Environmental impacts of heating methods

The most common methods for heating buildings in Finland are district heating, electric heating and building-specific oil heating. The choice of heating method contributes significantly to the environmental impact of the building. The total impact of the heating method can be found out by examining the entire energy production chain. The European Committee for Standardisation has issued a standard with criteria for calculating the primary energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions produced by the heating of a building.

  • Building-specific oil heating causes energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions according to the spent amount of fuel.

  • Electric heating increases electricity consumption. A heat pump consumes less electricity than electric heating. Increased electricity consumption is met mostly with coal condensate.

  • District heating causes emissions and fuel consumption at the heat production plant. In CHP, the electricity generated together with heat usually replaces the coal condensate. This is taken into account when estimating the emissions from district heating.

It is hoped that understanding the environmental impacts of heating methods will steer choices in an energy-efficient and environmentally friendly direction.