Abstract
All the projected scenarios agree on the immediate necessity of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide (CO2). This research proposes an analysis on the EPFL campus of all the potential reductions of CO2 emissions: energy refurbishment, the request of heat and cooling of the buildings, emissions deriving from commuting and business travel as well as the embedded emissions of the buildings through their Life-Cycle Assessment. Subsequently, compensation strategies have been evaluated: Vertical Greenery Systems, CO2 uptake from trees of the campus through an automated computing technique and Direct Air Capture technology. Together, all these contributions allow to significantly reduce the annual emissions of the campus, by up to 60 %, getting below the critical threshold of 1 ton of CO2/person/year.
Highlights
Carbon dioxide is the most emitted greenhouse gas that is increasing the global mean temperature
All the projected scenarios agree on the immediate necessity of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide (CO2)
This research proposes an analysis on the EPFL campus of all the potential reductions of CO2 emissions: energy refurbishment, the request of heat and cooling of the buildings, emissions deriving from commuting and business travel as well as the embedded emissions of the buildings through their Life-Cycle Assessment
Summary
Carbon dioxide is the most emitted greenhouse gas that is increasing the global mean temperature. The world already saw a rise of the global mean temperature of more than 1 K. At the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Zürich (ETH Zürich), researchers developed a vision of a sustainable society called 2000-Watt Society: one where the total consumption per capita is 2000 W, including all the needs, from transportation to food, from infrastructure use to services. In this vision, the emission of CO2 should be limited to 1-ton CO2/year per person. Big companies and institutional subjects are assessing CO2 emissions, especially linked with the energy use in urban districts, or with regard to future climatic scenarios
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