National disclosure regulation is more and more flanked by stricter requirements of climate reporting. Industry stakeholders with more than 250 employees will for example be required to report on the share of their CAPEX and OPEX that is in line with the 2050 climate targets of the EU. Financial institutions are required to declare how much of their investment is in 2050 target compatible assets. Investment in buildings is an important part of such reporting and there is need of a robust approach and method to be used. The presented project developed such an approach. With reference to the work of the EU Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance and the Climate Bond Initiative (CBI), generally applicable criteria for buildings have been determined and calculated for the example of Switzerland. They are based on a best-in-class approach. While the EU Technical Taxonomy refers to the top 15% of buildings in terms of primary energy demand, CBI uses CO2-emissions as a benchmark. To compare the current state of buildings sector with these criteria, a distributional building stock model is used, which also addresses the fact that the data availability on energy efficiency and climate compatibility of the building stock is unsatisfactory in many European countries including Switzerland. To be easily applicable in practice, the criteria are mainly based on two dimensions: on the one hand, on the requirements of codes (in Switzerland the model regulations of the Cantons, MuKEn) and widely used standards and labels (Minergie, GEAK), and on the other hand, on the energy sources used for the generation of space heat and hot water. The study shows that ecologically sustainable, climate-compatible building financing can always be assumed in Switzerland if one of the following two criteria are met for new buildings: multi-family, office or other non-residential buildings according to Minergie from 1998 on, MuKEn from 2000 on or GEAK B that use heat-pumps, wood, pellets or solar energy. Or, any building with Minergie from 2009 on label, MuKEn 2014 or GEAK A that use heat pumps, wood, pellets, solar energy or district heating based on non-fossil energy. In the context of increased pressure on resources, it is important to acknowledge the climate-compatibility of older buildings as well (and to not only consider newly which would generate a bias towards resource intensive building of new houses).

In this article we present and validate a novel methodology for estimating the temperature development and heat extraction demand of closed refrigerated display cabinets (RDCs) in operating conditions, for near-future prediction and optimisation in smart grids. The approach is based on an in-house developed hygro-thermal model of an RDC, in which the conditions in each of the three main calculation domains, representing the internal air, heat exchanger and interior, are estimated at a temporal scale of seconds. The interior air temperature, heat extraction rate and run-off condensate were validated towards experimental data with good conformity. Moreover, for demand response purposes, in this article, we provide examples of how the model can be used to evaluate the temporal flexibility in heat extraction demand of RDCs. In a hypothetical supermarket with 11 RDCs exposed to various thermal loads and customer interactions, it is estimated that the heat extraction demand could be reduced to 0 for up to 83/127 s during opening/non-opening hours respectively. With a strategic pre-cooling, the latter time could be extended to 322 s. For the case of a demand response signal requesting the supermarket to absorb excess energy, all RDCs would be able to run at full power for up to 17/29 s, and approximately half of them for additional 20 s during opening hours. These findings are based on a total of 44 five-minutes-ahead simulations of possible scenarios for the 11 RDCs, all calculated by the presented model in approximately 10 s. In conclusion, the model provides fast and reliable results for real-time predictions in refrigeration control systems either for the benefit of the electrical grid by demand response or for energy efficiency purposes.

In light of the Swiss government's reduction targets for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the Paris Agreement, this article investigates how and with which policy measures these reduction targets can be met for the Swiss residential building sector. The paper applies an agent-based building stock model to simulate the development of the Swiss residential building stock under three different policy scenarios. The scenario results until 2050 are compared against the reduction targets set by the Swiss government and with each other. The results indicate that while the current state of Swiss climate policy is effective in reducing energy demand and GHG emissions, it will not be enough to reach the ambitious emission-reduction targets. These targets can be reached only through an almost complete phase-out of fossil-fuel heating systems by 2050, which can be achieved through the introduction of further financial and/or regulatory measures. The results indicate that while financial measures such as an increase in the CO2 tax as well as subsidies are effective in speeding up the transition in the beginning, a complete phase-out of oil and gas by 2050 is reached only through additional regulatory measures such as a CO2 limit for new and existing buildings.

