depletion (WD). Due to the extensive length of the territory studied, it is demonstrated that the environmental impacts depend on the geographical location where the heating equipment is used. Stoves that use wet firewood presented the highest environmental impact in CC, PM, HT, and PO. Using dry firewood could reduce pollution by 14%–81%, compared to wet firewood. Replacing wood heating with natural gas, LPG, and kerosene stoves reduces the CC and HT indicators. On the other hand, switching to electric heating, such as split inverter heat pumps, could transfer these impacts to areas where electricity is generated using coal. When the pellet is a byproduct of the forestry industry and transportation distances are not very high, the pellet stove stands out for its lower CC. In Magallanes, electric heating appears environmentally attractive due to using natural gas for electricity generation.