Jonas Jonasson, Charlotta Faith-Ell, Inga Carlman, Oskar Englund
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Buildings can play an important role in reducing GHG emissions through increased energy efficiency. The European Commission mandates that all new buildings should be “zero emission buildings” (ZEB), aiming at a zero GHG emission building stock by 2050. The extent to which ZEB can contribute to reduced GHG emissions, however, varies between countries, due to different energy systems. It is also important to consider other environmental effects to avoid that climate benefits come with unintended consequences. Here, we explore the life-cycle environmental performance for a ZEB in a case where electricity and heating are largely fossil-free. The assessment concentrates on i) environmental impact of the use stage in relation to the product stage, ii) the interrelation between different energy sources, with focus on household electricity, and iii) the performance for more impact categories than primary energy use and climate change. While our results generally support the use of ZEBs from an environmental perspective, they also show that the climate benefit in this setting is marginal. However, given that energy systems are connected and energy savings in one place can reduce the demand for fossil energy elsewhere, the climate benefit of ZEBs is likely underestimated. Besides methodological implications for future studies, this indicates that current EU policy is promising, as incentives for implementation of ZEBs are unaffected by domestic effects.
期刊介绍:
The journal Energy Efficiency covers wide-ranging aspects of energy efficiency in the residential, tertiary, industrial and transport sectors. Coverage includes a number of different topics and disciplines including energy efficiency policies at local, regional, national and international levels; long term impact of energy efficiency; technologies to improve energy efficiency; consumer behavior and the dynamics of consumption; socio-economic impacts of energy efficiency measures; energy efficiency as a virtual utility; transportation issues; building issues; energy management systems and energy services; energy planning and risk assessment; energy efficiency in developing countries and economies in transition; non-energy benefits of energy efficiency and opportunities for policy integration; energy education and training, and emerging technologies. See Aims and Scope for more details.