Reducing greenhouse emissions from Australia’s housing stock through solar pre-cooling and pre-heating

Abstract

This paper explores the use of surplus Photovoltaics (PV) generation for Solar Pre-Cooling and pre-Heating (SPCaH) in residential buildings. SPCaH not only alleviates daytime minimum demand challenges in the electricity network by reducing solar power exports to the grid but also reduces evening residential Air-Conditioning (AC) demand. This, in turn, reduces total electricity industry costs and potentially saves households on electricity bills. This study addresses the underexplored and complex impact of SPCaH on electricity industry emissions. The results, which are based on the simulated thermal performance of nine building types via AccuRate and hourly measured PV generation, AC demand, and net demand profiles of approximately 450 households in four Australian capital cities, reveal that summer has the highest potential for both minimum demand mitigation (up to 4 kW per building) and maximum demand reduction (up to 0.8 kW per building). Thermal comfort does not significantly limit SPCaH implementation. SPCaH reduces emissions, with a potential annual reduction exceeding 600 kg CO₂–e in a 6-star building in Brisbane. Seasonal analysis revealed that households might reduce their carbon emissions by up to 30 % during summer and spring, significantly cutting emissions in electricity industries with substantial solar generation.