Ocena efektu ekologicznego wynikającego z zastosowania kolektorów słonecznych

Climate and energy package is a set of rules designed by member states of European Union to combat climate change. According to these directives the greenhouse gas emissions should be reduced by 20% and the share of energy produced from renewable sources should simultaneously be increased by the same percentage. The use of solar collectors can both improve energy security and reduce the environmental impact caused by the thermal energy industry. An ability to reduce the pollutants, which can be achieved using devices for converting solar radiation into the heat, was determined in this paper. The environmental effect, discussed in the present work, is caused by reducing the demand for domestic water heating. This effect results from the application of thermal solar collectors. The amount of pollutants that are released into the air, emitted from combustion of fuels, was estimated on the basis of the annual energy gain from the solar radiation and emission factors of the selected pollutants recommended by the European Environment Agency (EEA). Net gain of energy from solar panels was determined on the basis of experimental data. The object of the study was the solar domestic hot water (SDHW) system located on the roof of the Hotel for the staff of Bialystok University of Technology (Poland). Experimental studies were carried out under the project financed by the Regional Operational Program of Podlasie Province – stage 1.1 named “Study of the effectiveness of active and passive methods to improve the energy efficiency of infrastructure supported by renewable energy sources”. The construction of the research object was the target of the stage – 5.2 named “Improving the energy efficiency of Bialystok University of Technology infrastructure by use of renewable energy sources” (V. Development of environmental protection infrastructure”). The system consists of two parallel-connected installations. The first includes 21 tube collectors with a total gross area of more than 74 m2. The second unit consists of 35 flat plate collectors with a total gross area of about 72 m2. Eight storage tanks with the capacity of 1000 liters each were placed in the basement of the Hotel. The monitoring system was used to record the installation parameters during its operation. It consists of 17 heat meters, 4 electricity recorders, and 42 platinum resistance temperature sensors. The weather station that captures the basic parameters of outside air and insolation is located near the solar collectors. As a result of studies, it was found that the solar system produced 230.61 GJ heat energy throughout the year. The equation necessary to determine an equivalent amount of energy that is produced in a power plant was presented in this paper. Subsequently, the value of a possible reduction of selected pollutant emissions, which are released into the air, was calculated. Moreover, ΔPj coefficients were proposed for determination of the emissions reduction related to 1 m2 gross area of a solar panel. The main conclusions from the assessment of the impact of applying SDHW system to reduce the air pollution in the urban area were presented at the end of the paper.