Fuels & Heat
Entering data on district heating
The ‘fuels’ category standard only shows natural gas. You can go to finetuning and select the entry screen for different types of heating. Read the information (click on the button) to make your choice.
Gas use per section of a building
If an Envirometer is created for a section of a building that shares its heating system with another section of the building that is not included in this Envirometer, it can be useful to estimate the share of this section in the total gas use for heating. Preferably, the gas use is divided pro rata in accordance with the volume (m3) of the various sections. If this information is not available, the division can also be based on the floor areas, particularly if the heights of the sections are similar.
Of course, this division is only fair if the heating in both sections is handled in the same manner:
- Similar utility hours (instead of comparing 24 hours with 9 hours a day)
- Similar temperature settings (instead of comparing frost-free transit storage with offices)
Green gas
The Envirometer offers a number of options for entering green gas. The term ‘green gas’ is also used for biogas, gas that is generated from biomass. In the Netherlands, biogas is usually generated through the fermentation of manure and/or organic waste. Check which option in the barometer applies to you.
To be sure that your purchase of biogas results in a significant CO2 reduction, you can buy biogas with a Verto certificate. In the Envirometer you will find a separate field for VertiCer.
Note: Climate-compensated natural gas should not be entered as green gas/biogas. Enter the gas consumption in the Envirometer under ‘natural gas for heating’, and the compensation under “CO2-compensation (co2 compensation)”: https://www.milieubarometer.nl/envirometer-help/help-theme/co2-compensation/.
Heat Pump and Thermal Storage (Heat and Cold Storage)
Fill in the energy consumption of the heat pump in the following way:
| Generation/use | Theme | Environmental theme | Environmental burden | Key indicators |
| Energy consumption of the heat pump1 | Electricity | Electricity consumption of the heat pump | ||
| Heat produced from the heat pump2 | Fuels & heat | Self-generated heat | ||
| Cold produced from the heat pump2 | Fuels & heat | Self-generated cold |
(1) This means that your electricity consumption (per m2 or per fte) will be higher in comparison to heating with a central heating boiler or such. In order analyse this effect, you can also take a look at the key figure ‘Electricity consumption excl. heatpump per floor area’.
(2) If the amount of heat/cold produced by the heat pump is measured, you can enter this data. If you enter this information, you can take a look at the Energy production indicator ‘Seasonal Performance Factor Heatpump(s)’.
Buildings heated with a heat pump (in- or exclusive thermal storage) have a higher electricity consumption than when natural gas or another fuel would be used for heating. On the contrary, the environmental impact of fuels are much lower. This is important to consider during the interpretation of the graphs when you compare your building with a building heated by fuel.
Tip: Is it allowed to subtract the amount CO2 that tomatoes (or other vegetables) absord from the total amount of CO2 emission?
No, this is not allowed. The CO2 tomatoes absord comes either out of the fresh air or out of the flue gasses emissed by the kettle. This means that it does not matter where the CO2 comes from and because of this reason CO2 absorbed by tomatoes cannot be subtracted from the total amount of CO2 emission.