Long-term carbon emission reduction potential of building retrofits with dynamically changing electricity emission factors

Buildings account for approximately 36% of the United States’ total carbon emissions and building retrofits have great potential to reduce carbon emissions. Current research adopts a constant electricity emission factor although it changes over time due to the increase of renewable energy generation. To accurately predict emission reduction potential of building retrofits, this study develops a novel method by using dynamically changing electricity emission factors. Using medium office buildings as an example, we predicted emission reduction of eight building retrofit measures from 2020 to 2050 in five locations in the U.S. with distinct climates and renewable adoption rates. To evaluate emission reduction potential sensitivity to the compositions of electricity generation, five scenarios for renewable energy adoptions are investigated. The results reveal several new phenomena on emission reduction potential of building retrofits for medium offices in the U.S.: (1) it decreases from 2026 to 2050; (2) it has the same trend with coal usage; and (3) it reaches the maximum under the high renewable cost scenario. Based on the results, it is recommended that building retrofits should focus on 1) improving lighting and equipment efficiency; 2) locations with higher coal usage rate, and 3) buildings under the high renewable cost scenario. The new method can also be used for predicting emission reduction potential of the building sector in the U.S. by applying to other building types and regions.

© This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

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Work Title Long-term carbon emission reduction potential of building retrofits with dynamically changing electricity emission factors
Access
Open Access
Creators
  1. Yingli Lou
  2. Yunyang Ye
  3. Yizhi Yang
  4. Wangda Zuo
Keyword
  1. Carbon emission reduction
  2. Building retrofits
  3. Building energy model
  4. Simulation
  5. Electricity emission factors
License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives)
Work Type Article
Publisher
  1. Elsevier BV
Publication Date February 2022
Publisher Identifier (DOI)
  1. 10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.108683
Source
  1. Building and Environment
Deposited June 17, 2022

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  • Created
  • Added J56_Long-term carbon emission reduction potential of building retrofits with dynamically changing electricity emission factors-1.pdf
  • Added Creator Yingli Lou
  • Added Creator Yunyang Ye
  • Added Creator Yizhi Yang
  • Added Creator Wangda Zuo
  • Published
  • Updated Work Title, Keyword Show Changes
    Work Title
    • Long-term carbon emission reduction potential of building retrofits with dynamically changing electricity emission factors
    • ! Long-term carbon emission reduction potential of building retrofits with dynamically changing electricity emission factors
    Keyword
    • Carbon emission reduction, Building retrofits, Building energy model, Simulation, Electricity emission factors
  • Updated Work Title Show Changes
    Work Title
    • ! Long-term carbon emission reduction potential of building retrofits with dynamically changing electricity emission factors
    • Long-term carbon emission reduction potential of building retrofits with dynamically changing electricity emission factors
  • Updated