Heated Clothing:The Unlikely Way to Reduce Home Co2 Emissions Introduction This paper encourages heated clothing as a way to help reduce the environmental costs associated with household heating. To be clear, this paper acknowledges there is an environmental cost associated with heated clothing. However, research confirms that the cost is far less than heating homes with traditional, fossil fuel-based, heat sources. Calculations based on the expected consumption of energy and savings associated with heated clothing in this document prove that even a marginal reduction in home heating can lead to massive reductions in Co2 from our atmosphere. This paper has taken a special interest in the consumption habits and goals of the United Kingdom, but the opportunity to reduce household consumption using heated clothing has worldwide applicability. 1 Table of Contents 1. B ACKGROUND 3 2. T HE P ARIS A GREEMENT 3 3. T HE U NITED K INGDOM 4 4. T HE Comfort Zone 5 5. E MISSION S AVING P OTENTIAL 6 6. C ALCULATIONS 8 7. C ONCLUSION 10 8. R EFERENCES 11 2 Background Household energy consumption accounts for about half of carbon emissions in the United Kingdom. Household heating represents about half of that, amounting to more than 22% of all energy consumption attributed to household heating. Given the above, it is cleat that climate change depends on individual households as much as businesses. In the following sections, we will explore how heated clothing can play a role in easing the burden of household behavioural change to help meet emission targets. The Paris Agreement The Paris Agreement is an international treaty between 196 states that sets forth climate mitigation and finance strategies aimed at reducing global warming below 2 degrees Celsius. The agreement identifies economic and social transformations needed to reduce the earth’s temperature. The Paris Agreement’s significance is undoubtedly monumental, but it’s much less actionable than many would like. Whilst it provides tactics and financial pathways to help mitigate emissions, it is the countries themselves who are ultimately responsible for setting their own standards and laws. For the targets set out in the Paris agreement to become reality, each individual country must be looked into separately. Our paper focuses particularly on the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom 3 In the UK, the residential sector boasts carbon emissions of approximately 65.7 million metric tons per year. Since the mid-1990s the UK has significantly reduced emissions by about 40%. Whilst that is good news, the pace at which the UK sheds Co2 is still far from what is needed to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. The latest budget laid out by the UK parliament’s Climate Change Commission (CCC) brought the initial 80% target forward 15 years, committing to a 78% reduction in Co2 by 2035. The CCC cites a four point plan defined by the following: 1. By 2030s all new cars and vans and all boiler replacements in homes and other buildings are low-carbon – largely electric 2. Scaling up hydrogen to be almost as large by 2050 to the same level as electricity production is today 3. Reducing demand for carbon-intensive activities by better insulating homes and reducing demand for meat and dairy by 20% 4. Land and greenhouse gas removals by re-planting more woodlands Despite the UK’s ambitious commitment to climate change, net zero by 2050 is highly unlikely (if at all possible) without a willing contribution on behalf of households to reduce emissions. According to the Environmental Investment Agency (EIA), excessive or wasteful energy use must be reduced including indoor temperature settings, or digitalization and a growing market share of household appliances Smart devices such as smart thermostats or space-differentiated thermal controls reduce the need for people to take an active role in saving energy in homes over time. Below are the key global milestones for behaviour change for buildings by 2030 and 2050, according to the International Energy Agency's Net Zero by 2050 Scenario: 4 5 The Comfort Zone A study carried out by the Cambridge Architectural Research (CAR) using the Cambridge Housing Model, a complex simulation model that allows for estimating the energy consumption of dwellings, estimates that the effect of wearing a thick jumper is that it allows people to change the thermostat settings from 0.5°C to 2°C lower. Following this logic, we can assume that using heated clothing can achieve better effects for lowering the thermostat. In such a case, we will assume that heated clothing can allow people in households to lower the thermostat settings by 4°C. In order to determine the optimal temperature setting for households while wearing heated clothing, we will first analyse the temperature in which humans feel comfortable, known as the comfort zone, as seen in the next figure. Taking into account the above, we have the following suggestions for household: 6 If a typical home set thermostats to a comfortable 21° or 22° on average in normal circumstances while awake. When using heated clothing, the thermostat can be set to 17° or 18°C, as the heated clothing allows for reducing home temperatures to an additional 2°C compared to a heavy sweatshirt. Based on the above, we propose as a goal to help households reduce average temperatures by 4° degrees total Emission Reduction Potential Amor Fati’s Heated Jumper is equipped with eight graphene heat pads connected to a 5V battery and emits target infrared heatwaves ranging