Impact of renewable energy technologies on the embodied and operational GHG emissions of a nearly zero energy building

Vares, Sirje; Häkkinen, Tarja; Ketomäki, Jaakko; Shemeikka, Jari; Jung, Nusrat

doi:10.1016/j.jobe.2018.12.017

Cited by 43 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…During the entire building's life cycle (from construction to demolition), a major share of the required energy (80-90%) is associated with operating energy [6], and up to 60% of the total energy consumption is due to air-conditioning [7]. The enhancement of air-conditioning energy efficiency, coupled with an integration of renewable-energy technologies, is considered an effective solution to mitigate the environmental impacts of buildings [8][9][10][11][12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Performance of Innovative Ground-Source Heat Pumps with PCM Energy Storage

Bonamente

Aquino

2019

Energies

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Space conditioning is responsible for the majority of carbon dioxide emission and fossil fuel consumption during a building’s life cycle. The exploitation of renewable energy sources, together with efficiency enhancement, is the most promising solution. An innovative layout for ground-source heat pumps, featuring upstream thermal energy storage (uTES), was already proposed and proved to be as effective as conventional systems while requiring lower impact geothermal installations thanks to its ability to decouple ground and heat-pump energy fluxes. This work presents further improvements to the layout, obtained using more compact and efficient thermal energy storage containing phase-change materials (PCMs). The switch from sensible- to latent-heat storage has the twofold benefit of dramatically reducing the volume of storage (by a factor of approximately 10) and increasing the coefficient of performance of the heat pump. During the daily cycle, the PCMs are continuously melted/solidified, however, the average storage temperature remains approximately constant, allowing the heat pump to operate closer to its maximum efficiency. A life cycle assessment (LCA) was performed to study the environmental benefits of introducing PCM-uTES during the entire life cycle of the system in a comparative approach.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Performance of Innovative Ground-Source Heat Pumps with PCM Energy Storage

Bonamente

Aquino

2019

Energies

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“…The relative significance of embodied emissions increases as the operational GHG emissions are reduced because of the better energy efficiency of buildings, the increasing use of distributed renewable energy, and the increased use of renewable sources in the generation of heat and power. GHG emissions from materials' production may increase in absolute terms if some materials are used in larger quantities or others have higher GHG emissions (Vares et al 2019). The results of the recent global survey of more than 600 buildings around the world (Röck et al 2019) show that embodied emissions have risen in both residential and office buildings.…”

Section: Existing Assessment Methods For the Ghg Emissionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reduced carbon footprints of buildings: new Finnish standards and assessments

Kuittinen¹,

Häkkinen²

2020

Buildings and Cities

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The Nordic countries are working towards regional carbon neutrality ahead of the European Union's goals. Finland is aiming at carbon neutrality by 2035, and developing a set of policies, including legislation for low-carbon construction. The new approach includes normative carbon limits for different building types before 2025. Finland's Ministry of the Environment has developed an assessment method and will develop a generic emission database. The database will cover all main types of products and materials, sources of energy, modes of transportation as well as other main processes such as site operations and waste management. Furthermore, the criteria for green public procurement have been developed from the viewpoint of reducing the climate impacts of buildings: incorporating global warming potential and climate benefits. However, there are several open questions regarding both the assessment method and the database. These questions are outlined and discussed. The consideration of the foreseen decarbonisation of energy, the relation of the generic data to specific data and the requirements for generating valid generic data are key issues of discussion. The Finnish assessment method is also compared with the methodological development in other Nordic countries and to the proposed Level(s) framework of the European Commission. Policy relevance The carbon limits for buildings will introduce the construction sector to life-cycle approach and assessment. The scope of optimisation will widen from operational emissions to buildings' full lifecycle. This brings changes to building design, as the carbon footprint limit becomes an additional performance requirement for a building permission. For product manufacturers, this may lead to increased market demand of environmental product declarations and their availability in digital format. From the client side, the introduction of limits opens a possibility for setting quantitative targets that go beyond the legal minimum. Furthermore, the proposed concept of carbon handprint (for positive carbon impacts) may become an award criterion in public procurement. The ongoing normative development in the Nordic countries has timely relevance for the development of the Level(s) framework, a common assessment scheme for the European Union. Fora for discussion and co-development are therefore also required at the European level.

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“…The reduced rate of the cooling and heating loads caused by changes to the design of building envelopes was analyzed and the results were used to estimate approximate reductions in GHG emissions. Similarly, energy savings in buildings with energy efficiency systems [50][51][52][53] (i.e., microgrid with renewable energy exchange, efficient power sharing within energy districts, robust energy scheduling, energy storage for communities, renewable energy technologies), energy sharing technologies [54][55][56], and zero-energy building technology [57] cannot be analyzed by the method proposed in this study. In other words, energy consumption with respect to energy efficiency and energy sharing, including HVAC system and plant equipment cannot be analyzed.…”

Section: Limitations and Future Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Analysis of the Effectiveness of Greenhouse Gas Reduction Policy for Office Building Design in South Korea

et al. 2019

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This paper examines the effectiveness of South Korea’s policy for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in office buildings and evaluates if national targets can be met. A sample of office buildings was categorized into two groups—conventional (Group A) and new (Group B)—based on when their construction was approved. Furthermore, data regarding the three design elements of the building envelope, that is building form, window systems, and U-values were collected. By statistically processing data of each element, reference building models were developed and a case study was conducted for each building. Design changes that were incorporated, keeping in mind the GHG reduction policy, showed 13.1% of saving energy in case 8 (reference building of Group B) than case 1 (reference building of Group A). The savings in case 8 were more than the average GHG reduction rate (12.8%) compared to business as usual (BAU). However, case 4 (a conventional (Group A) building form with new (Group B) window systems and U-values) achieved the greatest savings in building loads. The policy to enhance insulation in new buildings to reduce GHG emissions in the building sector has prompted changes in building forms and window systems and has reduced emissions by 10%, that is 3% more than the expected value. Thus, new innovations in building envelope design could achieve an average 12.8% reduction in emissions in buildings.

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Impact of renewable energy technologies on the embodied and operational GHG emissions of a nearly zero energy building

Cited by 43 publications

References 22 publications

Environmental Performance of Innovative Ground-Source Heat Pumps with PCM Energy Storage

Environmental Performance of Innovative Ground-Source Heat Pumps with PCM Energy Storage

Reduced carbon footprints of buildings: new Finnish standards and assessments

An Analysis of the Effectiveness of Greenhouse Gas Reduction Policy for Office Building Design in South Korea

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