Optimizing carbon reduction technologies portfolios of buildings: Lifecycle approach based individual and system technology readiness level assessments

Abstract

The building sector contributes significantly to global carbon emissions. Despite the development of various carbon reduction technologies (CRTs), challenges persist in assessing their maturity and effectively selecting technology combinations for emissions reduction. To address this issue, this study constructed a list of building CRTs covering 19 technologies for a Chinese case building, and established a quantitative assessment method for the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) rating of building CRTs. Furthermore, This study developed a System Readiness Level (SRL) evaluation model based on TRL and Integration Readiness Level (IRL), and proposed an optimization model for carbon reduction technology combinations using SRL as a key constraint. The NSGA-III algorithm was utilized to solve for the optimal technology combination of the case study building, aiming to maximize building carbon reduction while satisfying constraints on technology combinations and system maturity. The results show that the SRL of the optimal carbon reduction scheme for the case building is 0.701, in which the CRTs of high level TRL account for more than 54 % of the technology combination, indicating that the scheme has high reliability and operability in practical engineering applications. Meanwhile, the carbon reduction rate of the program reaches 93.91 %, of which the carbon reduction contribution of renewable energy technologies is as high as 47.01 %. The proposed methodology provides a robust framework for selecting scalable and effective CRT portfolios, contributing to whole-life-cycle carbon reduction in buildings.