Buildings are responsible for a large share of the energy demand and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Europe and Switzerland. Bottom-up building stock models (BSMs) can be used to assess policy measures and strategies based on a quantitative assessment of energy demand and GHG emissions in the building stock over time. Recent developments in BSM-related research have focused on modeling the status quo of the stock and comparatively little focus has been given to improving the modeling methods in terms of stock dynamics. This paper presents a BSM based on an agent-based modeling approach (ABBSM) that models stock development in terms of new construction, retrofit and replacement by modeling individual decisions on the building level. The model was implemented for the residential building stock of Switzerland and results show that it can effectively reproduce the past development of the stock from 2000 to 2017 based on the changes in policy, energy prices, and costs. ABBSM improves on current modeling practice by accounting for heterogeneity in the building stock and its effect on uptake of retrofit and renewable heating systems and by incorporating both regulatory or financial policy measures as well as other driving and restricting factors (costs, energy prices).

By introducing doors on refrigerated display cabinets, the energy demand is substantially decreased. However, there exist significant discrepancies in temperature readings between visually identical refrigerated display cabinets equipped with doors. This study explores the cause and consequences of these differences. The exploratory methodology used within the study has used CFD simulations combined with laboratory experiments to conclude that there exists a thermal gradient in the area of the return air temperature sensor causing these discrepancies to occur. Thus, the temperature sensors position within the thermal gradient affects the perceived temperature of the control system and thereby the refrigeration strategy adopted by it. To follow up on the consequences of this observed issue, two field studies were performed to investigate the effects and occurrence of temperature sensors within the thermal gradient. Through this, it was concluded that by moving the return air sensors away from the thermal gradient, the refrigerated display cabinets were performing more uniformly as well as with a reduced heat extraction demand. Additionally, from the field study investigating the occurrence, it was found that 80.5 % of the 221 reviewed refrigerated display cabinets had sensors placed in a zone where a thermal gradient exists.

With regard to residential energy use in the European Union (EU), most studies consider potential adopters of the technology (e.g., private owners) as being the sole decision-makers in the technology selection. However, during an integrated decision-making process (e.g., a construction project) multiple stakeholders will interact, influencing each other’s judgement, thereby making it difficult to discern who is affecting the final decision, and to what extent. The goal of this study is to outline the full network of stakeholders involved in the decision-making process, along with their degree of power and interaction in the technology choice. For this purpose, empirical evidence from a multi-country survey is examined using social network analysis (SNA). The information is compared across building typologies, project types and countries (i.e., Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium and the Netherlands). The results demonstrate that, in EU residential buildings, potential adopters of the technology are not the only stakeholders involved in the technology selection. They are in all instances in communication with multiple stakeholders, some of whom also hold a high level of power in the decision (i.e., key persuaders). Furthermore, their level of power and communication varies substantially across building typologies, project types and countries.

In this study, an application of the adapted Co-Heating methodology for thermal performance evaluation of closed refrigerated display cabinets (RDCs) has been presented. A novel test series comprising three experiments has been developed and demonstrated on a commercial RDC with four doors to evaluate the envelope heat transfer coefficient, thermal inertia, infiltration at idle state and dynamic infiltration caused by door operations. The latter two experiments were conducted in parallel with the condensate collection method for validation of the results for infiltration. It was concluded with good (<10%) conformance between the methods that the infiltration at idle state for the tested RDC is approximately 0.022kg/s and that one 15s door opening causes approximately 0.94kg of ambient indoor air to infiltrate. Additionally, the time, equipment and associated costs for running the tests were compared, and it was concluded that the adapted Co-Heating methodology could substitute the condensate collection method for the evaluation of infiltration while providing additional results on the thermal performance.

Many studies have investigated different aspects in the decarbonisation of the European housing stock. However, a comprehensive quantitative analysis of the literature on the diffusion of energy efficiency technologies is still missing. We conducted a bibliometric analysis to better understand the knowledge base in the field energy efficiency technology diffusion in the European residential building stock. After the scanning and screening process, we identified 954 scientific articles pertinent to this topic. Through a co-citation network analysis, we generated a visual knowledge structure of the field and by the further investigation of the bibliography we were able to synthesize the state-of-the-art and answer to our initial research questions. Results of the co-citation network show a scattered and fragmented field in many domains. The descriptive analysis highlights this fragmentation, especially on a cross-country level among EU country members. Findings from this study contribute to map the scientific knowledge base in relation to technology diffusion in European residential building projects, identify relevant topic areas, visualize the links between the topics, as well as to recognize research gaps and opportunities. The methodology utilized in this paper proved to be viable approach to map and characterize the knowledge base within a field and can, therefore, be replicated in upcoming studies with analogous ambitions.