from 35° to 45° C. See images below: The goal is to use the heat emitted from the Jumper to create a pleasant body temperature while keeping home temperatures below 20 degrees and reducing average temperatures by four degrees. Below we demonstrate the math to prove that powering a jumper is more efficient than heating a home. 7 Calculations Using 8 heated pads and a nominal power of 8.5 W per single pad, the total nominal power of the heated clothing and the hourly energy consumption per person is .065kWh as shown below. Hourly energy consumption of 0.068 kWh is expected for the usage of the heated clothing. Assuming the heated clothing is used 16 hours a day, and it is only used during 6 months of the year, this results in energy consumption of 198.56 kWh per year. Considering the average household size in the UK of 2.3 people per household, this results in an energy consumption of 457.94 kWh per year of usage of heated clothing. Next, we proceed to calculate the net energy savings, considering the use of the 8-pad heated clothing, for scenarios where the ambient temperature is reduced by 1°C, 2°C, 3°C and 4°C. We start with the value of energy saving per household of 3,090 kWh/year for reducing the temperature by two degrees Celsius. Therefore, we can assume a lineal behaviour and that the energy saving per household for reducing the temperature by 1°C will be 1545 kWh/year. Net energy savings are calculated in the next table. 8 Scenario Gross energy saving due to thermostat reduction [kWh/year] Extra energy consumption from heated clothing usage [kWh/year] Net Energy Savings [kWh/year] 1°C reduction 1545 457,94 1087,06 2°C reduction 3090 457,94 2632,06 3°C reduction 4635 457,94 4177,06 4°C reduction 6180 457,94 5722,06 The graph in fig. 2 below depicts the relationship between the progressive temperature reduction and the corresponding net energy saved per household. The graph indicates a positive correlation meaning the higher the temperature reduced, the higher the amount of energy saved by lowering household temperatures. In this case, based on the number of households per country, the calculated total energy saving in terajoules by reducing 1°C, 2°C, 3°C, and 4°C reflects in figure 3 below. 9 Region Country Number of households Savings for reducing thermostat setting by 1°C [kWh/hour household- year] Total energy savings for thermostat reduction of 1°C [TJ] Total energy savings for thermostat reduction of 2°C [TJ] Total energy savings for thermostat reduction of 3°C [TJ] Total energy savings for thermostat reduction of 4°C [TJ] UK 27.921.000 1.545 155.297 310.593 465.890 621.186 EU 196.012.40 0 1.545 1.090.221 2.180.442 3.270.663 4.360.884 Consequently, reducing the consumption of thermostat energy resonates with lowered Carbon emissions in percentages as described in table 2 below: Country Total of country CO2 emissions [tcoe] - 1°C [%] - 2°C [%] - 3°[%] - 4°C [%] UK 291.090.407 2,43% 5,89% 9,35% 12,81% EU 2.168.514.875 1,72% 4,17% 6,61% 9,06% Conclusion Low-voltage electric Jumpers are more effective than home heating and are mathematically proven to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Theirconductive features enable the body to keep warm and dry while home temperatures are lower than average. If every household in the UK would reduce their thermostat by 4 degrees that would result in a reduction of Co2 emissions by12.81% within 1 year. Within 7 years the UK will have surpassed its 78% target to 89.6%. 10 Takeaway : If every household in the UK did nothing else but reduced their consumption by 4 degrees and compensated with heated jumpers, the net effect would not only lead the UK to overdeliver on its 78% reduction target by 15% by 2035. 11 References Commissione Europea. (2022). Towards a smart, efficient and sustainable heating and cooling sector. Commissioner Europea. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/it/MEMO_16_311 Eurostat. (2022). Air emissions account by NACE Rev. 2 activity. Eurostat. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/ENV_AC_AINAH_R2/default/t able?lang=en Statista. (2022). Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the residential sector in the United Kingdom (UK) from 1990 to 2020. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/418148/uk-residential-sector-emissions/ UK Parliament. (2022). Decarbonising heat in homes. Seventh Report of Session 2021-22. https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5802/cmselect/cmbeis/1038/report.html #:~:text=For%20the%20UK%20to%20meet,and%20oil%20boilers%20by%20202 8 United Nations. (n.d.). The Paris agreement: What is the Paris agreement? United Nations Climate Change. https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreeme nt White House. (2021). The long-term strategy of the United States: Pathways to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. White House. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/US-Long-Term-Strat egy.pdf Yan, T., Shi,Y., Zhuang, H., Lin,Y., Ke, H., Zhu, C., Lu, D., Cao, S., & Zhu, L. (2022). Research on the heating of woven carbon fibre fabrics using thin-film solar cells. Fibres & Textiles in Eastern Europe, 151(2), 61-67. https://sciendo.com/pdf/10.2478/ftee-2022-0008 Republic, S. (no date) Reduce UK emissions by 78% by 2035 to meet net zero, says Government Climate Advisors , CIWEM. Available at: https://www.ciwem.org/news/reduce-uk-emissions-by-78-by-2035-to-meet-net- zero#:~:text=The%20budget%20lays%20out%20a,target%20forward%20by%20 12 15%20years. (Accessed: November 30, 2022). 13