In order to evaluate different technologies in European regulations, such as the Energy Efficiency Act, the primary energy factor and the CO₂-equivalent emission factor are used.

The study compared the relevant approaches and determined the factors for the displacement mix in the EU-28. This displacement mix is a simplified marginal approach that represents the electricity mix substituted by the additional CHP generation.

Figure 1: Resulting primary energy factors for electricity in the EU-28, including grid losses, according to the displacement mix method in relation to the lower calorific values.

Figure 2: Comparison of the composition of the generation mix with the displacement mix in the European Union, as well as the primary energy factor and CO2 equivalent emission factor for the displacement mix.

Further information:

• EU Displacement Mix - A simplified marginal approach to determining the environmental impacts of coupled heat and power technologies