The environmental goals of European Union demand a larger share of renewable energy sources for electrical energy generation.With the increasing share of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, the utility grids has an increasing need for energy storage and/or demand side management.With a high energy intensity and a large thermal inertia, the refrigeration systems of supermarkets appear as an attractive actor for demand response in such scenario.Theoretically they have the capability to absorb vast amounts of electrical energy as stored compressor work, lowering the temperature of the food goods in the refrigerators.Alternatively supermarkets have the capability of reducing their energy demand by allowing the food goods temperature increase to its upper limit, reducing electrical power demand for the grid.This positioning paper will further discuss the attractiveness as and feasibility to use supermarkets for electrical energy balancing by demand response in a smart grid.

Various environmental and regulatory changes, such as climate change mitigation strategies and market regulation, have increased the complexity of the challenges which cities, utilities, and real estate owners face. Thus, cities and their utilities are confronted with various problems: How, and at which costs can ambitious climate change mitigation goals be reached? How can urban planning be developed while simultaneously tackling climate change? How can the long-term economic and environmental performance of the building stock be optimized? How to plan electricity, gas, and thermal networks to suit future energy demand and the existing urban topology? These problems are usually addressed individually and independently from each other using instruments that lack an interdisciplinary approach. Data collections are often done “ad hoc” and not from a systemic point of view, resulting in datasets that are often incomplete, incoherent, and with different structures that make them difficult to merge. The paper describes the Carbon Resource Energy and Adaption Toolbox Europe (CREATE), a comprehensive modelling and data toolbox that can overcome these shortcomings. This toolbox has been developed to include elements that are specially conceived for various use cases of different decision makers (and their service providers): urban planners, energy utilities, network operators, building portfolio owners, building code designers, construction authorities, energy and climate policy makers. CREATE has three main elements: • Expert BSM: GIS-based scenario analysis tool for urban and utility energy planners, providing evaluation and management of energy demand, emissions, renewable energy resources, and other parameters. • Basic Web BSM: Simplified web-based spatial data information, monitoring and visualization tool for smaller municipalities and utilities. • Portfolio BSM: A portfolio assessment tool for real estate portfolio owners and manager to analyse the status quo of their portfolio and the possibility to develop short- and long-term strategies in terms of economic, energy and carbon performance. As such CREATE enables engagement between the various decision-making levels and bodies of cities and municipalities as well as (energy) utilities and building portfolio owners or real estate site developers.

This article presents a suite of data sets describing door openings of refrigerated display cabinets collected from an operational supermarket. Our goal is to provide a realistic and well-documented suite that will serve as a basis for consistent evaluation and study. Many applications ranging from modelling and optimising supermarket refrigeration systems to food safety and customer modelling depend on such data sets. We describe the data sets in the suite in detail along with the methodology used to collect them from an operational supermarket in Germany. We quantitatively analyse and characterise a total of 32,498 openings reported in the data sets. The properties that we study are opening speed, frequency, time, duration and opening angle with respect to a given weekday, time and type of refrigerator. We expect the current suite of data sets to attract interest and to become the core of a more extensive collection of data sets with time.

In Europe, the final energy demand and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of residential and commercial building stocks account for approximately 40% of energy and emissions. A building stock model (BSM) is a method of assessing the energy demand and GHG emissions of building stocks and developing pathways for energy and GHG emission reduction. The most common approach to building stock modeling is to construct archetypes that are taken to representing large segments of the stock. This paper introduces a new method of building stock modeling based on the generation of synthetic building stocks. By drawing on relevant research, the developed methodology uses aggregate national data and combines it with various data sources to generate a disaggregated synthetic building stock. The methodology is implemented and validated for the residential building stock of Switzerland. The results demonstrate that the energy demand and GHG emissions can vary greatly across the stock. These and other indicators vary significantly within common building stock segments that consider only few attributes such as building type and construction period. Furthermore, the results indicate a separation of the stock in terms of GHG emissions between old fossil fuel-heated buildings and new and refurbished buildings that are heated by renewable energy. Generating a disaggregated synthetic building stock allows for a discrete representation of various building states. This enables a more realistic representation of past building stock alterations, such as refurbishment, compared with commonly used archetypes, and not relying on more extensive data sources and being able to accommodate a wide variation of data types. The developed methodology can be extended in numerous manners and lays groundwork for future studies.

