The use of the expression ‘emission-free’ almost always involves some sort of deception on the part of the seller/supplier. Nothing is emission-free not even a bicycle. The manufacture of any product will require industrial processes which involve the production of greenhouse gases and the use of finite resources.
This term is commonly used to sell heat pump based heating systems (more commonly known as ‘geothermal’, ‘air-thermal’ etc). What the suppliers don’t say is that the running of a heat pump requires considerable amounts of electricity ( in domestic situations typically as least as much electricity is used for running fridges, freezers, televisions, computers, electric kettles, washing machines and all other appliances combined) and that in Ireland over 90% of grid electricity comes from burning oil, coal, gas and turf in very polluting fossil fuel fired power stations.
These power stations are among the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. The label ‘emission-free’ has also been used to market micro wind turbines and solar panels and even in these cases cannot be regarded as strictly accurate. The emissions, however, are limited to those which arise form the manufacturing and production processes, not from the use of the devices themselves. Ideally, all renewable energy products and related equipment would come supplied with detailed data on the environmental cost of production. With modern software programs, such calculations are not hard to make once information relating to the energy and raw materials used in production is known.
See also: Life Cycle Assessment
