Energy-carbon-investment payback analysis of prefabricated envelope-cladding system for building energy renovation: Cases in Spain, the Netherlands, and Sweden

Chunbo Zhang,Mingming Hu,Benjamin Laclau,Thomas Garnesson,Xining Yang,Arnold Tukker

doi:10.1016/j.rser.2021.111077

Chunbo Zhang, Mingming Hu + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2021.111077

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Abstract

Buildings have become a major concern because of their high energy use and carbon emissions. Thus, a material-efficient prefabricated concrete element (PCE) system was developed to incorporate construction and demolition waste as feedstock for residential building energy renovation by over-cladding the walls of old buildings. By conducting life cycle assessment and life cycle costing using the payback approach, this study aims to explore the life cycle performance of energy conservation, carbon mitigation, and cost reduction of the PCE system in three European member states: Spain, the Netherlands, and Sweden. The results show that the energy payback periods for Spain, the Netherlands, and Sweden were 20.45 years, 17.60 years, 19.95 years, respectively, and the carbon payback periods were 23.33 years, 16.78 years, and 8.58 years, respectively. However, the financial payback periods were less likely to be achieved within the building lifetime, revealing that only the Swedish case achieved a payback period within 100 years (83.59 years). Thus, circularity solutions were considered to shorten the PCE payback periods. Using secondary materials in PCE fabrication only slightly reduced the payback period. However, reusing the PCE considerably reduced the energy and carbon payback periods to less than 6 years and 11 years, respectively in all three cases. Regarding cost, reusing the PCE shortened the Swedish payback period to 29.30 years, while the Dutch and Spanish cases achieved investment payback at 42.97 years and 85.68 years, respectively. The results can be extrapolated to support the design of sustainable building elements for energy renovation in Europe.

Highlights

The building sector has become a primary contributor to global warming and resource depletion, in which buildings account for approximately 40% and 33% of global energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions [1]
This study combined life cycle assessment (LCA) and Life cycle costing (LCC) analyses to determine the energy, carbon, investment payback periods for buildings renovated with the PCE2 system in the climatic context of three Euro pean Union (EU) member States: Spain, the Netherlands, and Sweden
The results show that the energy payback periods of the Spanish, Dutch, and Swedish cases were 20.45 years, 17.60 years, and 19.95 years, respectively

Summary

Introduction

The building sector has become a primary contributor to global warming and resource depletion, in which buildings account for approximately 40% and 33% of global energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions [1]. The Euro pean Union (EU) reacted to the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)’s 2 ◦C target by formulating legislative goals of reducing energy use and GHG emissions for the built environment in both the short- and long-term [3]. In the EU, building sector legislature has been prioritized as it has the potential to meet certain GHG mitigation and energy-saving targets. The construction of new energy-efficient build ings does not meet the short-term GHG mitigation goals [5]. Renovating existing buildings would enable the EU to meet its 2030 goals of 32.5% energy savings and a 40% GHG emissions reduction, as compared with 1990 [3]

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