Combined heat and power (CHP) production in buildings is one of the mitigation options available for achieving a considerable decrease in GHG emissions. Micro-CHP (mCHP) fuel cells are capable of cogenerating electricity and heat very efficiently on a decentralised basis. Although they offer clear environmental benefits and have the potential to create a systemic change in energy provision, the diffusion of mCHP fuel cells is rather slow. There are numerous potential drivers for the successful diffusion of fuel cell cogeneration units, but key economic actors are often unaware of them. This paper presents the results of a comprehensive analysis of barriers, drivers and business opportunities surrounding micro-CHP fuel-cell units (up to 5 kWel) in the German building market. Business opportunities have been identified based not only on quantitative data for drivers and barriers, but also on discussions with relevant stakeholders such as housing associations, which are key institutional demand-side actors. These business opportunities include fuel cell contracting as well as the development of a large lighthouse project to demonstrate the climate-neutral, efficient use of fuel cells in the residential building sector. The next step could involve the examination and development of more detailed options and business models. The approach and methods used in the survey may be applied on a larger scale and in other sectors.

Journal of Industrial EcologyVolume 22, Issue 4 p. 943-966 FOREIGN LANGUAGE ABSTRACTSFree Access Chinese Abstracts Journal of Industrial Ecology Volume 22, Number 4 First published: 03 August 2018 https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12681AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume22, Issue4August 2018Pages 943-966 Translations 《产业生态学报》中文摘要 (JIE Chinese Abstracts) Resúmenes en Español de la Revista de Ecología Industrial (JIE Spanish Abstracts) RelatedInformation

Improving the sustainability performance of construction industry is driven by two forces: regulatory push (policy initiatives), and market pull where improving a corporate sustainability performance can be financially beneficial for enterprises. Through the investigation of the sustainability hotspots and impacts, concerning social and environmental, of the steel slag mixed concrete (green concrete) the study assessed the factors relevant for its performance and examined how to improve them. Hotspot analysis and impact assessments were conducted by social and environmental life cycle assessment (LCA). The assessed green concrete represented not just the variety of geographic representation but also the product designs (three different slag contents) and the potential difference occurring from the corporate efforts, where four classes were introduced. The investigation of the social and environmental hotspots of the green concrete revealed a difference in the relation between the sustainability performance and steel slags. While the increased slag content resulted in worse social performance, the increase improved the environmental performance in all six investigated case countries. This trade-off between the social and environmental performance implied the limits of the sustainable product design and suggested the effectiveness of the supply chain management for improving the two sustainability performances for the green concrete.

With the increasing importance of the sustainable product development of the building materials for the sustainable building and its industries, this study structured the existing sustainability assessment methods based on a common information structure, which was classified by its categories, aspects, and indicators. Sustainability indicator lists were structured into 25 categories, 88 aspects which 25% of those were product or product and regional related ones. Most of the sorted indicators related to products were difficult to be applied at the early phase of product development due to the lack of required level of information. Meanwhile, the indicators could be a supportive tool for the later phase of product development, for the production planning step as an example. Since the regional conditions showed the link between the sustainability performance during the building’s operational phase, the conditions may serve as a proxy information to guide during the earlier product development phase.

In 2010, the world's buildings accounted for approximately 19% of all greenhouse gas emissions. These emissions stem from both the construction and operation of buildings. In recent years the carbon efficiency of energy sources and energy efficiency of new buildings has been improved in Sweden. Therefore, embodied emissions accounts for an increasing share of the life cycle emissions of new buildings. This study aims to asses the cost effectiveness in abatement of embodied emissions. This was done by assessing the embodied emissions of a case building and several conventional design measures along with the implication on production cost. It was found that many of the measures enabled cost effective carbon abatement. Embodied emissions could be reduced by 15% using cost neutral or nearly cost neutral measures. Abatements up to 18% were found cost effective in relation to abatement of carbon dioxide emissions in other sectors. Abatements up to 24% were possible with minor increases in total production cost (0.22%) even though some of the individual measures were found expensive in relation to abatement of carbon dioxide emissions in other sectors. Some measures entailed increased floor area that could potentially lead to economic gain where exterior area is a limiting factor. Acoustic requirements were found to be a limiting factor in abatement of embodied emissions. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.