Identification of building decarbonisation technologies based on SCAN algorithm

Abstract

ABSTRACT Buildings are one of the most significant sources of global carbon emissions, accounting for 28% in 2021, and building decarbonisation is crucial for countries to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality. Building decarbonisation technologies play a central role in promoting the process of deep decarbonisation in the building sector. Based on the 843,821 CPC-Y02B (Decarbonisation technologies associated with buildings) patents in the CPC-Y02 patent classification system, this paper investigated the patent of building decarbonisation technology from three dimensions of technical, economic, and legal aspects and selected 10,751 high-quality core patents in the field of building decarbonisation technologies. Then, the SCAN algorithm was used to identify 23 ‘key core technologies’ and 5 ‘emerging technologies’ in the area of building decarbonisation from the constructed patent (CPC classification number) co-occurrence network. In addition, the development trends of building decarbonisation technologies were analyzed with related literature. This paper introduced the theories and methods of technology identification into the research field of building decarbonisation technology, and the results can give practical references for associated practitioners in the building sector. Future research could consider the technology identification from the whole life cycle of buildings or incorporate multivariate data to improve the current technology identification framework.