A matter of metrics? How analysing per capita energy use changes the face of energy efficient housing in Sweden and reveals injustices in the energy transition

Patterns of Dwelling Types, Location, and Spaciousness of Living in Norway. Critical Remarks on the Practice of Measuring Energy Performance per Floor Area Only

“…As for most countries, Norwegian building codes [18] as well as international sustainability assessment methods such as BREEAM NOR [19] measure energy performance of dwellings by normalizing energy use to floor area. This measure has been criticized in literature [20,21]. One reason for the critique is that this measure fails to account for building occupancy, since an occupied building is likely to have a higher area-normalized energy use than an unoccupied building [21,22].…”

“…One reason for the critique is that this measure fails to account for building occupancy, since an occupied building is likely to have a higher area-normalized energy use than an unoccupied building [21,22]. A second issue of critique is that energy use does not linearly increase with floor area [20][21][22]. While the end use of energy increases with floor area, the area-normalized energy use decreases as the floor area increase.…”

“…Generally, households with higher income can afford more floor area and more electricity consuming appliances that in addition are used more extensively [23]. Focusing on energy use per capita rather than per floor area, studies in Sweden found that the buildings with the highest per capita energy demand were located in high-income city centers as opposed to low-income suburbs [20].…”

“…Measuring energy performance of dwellings by normalizing energy use to floor area can be misleading if the aim is to reduce overall energy demand. As can be seen in many countries, the reductions in energy demand in residential buildings "has been offset by an increase in floor area per capita" [20] (p. 2). Despite reductions in energy demand in the domestic building stock, Palmer [24] found that per capita energy use for heating in Australia has remained constant over 50 years, which can be explained by a combination of factors including reduced household sizes and larger dwellings.…”

Determining the Impact of High Residential Density on Indoor Environment, Energy Use, and Moisture Loads in Swedish Apartments-and Measures for Mitigation

“…In Sweden, over a million homes were built during the so called "million homes program", 1965-1974, in order to manage the housing shortage and abolish poor housing standards [1]. During the last few years, the number of residents in many apartments in these buildings, especially in suburbs of major cities, has increased due to a housing shortage in general but also due to immigration [2,3]. The question is, how the increased number of residents, and thus the excess moisture load and increased indoor air pollution, will affect the risk of poor indoor air quality (henceforth IAQ) and moisture damage?…”