Buildings sector from a sustainable carbon constrained energy generation perspective

Abstract

There is a consensus that climate change, which is about to become a major disaster for humankind, is largely due to anthropogenic activities. CO2 emissions play a dominant role there. Therefore, mitigating CO2 emissions consists one of the fundamental missions of humankind. One set of approaches includes efforts in reducing the energy demand. Enhancing efficiency, recycling, promoting behavioral changes to reduce energy-demanding activities are among such measures. In the specific case of the buildings (economic) sector, imposing building codes, encouraging building enveloping and efficient lighting are examples of the former action. In this study, we take a different approach towards the solution of the problem: assuming that the aforementioned efforts will have a limited impact, we intend to maintain emissions under control through the use of clean energy carriers, which in turn rely on clean energy sources. We allocate an important share to solar energy and electricity produced from renewables and nuclear. We have demonstrated that the resulting electricity demands become prohibitively large, yet substantial savings in CO2 emissions can be achieved from 2020 to 2100.